11 of the worst foods to eat on a first date, according to an etiquette expert

First dates can be hard. You're nervous, you don't know what to wear, and you hope you haven't been Catfished. When you finally do settle on an outfit choice and head out to the restaurant, you're desperate to make a good first impression.

Luckily, things seem to be going well. Caught up in conversation, you order a spaghetti dish with marinara sauce before truly thinking through the consequences. When it arrives, you realize you've set yourself up for an additional challenge: the spaghetti strands aren't twirling well onto your fork, and you're being forced to slurp up stray, dangling ends that invariably leave a few drops of red sauce on your white shirt in the process. It's not a pretty sight.

How can you avoid a situation like this? Perhaps if you had considered your menu choice a bit more, you would have saved yourself a whole lot of awkwardness. We spoke to international etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore to get an idea of the top foods to stay away from on a first date. Read on for her full list of messy meals that could turn your night from great to grim.