There's no shame in cleaning your plate

Q: My husband says it's rude to finish everything on your plate when having dinner at a friend's house. Is that true?

A: Cleaning our plates is an example of how etiquette changes with the times.

My grandmother used to admonish me for finishing everything on my plate, saying it was rude to do so. Having lived through the Great Depression, she believed that cleaning your plate might signal that not enough food had been provided. Often, the host had no more food and an empty plate could embarrass her. Under those circumstances, cleaning your plate was rude.

Today, there is no food shortage here to speak of, so it's not wrong to finish everything on your plate.

However, if you're a guest at someone's home and it appears that the food is limited, be considerate of your host.

Let's say there is one salmon fillet per person. By all means, finish yours — just don't try to get every morsel into your mouth, wiping up the sauce with a piece of bread, so that your finished plate looks like it's been through the dishwasher.

Mary Mitchell is a Seattle-based corporate trainer and author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Etiquette." E-mail questions to Mary@themitchell.org. Sorry, no personal replies.