Table Manners 101:How not to slurp soup

Katy Butterworth, 11, plans on attending plenty of formal dinners in her future.

But how does she learn what the proper etiquette is during each course? She and her sister Emily Butterworth, 7, learned just that on Saturday afternoon, during a course called “Manners that Matter” at the Fairmont Newport Beach.

“It’s really valuable to have manners because you don’t want to make a fool out of yourself at someone’s house,” Katy said.

The girls are also getting a jump-start in following in their older sister’s footsteps. Their mom, Newport Beach resident Linda Butterworth, enrolled the older daughter in cotillion classes and was looking for a way to guide Katy and Emily toward a life of civility. When she found out the Fairmont was offering the course, she was ecstatic.

Katy and Emily joined their friend Emily VanDegrift, 11, and three boys in the Cellar Room of the Fairmont for a class led by etiquette guru Naomi Torre Pouslon, founder of the Etiquette School in Dana Point.

But the group wasn’t just there to go through the workbook Pouslon brought for them to follow. She’d prepared a real-life test of their newfound skills.

Following the one-hour instructional portion, Pouslon had the three boys and three girls practice how they’d behave at a formal dinner service by actually going through it.

Before they were served their three-course meal, Pouslon gave a lesson in chivalry. Before seating themselves, the boys had to escort the girls to the table and assist them into their chairs. The group learned other social graces, including the proper way to eat soup — no slurping — and how to use each utensil.

But the lessons weren’t all as simple as that. Intricacies such as how to position the fork and knife to alert a server you’re finished eating, how to properly cut a piece of meat, and the difference between American and continental styles of using the fork and knife were addressed.

“I learned a lot of things, but mainly the one I really remember is the one that says to put your napkin on your chair when you get up,” Katy said.

Andrew and Ryan Killings- worth of Laguna Niguel said they know someday all these skills will come in handy, although Ryan said he plans on putting his newfound decorum to the test during Christmas dinner.

“I didn’t know that when with soup, you had to eat it like side to side,” said Ryan, 9, after the two-hour class. “One day we might have to use these.”

Andrew, 7, learned the “10:20 I’m finished” positioning of his utensils on his plate.

“It could tell the waiter that we’re done or just resting,” Andrew said.

All six children were extremely well behaved during the class and engaged in conversation usually at the urging of Pouslon. Only once was there a noticeable snafu during the service. As she mentioned slurping, Andrew slurped up a spoonful of soup, eliciting a gasp from his teacher. Pouslon encouraged polite dinner conversation by asking the children to talk about culture and their different ethnicities and backgrounds.

Fairmont spokeswoman Linda Beltran said she’d been thinking of having an etiquette class for some time, and when the new Newport Beach Fairmont opened, she thought it’d be the perfect place.

“These skills stay with you if they’re taught at a young age,” Beltran said. “They can grow with you as you grow older.”

The class was the first and only class the Fairmont will have this season. But Beltran plans on having more.

The class cost $75 per child and the kids all got to take home a workbook and a copy of “The Little Book of Etiquette.”

For more information or to request another class, call (949) 476-2001.