Why is the drink usually served on the right hand side of the diner during a meal?

Answer 1

When setting a table (for right handed people) the middle is for the main plate with the knife on the right and the fork on the left. On the left hand side of the main area the side plate is put for bread. This means that the bread can be picked up with left hand and buttered using the knife held in the right hand. This leaves the best place and most room for the glass on the righthand side of the main plate. If it was reversed you would have to pick up the bread with right hand (unless you reached across with the left risking dipping sleeves etc in food) then transfer the bread to the left hand for ease of buttering then pass it back to the right side to place back on its plate.
Tables are usually set for right handed people as there are a greater proportion of these than lefthanded.

Answer 2

At a table setting (ie. you sitting at the table) it is correct etiquette to serve food and drink on the right side and remove or clear the setting from the left.

This is derived in part from a stupid ancient tradition that all "good" people are right handed and that left handed people are strange or evil. Being right handed determines why a table is set a certain way and it's reasonable to think it would be safer for a person to approach you while sitting down on the right side (look where your knives are) to provide food and it's only a modern idea to clear a table setting while you are still sitting for each course of food.

Where there is no expectation set on your table manners then, after the sommelier has served you just change hands if you feel more comfortable about it.

Answer 3

Overall, it is custom as some said, started long ago. It does make sense, however, in a utilitarian sense because one would simply lay the fork or spoon down and then lift the drink.
Otherwise, someone may hold the fork or spoon in one hand and keep a hand on the drink with the other. That would not look all that becoming.

---That Cheeky Lad


---That Cheeky Lad

Answer 4

90% of the world's population are right-handed!
The belief that using the left hand shows links with the Devil!
In some places the right hand was used for eating the left for other less agreeable tasks!
The main reason is that most right-handers automatically pick up glasses or cups with the right hand so it has become the 'norm' to set out cutlery and tableware for right-handers!

Answer 5

I do not know if it is because a majority of the people are right-handed or not, but if we have certain places where everything goes, then everyone knows what drink, what bread plate, etc. is theirs. It makes it easier when everything is in the same place each time.

Answer 6

this is a very biased "rule" and i strongly dislike it, but here's what i've heard: some monarch or someone with power didn't like it when people held their fork/knife in one hand and their drink in the other. so he/she put the drinks on the right side to encourage guests to put their utensils down before picking up their glass. the downside: i'm left-handed, so i can hold a fork and glass at the same time, thus appearing "rude".

Answer 7

Just because someone a long time ago deemed it right to consider the general fact that most people are 'right handed'!

Answer 8

Because you hold your fork in your left hand and your knife in the right, so you can put down your knife to pick up your glass with the right hand whilst still being able to hold the fork with the left.

Answer 9

as most people are right handed when you take a drink your arm does not cross over your plate

Answer 10

The majority of people are right handed