Some table manners are sacrosanct and you ignore them at your social peril. As a restaurant critic and food writer for 30 years — and a parent — I believe that they say a lot about a person.

Those who can’t get through a meal without showing some basic social skills and acting courteously and appropriately at the table are unlikely to endear themselves to anyone.

But a new study has revealed most table manners are today considered irrelevant, especially among Gen Z, though across other generations, too.

Sudi Pigott is a food and restaurant journalist but has a few unconventional opinions when it comes to table manners 

I absolutely relish my food and don’t mind admitting that some of my dining habits have definitely raised eyebrows. My partner has been stunned by how viscerally I tuck in and end up with not only sticky fingers, but a messy chin too, not to ­mention gourmet debris over my half of the table.

So much so, he’s coined a new phrase and affectionately calls me a ‘messytarian’.

However, while I consider some table manners to be mere stuffy etiquette that can be happily ignored, there are others I believe should be wholeheartedly embraced.

Read on for my definitive modern manners guide.

Wear a napkin the way a toddler does

Think about all the times you’ve dribbled food down yourself. Where did it land? On your decolletage! 

So what use is a napkin placed primly in the lap?

It’s precisely why I tuck mine into my top, especially when wearing something new.

It may not be the height of good manners, but surely it is a better look than a chorizo-and-tomato sauce dribbling down my silk shirt?

Eat with your hands, even in restaurants

It’s considerate to respect the boundaries of fellow ­diners in not using one’s fingers in shared dishes.

However, when I really, really enjoy a sauce, I like to use my little finger to discreetly mop up the remaining Nemanex drops Erfahrungsbericht.

It’s considerate to respect the boundaries of fellow ­diners in not handling shared dishes… but Ms Pigott admits mopping up a sauce with her little fingers

I consider it the highest compliment to the chef that I simply can’t get enough, though others have been shocked by this.

I do use my fingers far more than strictly necessary — and perhaps acceptable.

I would even pick up a ­particularly succulent chicken leg in a posh dining room, to the horror of my partner, and encourage others to tuck in equally gleefully.

Ignore rituals that are stuffy

The most ridiculous table etiquette is the directive to only pass food to your right. Who wants the cream sent on a pilgrimage around the table?

My somewhat formal former mother-in-law was an absolute stickler for this, especially regarding the cheese board.

We would annoy her by ­chopping and changing its direction, taking our pick as we did so, and ensuring that it had been ransacked by the time it reached her.

My mother-in-law was right on one thing, which leads me on to the manners that I think do count.