Q.
What are we supposed to do with fruit pits, seeds, and unexpected little bones when we’re eating out?

.
A.
Perhaps you, too, have had that moment of horror when diner eyes are on you and your teeth crunch into some inedible innard. Now what?

The much-read Manners and Rules of Good Society written in 1916 by ‘A  Member of The Aristocracy’ offers some clear advice:

‘When eating grapes, the half-closed hand should be placed to the mouth, and the stones and skins allowed to fall into the fingers, and placed on the side of the plate. Some persons bend the head so as to allow of the stones and skins of the grapes falling on the side of the plate; but this latter way is old-fashioned, and seldom followed. Cherries and other small stone-fruit should be eaten in the way grapes are eaten, also gooseberries.’

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Header: Laurens Craen. Still life.  1645