Q: I have conflicted feelings about sushi. I really enjoy it, but I always feel a little awkward while eating it. In particular, I've noticed that I end up eating sushi way too fast, since there is no cutting or other preparation that needs to be done.

Do other readers experience this? How can I slow down and enjoy my sushi?

Sent by Ann More

From time to time CHOW's resident etiquette expert, Helena Echlin, asks our readers for some advice. She has an interesting question from a reader right now, who has a puzzling set of friends. They are compulsive hosts, very generous. But they can't seem to accept a return favor.

Read on for the whole question, and please add your two cents! Helena will include some of your answers in her response at CHOW next week. More

Mother's Day weekend seems a particularly good time to to revisit a popular question from our readers: My friend just had a baby — what kind of meal should I take? A friend of mine just had her very first child last night, and so this question is on my mind too. So I was glad to see this great article by Deena Prichep in The Oregonian, full of tips, advice, and good ideas on nourishing new mothers and their families. More

In our experience, it seems most dinner parties start at 7pm. This allows enough time for guests to get ready after work (and for the host to get last minute details together), but is early enough that dinner can be leisurely without the evening slipping away too soon. More

Hosting a dinner party is a big effort. Depending on your style you may have to clean up the house, shop for and make a meal, set the table, arrange flowers, restock the bar, make a music mix, arrange for childcare or kid-friendly alternatives, get yourself dressed and presentable, light the candles, and arrange the hors d'oeuvres. Phew! All this is good to do but as a host your most important task is to make your guests feel welcome and comfortable. Read on for 8 basic tips on how to do just that. More

So many recipes seem to assume we have this friendly first-name relationship with our local butcher. Or that we have a local butcher at all! These recipes advise us to "ask your butcher for this..." or "have your butcher do that..." Well, what if we're not quite there yet? More

Q: I know the topic of how to not come off as some rude, pretentious vegetarian/vegan has been discussed a lot on The Kitchn, but I recently became a vegetarian and something I've never thought of before crossed my mind: When people ask why I am a vegetarian, what do I tell them without condemning their choice to eat meat?

Please help me out, guys! I really don't want to offend anyone, infringe upon people's right to make their own choices, or be a bad ambassador for vegetarianism.

Sent by Paige More

Maybe you've heard that it is perfectly fine to slurp your noodles in Japan, but did you know that the Inuit people of Canada find burping at the end of a meal acceptable — and that there is a scientific explanation for it? A slideshow from the Daily Meal showcases some surprising dining habits from Afghanistan to Zambia. More

No, seriously! How are you supposed to eat these things? Most of the time we end up indelicately shoveling too-large leaves into our mouths and smearing our cheeks with dressing in the process. We refuse to eat salads in public anymore. Inquiring minds want to know: do you have a favorite method for eating salads with decorum? More

'Tis the season and no one knows it better than The Kitchn's writers during Cookie Week. After being invited to our fair share of cookie swaps this season, we noticed trends in the way hostesses arrange the logistics and the way participants talk about the treats they bring to share. We started to wonder if there was such a thing as cookie swap etiquette. More