"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." Have you ever heard this saying? Before we get a chance to say a word, our gestures and manners have already spoken for us. Though some of the rules of good manners change, others remain constant. This book is about the constants: the least you need to know to make a good first impression. As Clarence Thomas once said, "Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot." Use this book as a master key to open those doors.

Bad table manners are no laughing matter. On the contrary, poor etiquette can be heartbreaking. It can create roadblocks for those who want to date, meet a special someone's family, or land a dream job. The Body Parts Menu of Good Table Manners helps along people curious about the origins of our dining habits, people eager to fit into Western dining traditions, and people ready to acquire a more polished deportment. Easy-to-follow text and illustrations teach how to best arrange hands, feet, head, back, and arms. "The Mortal Sins of Dining" appear throughout the book. Look for the international sign for "no" - a circle with a diagonal line - to avoid the absolutely worst blunders. Far from being rigid, table manners have evolved over centuries and are still changing. They will continue to change as we learn about the foods and habits of other cultures and incorporate them in our own. One simple motif runs through the ages, though: it has to look pretty to our Western world... and The Body Parts Menu of Good Table Manners reveals how to accomplish that graciously in modern times.

Here is the perfect little book for anyone—teenage or otherwise—who has ever wanted to master the art of good table manners. Written by Walter Hoving, former chairman of Tiffany's of New York, it is a step-by-step introduction to all the basics, from the moment the meal begins to the time it ends ("Remember that a dinner party is not a funeral, nor has your hostess invited you because she thinks you are in dire need of food. You're there to be entertaining"). In addition to the essentials about silverware, service, and sociability, it includes many of the fine points, too—the correct way to hold a fish fork, how to eat an artichoke properly, and, best of all, how to be a gracious dining companion. Concise, witty, and illustrated with humor and style by Joe Eula, this classic guide to good table manners has delighted readers of all ages since 1961.

Friendly and inviting -- bound to be a classic -- What's Cooking America, with clarity, organization and thoroughness, offers more than 800 family-tried-and-tasted recipes. accompanied by a wealth of information. This book will move into America's kitchens to stay. Here's the information you'll have at your fingertips: -- A treasure trove of unique. easy-to-follow recipes from all over America readily transforms every "cook" into a "chef". -- An eye-pleasing page layout -- enhanced by lively illustrations -- that defies confusion and presents pertinent information with clarity and orderliness. -- Well-organized, standardized listings of ingredients for no-mistake food preparation. -- Accurate, time-tested mixing and cooking tips, hints and historical tidbits. -- Informative, instructive and entertaining sidebars for easy perusal.

Written from the table's point of view, this humorous tale helps kids understand that table manners are about much more than what fork to use. Good table manners are about being respectful, kind and considerate to others.

"The Origin of Table Manners is the third volume of a tetralogy devoted to American Indian mythology. Unlike the first two volumes (The Raw and the Cooked, From Honey to Ashes), which are devoted to South American myths, the present one establishes relations with North America, which is the subject of the fourth (The Naked Man). . . . In the course of the analysis, the myths link up with ideas of more general interest. Thus, we find discussions of numeration, of morals, and of the origin of the novel. . . . The Origin of Table Manners is thus of special interest to students of American Indian mythology, although it contains ideas of interest to other fields and even to the general reader."—Daniel C. Raffalovich, American Anthropologist "An immense anthropological erudition is here wielded by one of the world's finest minds, and the myths themselves have never been taken more seriously. . . . [Lévi-Strauss] raises issues and then resolves them with the suspenseful cunning of a mystery novelist."—John Updike, New Yorker