Cutlery

[Hypersmurf]

I was startled by something I came across in a novel the other day. Someone identified a person as 'impersonating an American' by the way he handled a knife and fork.

The person in question had the accent, the in-jokes, etc, but he ate 'in the Continental fashion'.

I'm interested to know:

1. Are you left- or right-handed?
2. Where are you from?
3. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, cutting a steak?
4. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, eating a steak?
5. Which hand do you hold your fork in while, say, eating a piece of cheesecake?
6. Which hand do you hold your spoon in while, say, eating a bowl of cereal?

For my part, I'm a right-hander from New Zealand. I hold my knife in my right hand; I'll cut a bite-sized piece of meat, lift it to my mouth with the fork in my left, then repeat the process for the next bite.

If I'm not using a knife, though, I'll hold the fork or spoon in my right.

Left-handers I know do exactly the same with knife and fork - knife right, fork left - but when they have no knife, the fork or spoon is in their left.

They think right-handers are crazy (it's always their primary hand that performs the table-to-mouth motion), whereas right-handers generally seem to prefer having the knife in their dominant hand, since holding something pinned to the plate with the fork doesn't need a lot of control... but if the dominant hand is otherwise free, you may as well use it for the fork or spoon.

How do Americans do it?

-Hyp.

 

[Crothian]

1. Are you left- or right-handed?
2. Where are you from?
3. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, cutting a steak?
4. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, eating a steak?
5. Which hand do you hold your fork in while, say, eating a piece of cheesecake?
6. Which hand do you hold your spoon in while, say, eating a bowl of cereal?

1) Right handed
2) Ohio, USA
3) knife in right, fork in left
4) iknife in right, fork in left
5) right hand has the fork
6) right hand

 

[Dingleberry]

I'm from Chicago by way of Iowa in the US, and I do it the same way as Hyp and Crothian.

 

[Dingleberry]

And, of course, now I really want a steak and cheesecake - but I'm probably stuck with cereal.

 

[Templetroll]

from google. I do the American style.

American Style (also known as the zig-zag style)
By American custom, which was brought about partly by the late introduction of the fork into the culture, all three utensils are intended for use primarily with the right hand, which is the more capable hand for most people. This leads to some complicated maneuvering when foods, such as meat, require the use of knife and fork to obtain a bite of manageable size. When this is the case, the fork is held in the left hand, turned so that the tines point downward, the better to hold the meat in place while the right hand operates the knife. After a bite-sized piece has been cut, the diner sets the knife down on the plate and transfers the fork to the right hand, so that it can be used to carry the newly cut morsel to the mouth. Emily Post calls this the "zig-zag" style.

Proper Use of Knife, Fork, and Spoon
The European, or "Continental," style of using knife and fork is somewhat more efficient, and its practice is also slightly used in the United States, where left-handed children are no longer forced to learn to wield a fork with their right hands. According to this method, the fork is held continuously in the left hand and used for eating. When food must be cut, the fork is used exactly as in the American style, except that once the bite has been separated from the whole, it is conveyed directly to the mouth on the downward-facing fork.

Regardless of which style is used to operate fork and knife, it is important never to cut more than one or two bites at one time.

 

[Wyn A'rienh]

1. Are you left- or right-handed?
2. Where are you from?
3. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, cutting a steak?
4. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, eating a steak?
5. Which hand do you hold your fork in while, say, eating a piece of cheesecake?
6. Which hand do you hold your spoon in while, say, eating a bowl of cereal?

1. Right handed
2. Michigan, USA
3. Knife in right, fork in left
4. I tend to cut most of my meat at one time, as it irritates me to cut, eat, cut, eat. So, fork in right, nothing in left.
5. Right
6. Right

 

[Crothian]

Regardless of which style is used to operate fork and knife, it is important never to cut more than one or two bites at one time.

Why is this??

 

[Azul]

1. Are you left- or right-handed?
2. Where are you from?
3. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, cutting a steak?
4. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, eating a steak?
5. Which hand do you hold your fork in while, say, eating a piece of cheesecake?
6. Which hand do you hold your spoon in while, say, eating a bowl of cereal?

How do Americans do it?

Well, I'm North American so maybe we do it similarly.

1. Right-handed
2. Canada - Quebecois francophone upbringing, Lac St-Jean regional subculture (relevant since this is a cultural question -- Quebecois culture is kind of different from the rest of Canada and even between regions of Quebec you can see significant regional variation on many things such as dialect and customs)
3. Cut with knife in the right hand, pinning food using the fork in the left
4. Put knife down, transfer fork to my right hand, stab food again and lift it to my mouth (I was brought up to believe that it was good manners to use the right hand for the main eating implement in use at any given moment... the left hand was only for assisting the right)
5. Right hand
6. Right hand

Needless to say, I'm fairly clumsy at doing anything but pinning food with my left hand and good with any piece of cutlery with my right as a result.

 

[Azul]

Regardless of which style is used to operate fork and knife, it is important never to cut more than one or two bites at one time.

I've never heard that particular rule before. It just seemed to me that cutting too many small pieces leads to your food getting cold faster. However, cutting 3-4 pieces is a more efficient way to eat if you are constantly switching your fork between your two hands (like I do).

Hmm.... I guess I use "American" style dining. Figures.

 

[IronWolf]

1. Are you left- or right-handed?
2. Where are you from?
3. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, cutting a steak?
4. Which hand do you hold your knife and fork in while, say, eating a steak?
5. Which hand do you hold your fork in while, say, eating a piece of cheesecake?
6. Which hand do you hold your spoon in while, say, eating a bowl of cereal?

1: right handed
2: Ohio, USA
3: knife in right hand, fork in left hand
4: knife in right hand, fork in left hand
5: right hand
6: right hand