Table manners question that's been driving me nuts

[aloofman]

Well, that's seen as "bad manners" here FWIW.

Oh, that doesn't surprise me. I don't really see how it's any more rude than keeping a knife in your hand when you aren't using it though.

 

[cslewis]

I did that with bananas. Somehow it tasted better when it was mashed a little before eating.

When I was a kid I hated mushy bananas. I'd eat them when they were still a little green and still pretty hard. I still love them that way.

To get on topic:

I typically scoop things like rice onto my fork by pushing them with the knife. I also always switch my utensils back and forth... pretty much everyone I know does. I didn't know it was that rare.

 

[clayj]

I don't switch hands: Fork and spoon are operated with the right hand, knife with the left.

As long as you don't use a coal miner's grip to hold any of the utensils, you're doing just fine.

 

[jsw]

I just use the Magic Bullet to puree everything and then just add a comfort lip to the mug and chug-a-lug. If I'm adventurous I'll eat it all with a spoon. Saves any confusion.

Add in a long straw, and that's how I do it. I mean, how can you post on MR with utensils in hand? Pureed dinner and a silly straw make it all easy. No choking hazard either. Bit of a gagging hazard if you mix the wrong things, but, you know, you get used to it. Plus it prepares you for advanced age.

 

[MacNut]

Plus you get to save on those useless visits to the dentist.

 

[iBlue]

i eat by osmosis. i don't even need a napkin! ok no, i usually just turn the fork over, with my left hand

 

[dops7107]

I'm curious as to what is the "proper" way to eat European/Continental style.

Hmmm. I'll just go and ask my butler.

 

[EricNau]

I eat the "continental" way, even though I'm American - I was taught that way by my German Grandma.

I have a fail-proof way of eating peas while keeping my fork upside down in my left hand - mix them with the mashed potatoes.

 

[mad jew]

I don't really see how it's any more rude than keeping a knife in your hand when you aren't using it though.

It isn't any more rude. Being pedantic, they're probably about as bad as each other.

 

[bartelby]

I very rarely use a knife.
Some medication I was on several months ago affected my co-ordination and made it hard to use a knife and a fork.

 

[Applespider]

I do exactly the same as Lau. Turn the fork over in the left hand for items that need to be 'scooped' and if there's no knife, use the right hand. Having said that, I always use a spoon in the right hand.

One reason for not cutting it all up and then using the other hand to eat it, quite aside from etiquette, is that it makes your food go colder quicker <yuck>

 

[jadekitty24]

Holy cow reading this thread made me realize that I have no manners. None at all. At home it doesn't matter, I usually eat alone, but going out is excrutiating. I gotta remember not to belch like a sea lion and now I hear we have to use specific forks for specific foods?!?
then again, I WAS raised by wolves...

 

[someguy]

I just fall face first into my plate and inhale.

 

[FireArse]

I just fall face first into my plate and inhale.

LOL

I have to admit - we eat a great deal of rice here, so I often have the spoon in the right hand, and the fork in the left. None of this turning the fork upside down business.

When I need to eat a steak, a sharp knife in place of the spoon. Using the spoon is just common sense when eating peas, rice or other wee-bits of food. You'd be suprised at what you can cut with the edge of a spoon though!

F

 

[takao]

i'm the same as gekko i never saw somebody putting stuff on the back of the fork
if i eat something like parboiled rice, peas etc. i use the knife to put the food on thefork sideways
knife right hand, fork left except eating something where you don't need a knife like pasta

 

[dubbz]

I'm norwegian, but I use fork or spoon in my right hand, and the knife in my left hand. Don't really know why. No one else I know (here) do it like that. Just comes more natural to me for some reason.

...although sometimes I actually use the fork in the left hand and knife in the right hand. Not often though, and I'm not sure why I do it at all.

I don't always make sense...

 

[iGav]

using a fork with the left hand???? if you're a freak.

 

[dotdotdot]

I cut with the fork in my left hand, then switch the fork over to my right hand while simultaniously dropping the knife onto the table or corner of the plate.

Its intense. Seriously.

 

[jadekitty24]

I just fall face first into my plate and inhale.

Tried it...I guess that sort of behaviour is "Socially Un-Acceptable"?!? People nowadays are just too damn reserved

 

[CompUser]

I eat "european" style I guess. Knife always in right hand, fork in left.

 

[mad jew]

People nowadays are just too damn reserved

And inefficient. Inhaling lets you use both the nose and the mouth.

 

[CanadaRAM]

i eat by osmosis.

OMG

Remind me never to fall asleep if I am ever in bed with you... in case you get hungry...






(Can I say that on a family forum?)

 

[kcarnesi]

Actually I was just thinking about this the other day. My father is just retired from the CIA after working DC OP in western Europe and Asia.

Something he always told me that was very important in not giving yourself away was actually eating with your fork in the way mentioned. Often, this is noted at a dinner table in Europe because of the way Americans are known to eat. Holding the fork in the wrong hand or accidently almost putting it in a different hand could be such a small mistake that could have such large re-percussions.

Hope that helps.

 

[alexstein]

I'm Norwegian:

And if someone switched hands while eating I would think they had some kind of physical handicap that prevented them from using their left hand properly.

Nice! I could not have said it better. ...and the drawing is just awesome...

I'm German and I eat the same way.

 

[w_parietti22]

I eat with my fork in the left and knife in the right. I find that its harder to cut with the knife in the left hand.