Do you eat the British way or the North American way?

[freefall]

American way...but I kinda like the Moroccan way eating with my fingers....

Most African, Middle-East, and Asian (particularly South and South East) people usually eat with their hands until today. They claim the food tastes better and brings more enjoyment than using cutlery (except for noodles and soup of course ).

And sometimes eating with hands are viewed as being more traditional and brings people close together, like in the case of nasi kebuli/biryani in Middle East and India, and nasi liwet in Indonesia, where the meal is served in one place like paella and people take the food directly from the container with their hands to consume.

Honestly I don't like it. Only when there's no cutlery at all (some restaurants may not provide this as an encouragement to eat using your hands) and even then I usually keep plastic cutlery in my carriage. The only exception for me is eating nasi padang (but only exceptionally) and nasi liwet, the later because it would be awkward to be the only one not using hands in an otherwise traditional feast.

 

[Cormac135]

British way.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

[STRIKE]British[/STRIKE] European way.

The other way a.k.a the zig-zag method was so much considered to be for yokels that it has probably died out in The Netherlands. I´m told my paternal grandfather who was an agricultural civil servant ate that way.

When our friend from Long Island was over I was exasperated to see him put the fork in his right hand. It is true, however, that we will eat with the fork in our dominant hand when we´re just snacking from the jar. Also, left-handed people still keep the fork in their left hand and the knife in their right.

 

[DantheManFL]

The 'Murican way. USA, USA.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

Edit : found this : http://www.haivuong.com/news/european-and-american-dining-etiquette.html

I know we The Dutch are hardly known for our refined etiquette, but we never put our fork tines down on the plate when we´re resting or finished. It wouldn´t be considered wrong, a.f.a.i.k.

 

[gsdx]

This is extremely bizarre to me. I really can't even picture it!

Try it yourself. The next time you eat, hold the knife and fork the way you usually do. Slice off some of the food or push it onto the back of your fork. Now, set your knife beside your plate, switch the fork to the hand that was holding your knife, and eat the food. Now, transfer the fork back to your other hand and pick up your knife.

When you finish laughing, continue eating as you usually do.

 

[Latimer]

I once sat down to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Riyadh (of all places) with a group of Americans and Koreans. The Americans all used chopsticks, proud to show off our mastery of the skill required, while the Koreans all used knives and forks, presumably to impress us with their Western cutlery skill.

 

[freefall]

^No offense to those who are willing to learn and use them, but watching non-Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese people (or other people who are not used to using chopsticks since early age) using chopsticks breaks my heart. Most of the time it's not proper and the table looks like a battlefield to these people as they are struggling to transport anything into their hungry mouths. While I appreciate their intention, please return to your forks and spoons.

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

Most African, Middle-East, and Asian (particularly South and South East) people usually eat with their hands until today. They claim the food tastes better and brings more enjoyment than using cutlery (except for noodles and soup of course ).

It´s that salty taste and aroma left on the hands after not washing correctly after a visit to the bathroom.

 

[eastofeden]

Most African, Middle-East, and Asian (particularly South and South East) people usually eat with their hands until today. They claim the food tastes better and brings more enjoyment than using cutlery (except for noodles and soup of course ).

And sometimes eating with hands are viewed as being more traditional and brings people close together, like in the case of nasi kebuli/biryani in Middle East and India, and nasi liwet in Indonesia, where the meal is served in one place like paella and people take the food directly from the container with their hands to consume.

Honestly I don't like it. Only when there's no cutlery at all (some restaurants may not provide this as an encouragement to eat using your hands) and even then I usually keep plastic cutlery in my carriage. The only exception for me is eating nasi padang (but only exceptionally) and nasi liwet, the later because it would be awkward to be the only one not using hands in an otherwise traditional feast.

Interesting....because I actually find it more intimate myself though I never thought of that before....

Even with strangers at the Moroccan Restaurant I am speaking of...there is a much more communal atmosphere and almost always you speak with your neighbors...and that is quite different than most restaurants....

I remember at the Ethiopian Restaurant..the problem with no utensils is that most of the food was very "soupy"...but I think there were spoons...

 

[G-Lexington]

^No offense to those who are willing to learn and use them, but watching non-Chinese/Korean/Japanese/Vietnamese people (or other people who are not used to using chopsticks since early age) using chopsticks breaks my heart. Most of the time it's not proper and the table looks like a battlefield to these people as they are struggling to transport anything into their hungry mouths. While I appreciate their intention, please return to your forks and spoons.

Whenever I eat at a fast-service Japanese restaurant near me, I play "fork or chopsticks". I try to guess whether every new customer who comes in will eat their food with a fork or chopsticks. I'm right about 95% of the tiime. I'm about on the border. Anyone my age or older than me (who does not appear to be of Asian descent) will use a fork. Anyone younger than me will use chopsticks. I guess living in an urban center (or what pretends to be one - Denver doesn't really qualify) these days in America, one eats at enough Chinese and Japanese restaurants that one picks up the chopstick skills at some point. I honestly don't remember not knowing how to use them.

Lex

 

[freefall]

^The ultimate test of skill with chopsticks: eating porridge with it (shoveling the porridge into the mouth with them doesn't count) Most of my friends flipped their cool when they saw me do it, while it's actually pretty common to see East Asian people eating porridge with chopsticks. I don't know why people think it's a mastery feat Of course the porridge has to be thick enough so as not to flow off the sticks.

 

[LeicsDom]

I generally cut up my food into easily manageable pieces before putting it on the plate.

Yeah, I do that with my 4 year old nephew

 

[Alistair]

Taking a bite of food with the tines of a fork down seems awkward.

 

[Vannie]

What happens when I can't find my teeth?

 

[Alistair]

What happens when I can't find my teeth?

 

[freefall]

^Further assistance:

 

[seven2go]

Or eating with a fork or spoon with their hand wrapped around the utensil rather than holding it in their fingers and thumb, like this. Not only does it look childish, the position forces your elbow into neighbouring territory.

View attachment 1242788

If you watch the Food Channel you will often see the judges holding the ford or spoon as in the NEVER way.
That's something I noticed just recently and was kind of surprised by it.
I realize it seems crude or awkward but I was nearing my teens before I started handling my utensils "properly", ie; not the NEVER way.
I am right handed but do a lot of things left handedly however handling cutting utensils is not one of the them so I cut 2-3-4 pieces, lay down the knife and switch to my right hand.
I never heard of using the backside of a fork as a shovel.......

 

[zoltanspawn]

I've never, or maybe almost never, seen an adult grasp their cutlery in the "never" manner. I would think there was something wrong with them.

The Westerners here seem utterly capable with chopsticks. (Must be all the ramen and pho shops.)

I'm flexible. I mostly use chopsticks, and in the privacy of my own home will usually eat non-Asian meals with them: pasta, veggies, tidbits. But I also use my hands if I've made Indian food, or purchased Ethiopian or something like panuchos. I haven't fixed any manners regarding knife and fork; I let my whims guide me, unless I'm in a place that needs manners, and then it's knife in the left, fork in the right, no switching.

 

[cityboy-stl]

I don't get the thing about holding the fork with the prongs pointing downward. I guess that's ok to stab a piece of meat but a lot things just roll off or you couldn't pick up at all. Like you can't eat mashed potatoes or eggs with the fork upside down.