I was on the boat to Dieppe the other day and in the shop they were selling some tea towels with pictures of vegetables on them. Around the side of the towels they had the different ways different Europeans address one another when they are about to make inroads into a meal. Bon appetit! Buon appetito! Guten Appetiten! ¡Buen provecho! That sort of thing. Of course, they had to include English, so they added ‘Enjoy your meal’.
I wonder where the tea towel makers got the idea that the English say ‘enjoy your meal’ before a meal? In my house we simply tuck in, regardless of such formalities. Or we say something like ‘looks great’ or ‘smells great’. I’ve heard people say ‘yum’ and ‘Mmmm’. I’ve known some, in moments of pretentiousness, use the French or Italian term. I’ve heard ‘cheers’ and even ‘tally ho’. I’ve witnessed, with a twist of know-its-anachronistic irony, ‘down the hatch’. I’ve often heard ‘do start’ from the host, a request to not stand on ceremony and get on with it. But I’ve never heard ‘enjoy your meal’.
I’ve eaten on countless occasions with foreign guests, a legacy of having lived abroad on several occasions and also of having been a language teacher. There is usually a slightly awkward moment when dinner is served when they feel a formality is appropriate, but they can’t find the right one. And they often ask, ‘what do you say before a meal in England?’ I’ve come up with a stock response to this, hoping that it will be taken seriously and used the next time they are having dinner with another English host. It plays on the poor reputation our cuisine has in other countries. “We say ‘good luck’” I say, and tuck in to my first forkful of whatever’s just ended up in front of me.
