Etiquette lessons?

[Tobus]

I have found that, aside from the issue concerning which hand wields the fork, there is very little actual difference between table manners in the UK or North America.

Lemme guess... in the UK, they hold it with their left hands just like they drive on the left side of the road?

[davedove]

Lemme guess... in the UK, they hold it with their left hands just like they drive on the left side of the road?

The biggest difference is in how you cut and then eat your food.

In the American side of the pond, while cutting the fork is held in the left hand and the knife in the right. Once the bite is cut off, you set the knife down, transfer the fork to the right hand, and then spear and pass the food with your fork to your mouth.

On the European side, once the food is cut, you retain hold of both utensils and transfer the food to your mouth with the fork in the left hand.

This is, of course, a generalization, but fairly accurate. I have heard of tales where undercover American spies were suspected because they ate holding the fork wrong (no idea of the validity of this).


As far as the utensils set above the plate, I have always read that those are for dessert. But, again, that practice is far from universal.

[artificer]

The biggest difference is in how you cut and then eat your food.

In the American side of the pond, while cutting the fork is held in the left hand and the knife in the right. Once the bite is cut off, you set the knife down, transfer the fork to the right hand, and then spear and pass the food with your fork to your mouth.

On the European side, once the food is cut, you retain hold of both utensils and transfer the food to your mouth with the fork in the left hand.

My mother taught us to eat this way as children. It is much more graceful than the constant juggling of silver that goes on when dining 'American Style'.
When eating as a child, I was always asked by other kids if I was left-handed.

This is, of course, a generalization, but fairly accurate. I have heard of tales where undercover American spies were suspected because they ate holding the fork wrong (no idea of the validity of this).

Maybe my mum was a spy...?

[Lallans]

How a cigarette was held used to work quite well also.

Where I live, there are a number of tricks like that used by certain law enforcement types to sort out real Canadians from possible Americans, often a formidable chore, and I'm sure vice-versa. Virtually all of them are verbal now. The fork thing would never have worked, if only because Canada is a jumble as far as that goes.

[Whidbey78]

Unfortunately, dining etiquette is very far from universal. My wifes grandmother says silverware on the plate indicates a special appetizer being served--a rare or pricey treat from the host for honored or well liked guests. I haven't found anything in writing to that effect, so maybe it's just something in her circle of friends or a family thing she believes is universal.

I wasn't taught to keep the fork in my left hand, and nobody in my family does it. I do it because transferring the silver to the other hand and setting the knife down are two un-needed movements which result in more unnecessary movements to get the next bite. I believe in economy of motion while eating. I've had a number of people ask me if I was raised in or once lived in Europe. Can't say that I've ever "lived" there, but have visited a number of times.

Switching hands is just irritating to me, but I'm one of those mildly OCD types who can't stand the sound of silverware constantly being set on the plate, drink glasses being plunked down, etc. I also hold on to drawers and cabinet doors when I close them so they don't make excessive noise and turn doorknobs when closing the door so it doesn't "click." On the flipside, I'm listening to John Lee Hooker at an unreasonable, and even obnoxious volume.

In the case of the Navy Ball, checking the Mess Manual would be a good idea. I never saw such a thing at the Marine Corp Ball that I can recall...on the other hand, my birthday is November 10th, so the Marines in my command usually poured drinks down my throat all day!

[Jack Daw]

The biggest difference is in how you cut and then eat your food.

In the American side of the pond, while cutting the fork is held in the left hand and the knife in the right. Once the bite is cut off, you set the knife down, transfer the fork to the right hand, and then spear and pass the food with your fork to your mouth.

On the European side, once the food is cut, you retain hold of both utensils and transfer the food to your mouth with the fork in the left hand.

This is, of course, a generalization, but fairly accurate. I have heard of tales where undercover American spies were suspected because they ate holding the fork wrong (no idea of the validity of this).


As far as the utensils set above the plate, I have always read that those are for dessert. But, again, that practice is far from universal.

Being a lefty, I eat European style - not transferring my knife and fork. Frankly, when I see people do the American style, I find it sort of annoying. What I'm intrigued with is how some Scots scoop food onto the back of the fork tines and successfully transfer to the mouth without dropping anything.

[Lallans]

Being a lefty, I eat European style - not transferring my knife and fork. Frankly, when I see people do the American style, I find it sort of annoying. What I'm intrigued with is how some Scots scoop food onto the back of the fork tines and successfully transfer to the mouth without dropping anything.

Crudely put, you mash things up and sort of paste them on. My kid brother, when he first saw another kid doing this back in the day, pronounced it "disgusting." But if memory serves, he was hardly one to talk.

[wildrover]

If they eat like quite a few Mid-east countries I've been in there's a trick/pattern. You rip off a piece of flat bread and use it as your silverware.

A-ha! Thanks for that tidbit...none of us knew, which led to some awkward moments as we all considered how to transfer goopy stuff to our mouths and then reload, without sharing everyone else's saliva and skin cells.

One thing to know is if your host is Islamic. If so remember to not use your left hand. Now I have seen many who do so I don't know how much this is enforced.

Good point, nor just Islamic. In countries where the benefits of toilet paper haven't been discovered, it's a necessity, and the etiquette of keeping the left hand in the lap continues despite the invention of things like hand-washing. We ate right-handed in the restaurant, though I doubt anyone would have cared terribly if we'd used both, this being America and all. In contrast, I've heard stories from a cousin or two who went overseas to paper-less lands and said the left hand stayed down at all times, regardless how clean it was.

It's actually a really great way to eat a salad, as you can fold smaller things into the leaf to ensure they don't roll off the fork.

Interesting...must try.

Being a lefty, I eat European style - not transferring my knife and fork. Frankly, when I see people do the American style, I find it sort of annoying. What I'm intrigued with is how some Scots scoop food onto the back of the fork tines and successfully transfer to the mouth without dropping anything.

Crudely put, you mash tinings up and sort of paste them on. My kid brother, when he first saw another kid doing this back in the day, pronounced it "disgusting." But if memory serves, he was hardly one to talk.

The other way I've seen & heard it done is mash them with the bottom of the fork against the plate. Either way, yeah, it's sort of gross.

Jock, wish I had time for meals like that...they happen, but as you say rarely. I don't drink much port these days...good stuff, though, certainly something to drink slowly. Unfortunately, outside of formal dinners, most in this country seem to drink far too fast to enjoy it, and if they're drinking anything other than cheap beer or a fluorescent chick drink, it's usually described with all the verbal grace of an amphibious version of that biblical guy whose wife went all salty. I've stopped sharing the good bottles outside a very, very small group...even after the warning, "if you shoot this, you're cut off," most people still drink too damn fast to have any perception of what they've just slopped past their tongue.

[Drac]

A-ha! Thanks for that tidbit...none of us knew, which led to some awkward moments as we all considered how to transfer goopy stuff to our mouths and then reload, without sharing everyone else's saliva and skin cells.

From my co-workers who are from Mexico they commonly eat with tortillas as silverware.

Consider that the fork is a fairly recent invention. Elizabeth I was the first (recorded) to have a fork and that was a 2-tine novelty. Kind of weird how it has gone from most of our history that the knife was the primary eating implement is now considered a barbaric eating tool.

Jim

[Lallans]

From my co-workers who are from Mexico they commonly eat with tortillas as silverware.

Consider that the fork is a fairly recent invention. Elizabeth I was the first (recorded) to have a fork and that was a 2-tine novelty. Kind of weird how it has gone from most of our history that the knife was the primary eating implement is now considered a barbaric eating tool.

Jim

And I've been considering the Inuit practice of grasping meat in the teeth and then slicing off a chewable portion with a ulu knife, one of those semi-circular jobs that are the only push-handled blades legal in Canuckistan (a sure sign of their cultural importance)....