My family upbringing had been very strict on how to behave when in the company of other people, especially at the meal table, even if those people are one's own family members.
For example:
The Chinese way of group dining is to have a number of dishes (meat, veg) on the table, with a big bowl of soup in the middle.
At my family meals at home, communal (/ serving) chopsticks (公筷 gōng kuài / "public chopstick") and serving spoon (公勺 gōng sháo / "public spoon") for the soup would be provided. Dipping our own chopsticks and spoons into those dishes was absolutely frowned upon.
This upbringing has made me cringe every time I see people (in the mainland Chinese drama series I've been watching) picking up food from the dishes in the middle of the table with their own chopsticks to put in other people's bowls.
It is, I know, supposed to be for showing how caring one is, e.g., [to family] "Here, try this, it's delicious", or [to a friend / guest] "You're being too polite to help yourself, so I'll do it for you".
The correct way to do it is how my Taipei colleague Peggy Lǚ's mother used to do it, which I've since been copying and teaching people as well: use the other end of the chopsticks for this, and make sure you also draw the guest's attention to it, saying aloud, "Look, I'm using this end."
(Singapore, 1950s–1975; Taiwan, 1975–6)
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