Table manners have evolved for even the humblest of ingredients – bread, cheese and soup – and it is interesting to look at how the utensils and customs that relate to these staple foods have developed.

Bread

The concept of breaking bread has biblical roots, but in terms of practical table manners probably owes much to Medieval dining customs. Since the only utensil in common use was the knife, which was reserved for cutting up meat, it became common practice to break bread with the hands. In fact, slabs of bread were used as a primitive ‘plate’ for meat until around the 14th century, when wooden plates began to appear. The bread slices were known as ‘trenchers’, from the old French word ‘trancher’, which means to slice, or cut.

Today, bread-eating etiquette owes much to these roots. Bread rolls used to be served inside the napkin. When a guest sat down at the table and laced the napkin on their lap, they removed the bread roll and placed it to the left of their plate.

Bread rolls are eaten from a side plate to the left of a place setting. Break the roll, by hand, into bite-sized pieces that are eaten individually. Break off a new piece for each mouthful, rather than dividing the roll into chunks in advance.

Butter, if desired, is taken from the butter dish, using the butter knife and placed on the edge of your side plate. Each piece, or mouthful, of bread is individually buttered.

The same principle applies to the artisan sliced bread often found in restaurants and to melba toast (a dry, thinly sliced rusk, often served with soup and salad).

Hot toast may be buttered all in one go (to ensure the butter melts evenly), but if it is to be spread with something such as pâté for a first course, follow the bread roll method as above. Brown bread and butter, served with smoked salmon, is served ready buttered and usually cut into halves diagonally.

Soup

The earliest recorded mention of a spoon in Britain was in 1259, when a spoon was listed as part of the wardrobe accounts of Edward I. It is likely that crude wooden spoons were available during the Middle Ages, but it was not until the 15th century that these began to be replaced by metal examples.

Before the 18th century, tablespoons were used to eat soup, never dessert spoons. While dedicated soup spoons became available in the 18th century, the shape of the bowl was not standardised and the round bowl shape that we recognise today, did not appear until the 19th century. The dedicated soup spoon was noticeably smaller than tablespoons, which were no longer used as eating implements, but instead were used as serving spoons.

When eating soup, fill the spoon by pushing away from you, towards the far side of the bowl. Bring the spoon to the mouth and tip the soup in from the side of the spoon; don’t try eating with the spoon at 90 degrees to the mouth. Don’t suck or slurp.

Tilt the bowl away from you in order to get the last few spoonfuls. Leave your spoon in the bowl when you have finished.

Cheese

It is likely that the development of distinctive cheese knives was part of the mass production of cutlery that began in the Victorian era, when electroplated nickel silver was used as a cheaper substitute for sterling silver. In 1913, the British metallurgist Harry Brearley discovered stainless steel by chance; by adding chromium to carbon-steel, he revolutionised the cutlery industry and a plethora of specialised eating implements flooded the market.

In 1925 Thor Bjørklund, a Norwegian inventor and businessman, patented a cheese slicer, which he based on the carpenter’s plane. Ideal for slicing thin slices of cheeses such as Jarlsberg and Emmenthal, the cheese slice became extremely popular in the Nordic countries. The company he founded has been producing cheese slicers in Lillehammer ever since.

Other major types of cheese knife include the following:

•Cheddar knife: a cleaver-shaped design with a wide blade, ideal for cutting hard cheeses.

•Soft cheese knife: A knife with a curved, perforated blade, designed to stop soft cheese adhering to the implement.

•Flat cheese knife: Designed with a flat, paddle-shaped blade, ideal for Swiss and Asiago cheeses

•Cheese spreader: With a curved, rounded dull-edged blade, this knife is ideal for spreading soft cheeses, such as gorgonzola, onto crackers.

•All-purpose pronged cheese knife: With a narrow blade and two prongs, this multi-purpose knife is idea for slicing and picking up cheese (using the prongs). It is probably the most practical all-round option, if you do not want to invest in an extensive cheese-knife arsenal.

Always use the cheese knife provided to cut cheese from a communal board, not your own knife.

Round cheese, such as Camembert, must be treated like a cake: cut triangular portions.

It is correct to slice a whole large cheddar or Stilton horizontally but, if it is already cut like a cake, follow suit. Rind may be eaten or left on the side of your plate.

With a wedge such as Brie, cut slivers lengthways. Never cut the nose off a triangular slice.

Stilton is usually sliced, but if a spoon is provided, scoop a portion of cheese from the middle.

Bite-sized morsels of cheese on individual pieces of biscuit should be brought to the mouth, rather than biting off mouthfuls from a large piece of cheese on an entire cracker. It is fine to use fingers to eat hard, non-messy cheese with no biscuits or bread, perhaps with celery or grapes. Cut it into small pieces first.