Fork or Fingers? Different Manners for Different Cultures A few
nights ago I was watching an episode of the HBO series The No. 1
Ladies’ Detective Agency. The stories are set in Botswana. In
the episode I watched, Mma Ramotswe, the No. 1 Detective, takes
a client from the US out to do some investigation near the
Kalahari Desert. Mma Ramotswe and Mrs. Curtin, her client, are
served food by Mma Potsane, a woman who lives way out in rural
Botswana. When the meal is served, there are no utensils, so
Mrs. Curtin asks Mma Ramotswe what to do, how to eat. Mma
Ramotswe demonstrates by taking a bite sized portion of rice,
balling it up using her thumb and two fingers, dipping it in the
creamed spinach dish served with the rice, and popping it into
her mouth. Mrs. Curtin manages very well. Having just published
a book for middle school kids, Emily Post’s Table Manners for
Kids, I was naturally intrigued by the wonderful display of
great table manners by both Mrs. Curtin and Mma Ramotswe. As I
watched the scene it broug