There’s much to like about today’s café society but there’s one really annoying trend – the wrapping of paper serviettes around knives and forks.

Tightly wrapping eating utensils in napkins has taken hold in recent years to the point that every second outlet seems to have adopted this detestable practice.

It’s wrong on every count:

• The napkins or serviettes are rolled around the utensils so tightly that to remove them means tearing them off – rendering them useless
• If you rise to the challenge of removing them in one piece it takes an age to find the unlocking point, while your dining friends roll around the floor with laughter at your predicament
• Kitchen or waiting staff have the unenviable, unrewarding and unnecessary task of rolling the utensils in the paper napkins
• More often than not the food arrives accompanied by another serviette so there’s a double up in provision and more landfill fodder
• The serviettes are made of bleached paper, so their production is not environmentally friendly.

I know this is very much a first world problem but if you’re a 21^st century food service retailer then there’s a right way and a wrong way to provide good customer service. Shrink wrapping knives and forks in paper serviettes is wrong!

If you’re really into the arcane art of napkin folding then paper will simply not do. Go no further than the British Royal Family for role models. They use linen napkins which for state dinners are folded into dutch bonnets by a person carrying the title of “The Yeoman of the China and Glass Pantry”. Now that’s classy service!