Meals should begin immediately after the president and the officers are seated. Prompt and courteous service add much to the enjoyment of a meal. Serving personnel should be alert. They should not lean on the sideboard or lounge against the bulkhead when they are not busy. With proper training, serving personnel will know what their responsibilities are and how they should be met.

The meal may be announced by using the xylophone or by announcing the traditional "dinner (or whichever meal) is served."

The president or the officer in front of whom the buck is placed is served first, and then the service proceeds counterclockwise around the table.

Figure 9-7.-Xylophone for announcing meals.

INFORMAL MEAL SERVICE

All meals are served by family, cafeteria, American, buffet, ala carte service, or by a combination of these, as discussed earlie shows a table setting for an informal meal.

Foods, including soups, are served from the left of the person being served. Beverages are served from the right.

Soup is normally ladled into the soup plates in the pantry and served rather than offered to the officer at the table.

The rule of thumb to follow during formal and informal service is to serve the foods from the left and remove from the right, except beverages.

To avoid overcrowding the table during family-style service, refill the water glasses as necessary instead of placing a water pitcher on the table. In other types of service such as cafeteria, a water pitcher maybe placed on the table for those who desire refills.

Coffee should always be available and served piping hot. Be careful when serving coffee and other hot beverages especially aboard ship when the ship is underway. An accidental spill can cause a painful burn. When an officer has finished a course, remove the used dishes. Do not stack the dishes in front of the officer. With the right hand, remove the plate and silverware used during the course. When more than one plate is being removed, hold the first in the left hand and place the others on top of it.

When desserts are not picked up from the line, they should be served. Place a pitcher of hot coffee on the table for those desiring seconds and place ashtrays within the officers' reach.

When guests are present, some changes to the seating and serving order are necessary. Although some of these changes were mentioned earlier, bringing them together at this point will help you to recognize what routines should be changed.

The buck is not used when guests are aboard. A guest of the ship or the guest of honor sits to the right of the president and is always served first. Other guests usually sit to the right of their host officer. When no guest of honor is present and more than one officer has guests, the guest of the senior host officer is served first. In all cases, after serving the guest of honor, the serving continues from that point counterclockwise around the table. Do not skip around in order to serve all guests first.

Figure 9-8.-Wardroom table setup for an informal meal.

FORMAL

The service required for formal meals is more elaborate than for informal meals. However, the table setting is basically the same as for informal meals. Usually four or five courses are served, but as few as three or as many as seven maybe served. All food from each course is served to all diners in prompt succession. For a formal dinner everything is served; nothing is set on the table except the salt and pepper shakers. Condiments and other seasonings are served at the proper time. A table setting for a formal dinner is shown in~

Service plates are normally used at formal dinners. These are large plates that are placed on the table at the time it is set for the meal. They are not removed until replaced by the heated dinner plate for the first hot course after the soup. They are used only because it is considered bad form for the diners not to have plates before them throughout the meal. No food is placed directly on the service plate. Instead, dishes containing the first courses of the meal are set upon the service plate. Although bread and butter plates were never used for formal dinners in the past, they are frequently used today.

All foods are served from the left, and beverages are served from the right. Dishes are removed from the right. An exception to this rule is the replacing of silverware. These pieces of silverware that are placed to the right of the place plate are replaced from the right. In this way it is not necessary to reach in front of the diner.

When the meal being served uses the table setting pictured it , the following order of service would be observed.

As soon as the members and their guests are seated, the first course, shrimp cocktail, is served.

When all have finished the course, the shrimp cocktail glass is removed with the used silverware. The soup course is served next.

When all have finished the soup course, the soup plate, service plate, and soup spoon are removed. The

Figure 9-9.-Table set for a formal dinner.

heated dinner plate replaces the service plate for the main course. The food is brought in on a platter or in serving dishes. The food is presented to the guest who is seated to the right of the host. The service then proceeds counterclockwise around the table.

Upon completion of the main course, the dinner plate and used silverware are removed. The salad plate is then put in its place. To provide faster service, the salad is usually arranged on the salad plate before it is brought in.

When all have finished their salads, the salad plate and silverware are removed. At this point, the only items remaining from the original setting are the water and wine glasses. Before the dessert is served, the crumbs, if any, should be brushed off the table with a folded napkin and tray. The dessert course with appropriate silverware is then placed before the diners.

Coffee is served with the dessert course or following it. If cups are placed on the table and coffee offered to those who want it, service is from the right.

It is customary not to smoke at formal dinners until after the coffee or demitasse has been served. When allowed, at the proper time cigarettes and/or cigars are passed and ashtrays are placed before those persons desiring them.