Physically picking up your plate at the dinner table and licking your plate clean has a certain cheekiness about it; some might call it rude. I look at it as complete satisfaction and I think most cooks that love to cook, deep down would agree with me.

Cooks that love to cook have spent time, big or small preparing the food. A lot of people cook for their loved ones, friends, colleagues or even just themselves and there is nothing more satisfying after you have dished up the meal and may be slightly sweating from standing too close to the stove for so long to see your “guests” in their own way wolfing down their food and not a crumb is left at the end.

Last night I witnessed this moment. The food was a thick, sticky reduced red wine sweet sauce that was remnants of a weekend dessert. It was the accompaniment to a few slices of pineapple. There was enough sauce to go round for five people and then some. It was the then some that tipped my man over the edge and into licking oblivion, because what went from a polite spoon in hand eating the dessert to suddenly a ravenous-have-not-eaten-in-days licking of the plate motion was an incredible sight to see and I was not even the cook.

So, don’t hold back are my words of wisdom. If you are at dinner wherever you may be, put your neck out on the line and lick the plate clean. Forget about the people that are rolling their eyes at you or tsk tsk tsking you because it’s not etiquette to do so. Not only will you ensure that you have eaten every last morsel of the divine meal in front of you but the cook will be left with a feeling of satisfaction that is priceless.