Introduction -- 1. Behaving -- The artificial cannibal -- Ritual -- Feasting and sacrifice -- 2. Learning to behave -- Bringing children up -- Inhibitions -- Aspirations -- 3. The pleasure of your company -- Company -- Hosts and guests -- Invitations -- Coming right in -- Taking our places -- 4. Dinner is served -- The first bite -- Taking note of our surroundings -- The prospect before us -- Fingers -- Chopsticks -- Knives, forks, spoons -- Sequence -- Helpings -- Carving -- The red, the white, and the gold -- Table talk -- Feeding, feasts and females -- All gone -- 5. No offence -- Pollution -- The rules and regulations of the mouth -- The proprieties of posture and demeanor -- Postscript: How rude are we?