Cut!

Dear Grace,
I was at a party recently and the hostess served fruit with cheese before dessert. The trouble was she served the whole fruit and did not provide knives. I felt uncomfortable biting in, so I passed, but I really would have enjoyed an apple with the cheese course. Other guests were seemingly not bothered; many bit right in. Your thoughts?

Grace Says:
Tucking into a whole fruit at a picnic, out of a lunchbox in a school/work cafeteria, or in the orchard while picking? Well, that's just fine. At a sit down dinner that is formal enough to warrant a cheese course, never. The idea of diners biting into whole apples like suckling pigs is enough to, well, smear my lipstick, which is exactly what happens when you attack fruit in this fashion.

Aside from the aforementioned exceptions to the rule, fruit should either be cut before serving, or offered whole with appropriate utensils. It would have been perfectly acceptable for you to request a knife in the above scenario.

Remember that hilarious Seinfeld episode when everyone was eating candy bars with cutlery? Loved that show!