If food must be removed from the mouth for some reason—a pit, bone, or gristle—the rule of thumb is that it comes out the same way it went in. For example, if olives are eaten by hand, the pit may be removed by hand. If an olive in a salad is eaten with a fork, the pit should be deposited back onto the fork inside one’s mouth, and then placed onto a plate. The same applies to any small bone or piece of gristle in food. A diner should never spit things into a napkin, certainly not a cloth napkin. Since the napkin is always laid on the lap and brought up only to wipe one’s mouth, hidden food may be accidentally dropped onto the lap or onto the host’s floor. Food that is simply disliked should be swallowed. The topic sentence of the paragraph is __________________________________________________________________________