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"Dennis Rekuta" wrote in message
...
In article , sackv@uni-
duesseldorf.de says...
Recently, we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant, possibly the only truly
authentic one in Germany. Among other things, we had whole curried
frog
legs, as well as whole, unpeeled giant prawns, some deep-fried, some
grilled. Only chopsticks were provided. Whole large frog legs are as
impossible to eat with chopsticks as whole chicken legs. Besides,
covered with thick curry sauce, they were rather messy, of course.
Giant prawns needed to be peeled, but were very hot indeed. We ate
them
all using our fingers regardless. Was this correct? The restaurant
was
full of Vietnamese who didn't appear to be surprised, but maybe they
were just polite or used to farangs' uncouth behaviour...

Victor

I took a quick poll of my co-workers, about 90 per cent of whom are
Vietnamese. They basically said, "how else were you going to eat them?"
You should have been given, or asked for, a lot of napkins to wipe your
hands while eating. Other than a knife or the platter serving spoon to
dis-joint the frog legs, they would have just used their fingers as you
did. In general, those large prawns they peel by hand, and then some of
them would finish them with chopsticks. The others said they would just
continue using their fingers to hold them while dipping them into
sauces,
especially if they were at home, or at less formal restaurant.

This fits my experience in Vietnam. Although I am by no means an expert,
my
husband and I try to be observant of etiquette when we sit down in a new
place. I recall one seafood restaurant in Saigon where the clientele was
very middle class/professional. We visited this place a few times and saw
people eating with chopsticks and fingers, larger pieces of bones and
shells
were tossed on the floor, and the staff swept under the table after each
party left. I don't know if this is standard, it certainly wasn't at
Saigon
market stalls.

But in both places, customers were provided with plastic-wrapped damp
cloths
to wipe up after the meal.

-Amalia


i am hongkonger, my eng. is not good at all, but i just want to say that i
totally agreed with dennis, amalia and vitor. among the vietnamese table
etiquette, fingers, chopsticks and spoon are used only.

Clifford Wong