In my recent newsletter, I explained how tricky it can be to eat asparagus. Innocent at first glance, now we know that asparagus can be eaten both with hands and silverware depending on the dish.
After this newsletter landed in your inboxes, I was delighted to see how the curiosity of many of you got triggered and now, in return, my inbox is flourishing with your questions about other tricky foods.
Well, say no more. In today’s Ask Katarina episode, we will tame the fear of eating olives 🫒
Small, delicious, and oh so tricky due to the pits. Some restaurants choose to serve olives already pitted but others believe high-quality olives can remain high-quality only with the pit inside.
Naturally, etiquette knows an elegant way to sail out of even such a situation and there is no need to overcomplicate it.
OLIVE ETIQUETTE CHEAT SHEET
STEP 1
Spear the olive with a toothpick or a fork (if toothpicks are missing), do not pick it up with bare hands
STEP 2
Place the olive into the mouth and slowly separate the olive from its pit
STEP 3
Shield your mouth with your non-dominant hand while gently removing the pit from your mouth with the dominant hand
STEP 4
Place the pit on a separate plate/bowl designed for that purpose
Et voilà! You just tamed the olive pit 🙂
Some sources will demonstrate a challenging manoeuvre of spitting the olive pit on the back of the fork, but trust me, this is not necessary.
So dear readers, there is no need to fear olives if we have etiquette backing up.
Yours sincerely,
Katarina
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