Charlotte County delicacies
JAY REMER
The etiquette guy
Published Saturday March 8, 2008

One chilly afternoon several years ago, there was a birthday celebration at the Bayside Community Hall, just outside St. Andrews-by-the-Sea.

It doesn't really matter whose birthday it was or even what birthday was being celebrated. Suffice to say, however, that it was well attended by a cross-section of St. Andrews folks. There was the usual spread of coffee, cookies, brownies, and, of course, the birthday cake.

But there were two kinds of sandwiches which I have never seen served in any other part of the world. Both are made with soft white bread, neatly quartered, free of crust. One is filled with a mixture of maraschino cherry and cream cheese, which is a scary enough sounding combination. But the one that really caught my attention was filled with chunk light tuna, Miracle Whip, and of all things, green Jello.

When I asked what was in the neatly quartered finger food, I almost choked. The concept of those three foodstuffs - none of which appeals to me in any form - used in combination boggled my mind.

I must confess, however, that it was a very successful and tasty result, no doubt created by a very resourceful Charlotte County woman at a time when resources were scant, and it stuck. I save such special occasions as birthday celebrations at the Bayside Community Hall or a church hall tea to savor such delicacies.

It reminds me of another occasion which caught me completely off guard but also ended in a highly successful outcome. There is a special drink served only at one of the United Nations' restaurants in New York City. It's called the Bunker Special and it's named after Ellsworth Bunker, ambassador to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. I was friends of his family who were living in Colorado Springs at the time.

The drink was served chilled - half tomato juice and half orange juice. It's actually amazingly refreshing and very tasty. However, I have never been able to find any friends to trust me on that combo, so I save it for the restaurant at the UN or for unsuspecting guests at a summer picnic at our cottage. Which brings me to today's etiquette question.

What do you do at a formal dinner, be it social or business, when you are faced with something on your plate which you cannot bring yourself to even taste, let alone eat in its entirety?

Simply put, there are two things to remember. First and foremost, refrain from commenting on your dislike for whatever it is. Secondly, give it a try. Many times you will be pleasantly surprised, especially if you have never tried it before. I find that many people in 'the provinces' have very limited tastes outside the stable, predictable meat and badayos. It is actually considered rude in many countries not to at least give the local delecacies a whirl.

Now, if it turns out to be a disaster, move the food around on your plate as though you were pretending to eat it. Spread around, it will look like you at least tried it - always the polite thing to do.

This also applies if you are faced with a food to which you have an allergy. In the case of food allergies, this is a very serious situation. You should alert the host well ahead of time of such allergies. They want you to enjoy yourself, not kill you. And an ambulance arriving in the middle of dinner puts a real damper on things. So, speak up ahead of time. Enjoy trying new foods. It's fun and it can turn into a game.

I know when I go out to dine I try to have something on the menu I have never had before. I have tried just about everything in Western cuisine by now, but new preparations are always fun to taste and old favourites prepared at new 'haunts' are equally exciting. Can this chef's eggplant parmesan be as good as 'so and so's'? You will never know unless you try.

Happy tasting!

► Read this column at the Telegraph Journal online.