The plate of food looks delicious, but you haven't a clue about how to eat it. This list describes how to eat difficult foods, according to etiquette experts. Note that the preferred way of eating a food is often dependent on the formality of the occasion.

Artichokes: Pull the leaves off a couple at a time. Dip the base of the leaf into the sauce, then put it in your mouth and pull it through your teeth to extract the tender part. Put the chewed leaves in a pile on your plate. After you have confused the leaves, lift the spiny leaves off the heart, then use a spoon to scrape off the fuzz (choke) still clinging to the heart. Cut the heart into bite-sized pieces with your fork and eat.

Asparagus: You can eat it with your fingers, tip down, dipping it into the sauce. But if a stalk is long, use a fork to cut it up.

Bacon: If it's crisp, eat with your fingers. If it's limp, use a fork and knife.

Bouillon and other thin soups: You can drink them from the cup. But use a spoon to eat any bits of meat and vegetable first.

Bread: Break the bread into pieces as you eat it. Use the bread plate if there is one. You can use a piece of bread as a pusher. Etiquette experts differ on how to teat bread used as a pusher.

Cherry tomatoes: Eat all in one bite.

Chicken: Don't eat chicken with your fingers at a formal or even informal dinner party. It's okay at a barbeque.

Corn on the cob: Pick your expert. You can eat down the rows or around them. You can butter the whole ear at once or a couple of rows at a time. However, most etiquette arbiters think that corn on the cob should be served only in informal situations.

Fish, whole: The head of the fish should be to the left. Remove the head if you want, then slit the flat of the fish in the middle, head to tail with the fish knife or fork. Open the fish out, and eat the top flesh, first one segment, then the next. Then put the knife under the backbone at one end and lift it out with the fork or the fish knife. You can use your fingers to extract any bones that are left. When you use lemon, shield other guests from the spray with your hand.

Frog's Legs: Eat with your fingers.

Kabobs: Slide the food off the skewer onto the plate before eating it.

Lobster: Start with the little claws, removing them and sucking out the meat from the end. Take the meat out of the body and cut it into small pieces. Dip into the sauce with your cocktail fork. Crack the big claws with a nutcracker, open them with your fingers, and pry the meat out with your fork.

Parsley or watercress garnish: You can eat it, but only with a fork in a formal occasion.

Peas: Crush them a bit before eating them - that way they won't roll off your fork.

Potato, baked: Break the top with your fingers, and put the butter on with your fork. You may eat the skin with knife and fork.

Salad: Don't cut lettuce with a knife. Use your fork instead.

Snails (escargots): Use the metal holder to grip the shell. If there is no metal holder, use a napkin, pry out the snail with a little fork and eat. Experts disagree on what to do with eh juice left in the shells. Some say you may drink the juice from the shells, others that you may up-end them so the juice runs out on your plate, then use bread speared on a fork to sop the juice up. Still other experts frown on both techniques.

Soup: You should eat the soup from the side of the spoon, and you may tip the bowl away from you to extract the last drops.

Spaghetti: Twirl the spaghetti around the fork, and then put it in your mouth.

Sushi: If an informal restaurant, you can eat sushi with your fingers, but a fork or chopsticks are better.