Grace at Restaurants - timing

[TomFromMD]

When we say grace at home, almost all the food is already present at the table. So what’s the proper time to say grace at a restaurant? Immediately? When the bread comes? With the first appetizer? With the main course?

 

[Della]

We wait until all the food has been delivered before eating an bread that comes first. If it’s a salad or soup course, we say grace and dig in. It doesn’t really matter just when you say grace–it’s the doing it that is important, yes?

 

[newcalling]

We say grace as soon as the food we ordered comes. If there’s a soup/salad course first we say it when that comes. The important thing to us is that we don’t eat anything until we say grace.

 

[Joe_5859]

When we say grace at home, almost all the food is already present at the table. So what’s the proper time to say grace at a restaurant? Immediately? When the bread comes? With the first appetizer? With the main course?

We do it before we eat anything, which generally is right away at a sit down place that has bread on the table waiting for us.

Your family must have great self-control, Della. I don’t think I could handle staring at a basket of bread in front of my face while waiting 20 minutes for the main course to arrive.

 

[Della]

We do it before we eat anything, which generally is right away at a sit down place that has bread on the table waiting for us.

Your family must have great self-control, Della. I don’t think I could handle staring at a basket of bread in front of my face while waiting 20 minutes for the main course to arrive.

My dh and I don’t mind waiting. We have no little ones to feed. I think it would be okay to feed small children some bread before saying grace since they need to eat sooner than adults. But as you say, saying grace as soon as you sit down takes care of that problem.

 

[SilverLight]

Me and my family do not say grace when eating out but we do at home.

 

[ffg]

If you remember to say grace out and about I think that’s great. Timing doesn’t seem too important, as praying is great anytime.

We say grace at restaurants when we remember to do so, most times I’d say when the meal comes.

There is a comedian with a good bit on this topic, something like -

‘My friends say grace at every meal, but never before snacks!’

Every time I hear it I think about how I seem to rarely say grace at work, just don’t think of it.

But now with this thread, there is nothing like a new beginning!

 

[Johnny_Local]

I say grace when it dawns on me that I forgot to say grace, which is usually somewhere around the second or third bite.

Yeah… I need to get better about that.

 

[newcalling]

I say grace when it dawns on me that I forgot to say grace, which is usually somewhere around the second or third bite.

Yeah… I need to get better about that.

I’m usually good about remembering, but sometimes I forget too. This thread made me realize that I forgot to say grace before my breakfast burrito at the coffee shop this morning. It happens. I think if we usually remember then God probably understands if we genuinely forget once in a while.

 

[tawny]

I say Grace in a restaurant before any food goes into my mouth.

 

[vallancec]

A good rule of thumb is anytime you sit down to eat. I have a hard time remembering at buffets.

 

[chevalier]

I tend to cross myself before the first thing to eat, without being ostentatious about it or saying anything aloud, though if the situation warrants it I sometimes might make the prayer break a bit more obvious.

 

[oldrover]

We always say grace before the main meal comes… not because we’re not thankful for the bread and salad, but just out of habit from home, where the food/bread/salad comes out all at once, not in waves.

 

[Della]

A little anecdote: My dh and I always cross ourselves and say grace in restaurants. We were on a camping trip and had stopped at a fast food place for lunch. We did as we usually do–said grace before eating and thought no more about it. Another couple, older people as it happened, stopped on their way out to thank us for saying grace in public. Who knows what such a simple gesture might stir in the hearts of others? Some are sure to take offense, but that is their difficulty, IMHO. I think most people are heartened to see someone giving God his due, especially in a culture that is hell-bent on taking faith out of the public square. Just my thoughts on it. :twocents: duly deposited.