A modern day example of cultural relativism is etiquette when eating. Different cultures will have different customs when it comes to eating food, and what is considered “good behavior” and what is considered “bad behavior.” A fictional example of this that popped into my brain was the scene when Thor smashed the coffee mug asking for more coffee. He didn’t mean any disrespect by smashing the mug, but it wasn’t the right thing to do if he wanted more coffee. Instead, he should have asked nicely, as Jane suggested and as is common courtesy throughout the US.

I went to prep school, so I was forced to learn how to eat “properly” by American upper class standards, otherwise I would feel weird eating a different way from others. I don’t know which fork to use for a salad versus a steak, but I know the basics. For example, I know to cut food into bite size pieces before putting food into my mouth, to use a fork and a knife to get food onto a fork before putting it in my mouth, etc. There’s a surprising amount of nuance to it, though, at least comparing it to the way my parents/friends from China eat. In China, since you mostly use chopsticks, bringing your bowl up to your face is usually customary. They also don’t mind if you chew loudly/with your mouth open, or if you bang on your silverware. Of course, these are all considered unacceptable in American upper class dining. In other cases, when you go to other restaurants, there are also specific “culturally acceptable” ways of eating their food. For example, when you eat sushi, you usually don’t take off the rice and just eat the fish, like my mom really likes to do. It’s somewhat disrespectful to a culture to disregard a food like that, considering sushi literally just means “sour” or something like “sour rice.” Getting rid of the rice completely undermines the sushi.