At some point, midway through the procession of holiday dinners at our home this year, the subject of ‘bon appétit’ raised its controvertible head. (Again.) You may not even have known, until now, that it had a controvertible head. You, dear reader, are likely part of the majority of people who merely thought of the phrase—to the extent that you gave it any thought at all—as a festive salutation from the host to “enjoy the meal” and, with this pronouncement, blithely assumed it was the signal to begin the meal. Ah, but you underestimated the significance of these two little words—to some people, these seemingly innocuous words are loaded with information about your knowledge of proper etiquette and even your social status. The last time I really thought about this topic was when we were preparing for our long stay in Lourmarin. Somewhere in my review of French manners, I read, among other things, that one’s hands should rest on the table (and not on one’s lap as any well-bred American learned) and that one never says ‘bon appétit’. I did observe—and had confirmed in conversations over and over again—that, apparently the French harbor some concerns about what your [...]