Do you cut your meat European-style?

Europeans with cut meat are very attractive, even though most of them retain the stank sleeve. Eww!

Is the “I can’t afford meat” option intended for Darfur orphan?

[quote]I pierce the meat with right hand, saw myself a piece off and eat it with my right hand. I'm a right-handed person.

That would make you a savage. At least the trashy people are trying to be less trashy.

Why yes it is, R2. I ate a clay pie for dinner with a side of "chocolate" milk. It tasted rather strange.

I do it backwards. I’m right-handed, but my mom (who taught me) was left-handed. Apparently I tie my shoes differently than most too.

Forgive me for trying to class up this place.

[quote] My meat is so tender it falls off the bone, so...

Is this the Greg option?

Rashomon.

It's how I was taught. But then, I was taught to eat with chopsticks too.

[quote]I see even trashy people doing this, like it makes them classy and ra-sha-sha.

Ra-sha-sha?

You type like a drag queen.

I think you might be a savage, OP.

i’m a lefty, bitch

If you're right-handed, it makes sense to use the knife in your right hand. The only difference between American and European style would be that Americans will then move the fork to the right hand to bring the piece of meat to their mouths. (Right-handed people, at least.)

I eat in the continental style.

Right handed here. Keep the fork in the right hand and the knife in the left hand. Constantly moving the fork from one hand to the other never made any sense to me

Hi, Greg.

You should eat tartare, Op

I’m right handed and also keep my fork in my right hand - I cut with the knife in my left, and often cut several pieces at once — and I know that isn’t “proper” but whatever.

To be honest, I rarely eat a big steak or chicken on the bone, so if I’m eating a chicken cutlet, fish or even thin slices of London Broil or pot roast I just cut it with the side of my fork and never use the knife.

Which I guess makes me a complete savage.

I'm right-handed. I hold the meat with the fork in my left hand and cut with the knife in my right. If I'm with Americans who are unfamiliar with European etiquette, I will transfer the fork to my right hand and eat. If I'm with a more cosmopolitan group or alone, I may eat European style, with the fork in my left and the knife in my right as it's more efficient.

R18

[quote] I cut with the knife in my left, and often cut several pieces at once

Are you six?

“European style”? You mean “rest of the world style”.

I’m chock full o’ ra sha sha. Bitches.

Hello, R16.

I'm a right handed European whose left hand is completely useless so I eat like savage Americans.

I’m over 6, just efficient.

As I said, I know it isn’t proper but don’t really give a fuck.

what about table settings? how do you set a table? are there different styles for Americans Vs European?

[quote] I cut with the knife in my left, and often cut several pieces at once

My mom told us not to do this (cut up the entire piece of meat or food or whatever). Just cut one or two bites at at a time.

When I was little, I went to a neighbor's house and they were eating pancakes. My neighbor (girl) cut up her entire plate of pancakes and it looked like a mess and I could see why you're not supposed to do that.

OP wraps his hand around knife and fork, to stab food.

American and was taught American style-hold the fork in your left hand, pick up knife with the right, cut a small piece, then lay your knife down and move your fork to your right hand, tines up. Switch back and repeat.

But I’m left handed so wasn’t too great with a knife in my right hand as a kid so my mother said it was ok to do it backwards. I think in order of priorities hers were 1) I don’t stab myself or anyone else accidentally, 2) I knew the difference between a fish, a salad and dinner fork, as well as spoons, and 3) ultimately our entire existence is meaningless and we came from and eventually will just be cosmic specks of dust in the universe, so why get so worked up over dining etiquette in the first place?

She had excellent table manners herself. She stabbed her younger sister in the leg with a salad fork when she was 5 and when her mother was checking on her sister and scolding her she said “I used the salad fork. We didn’t have salad”. (Not having salad was not the reason she stabbed her sister, I presume. But she wisely chose not to use her dinner fork or try to half-ass it with a spoon.)

Stealth Lorena Bobbitt Fan Club thread

[quote] Constantly moving the fork from one hand to the other never made any sense to me

Agreed. Who needs the aggravation?

I’m European and I’ve always used utensils the European/non-american way (fork on the left, knife on the right, only one piece cut between bites, fork kept in tines-down position at all times). I had never noticed that it was different to the american way until a bunch of Americans pointed it out to me in my early 20s.

Continental style. My parents are European immigrants.

Continental style because the other way is too basic.

I'm American and will actually champion the American style of switching fork to the other hand after cutting over the European style of keeping fork and knife in the same hands the whole time. It just introduces an extra step, which is in itself more characteristic of etiquette, and it discourages the rapid eating you especially see among British people, who tend—and I've often sat across from very well bred Britons who do this—to pile as much as they can on the back of the tines to observe the tines-down rule, mashing it all down to keep it from falling off, and stuffing it into their mouths while leaning as far over their plates as possible.

R32, saying "different to" is also different "to" the American way, FYI.

European style for me. Switching doesn't make sense.

I don't mash food on the tines though.

I don’t understand eating off the back of the tines. It would be like having soup off the back of the spoon or using an upside down shovel. I feel like if aliens showed up on earth and discovered food and utensils, they would instinctively use a fork tines up. It seems like a relatively easy to figure out system.

As they ate our eyeballs.

Anyone who cuts and eats in any other fashion besides European is pure trash.

I think the American method is actually more sophisticated. Using one’s left hand to put food in one’s mouth (if one is right-handed) looks incorrect, like one is in a very big hurry to shovel that food down.

[quote]I think the American method is actually more sophisticated. Using one’s left hand to put food in one’s mouth (if one is right-handed) looks incorrect, like one is in a very big hurry to shovel that food down.

It is. And I find the “Anyone who cuts and eats in any other fashion besides European is pure trash” absurdly funny. We’ve all heard stories that at dinner with the late Queen Elizabeth, when the Queen stopped eating everybody was expected to stop as well. So people were frantically scarfing down food trying to play beat the clock and get enough to eat before a nonagenarian Royal who probably had the appetite of a hummingbird was finished. Why were Diana and Kate so slender? Because they were malnourished!

How sophisticated! 🤣

Well, it's true what they say: you learn something new every day. I had absolutely no idea that most Americans turn their fork upside down and scoop food with it. That would be considered rather rude here.

R42, you know that doesn't happen in British homes, right? It's just a quirk of a State Dinner, and they're not rushed affairs, so no scarfing down food required!

I do the Great American Switcheroo after cutting meat with the fork in my left hand, tines down.

Yes, I get mocked for it, but cannot pull off tines down eating directly after cutting the meat that Europeans use.

[quote][R42], you know that doesn't happen in British homes, right?

Of course. I’ve seen people have dinner on UK tv shows. But I also know how worshipful so many of you were of the Queen and I can easily imagine a home where the matriarch insists that dinner stops when she is done eating. And I assume that the Queen neither started nor ended that tradition and things like eating with an upside down fork have long been practiced and are culturally ingrained.

And why do you think we are turning our folks upside down? When they are set, are they set tine side up or down? If they have an inscription, is it on the back of the fork or the front? By all appearances a fork with tines up is right side up. And how do you eat peas with a fork without mashing them into the tines when you could turn the fork over and let them gently rest on the TOP of the fork?

I’m not being critical, but those who think that Continental style is the only proper way just seem silly. If I was told it would be rude, I would eat Continental style while in the UK. But I’d still think it was silly. And an American wouldn’t comment on a Brit eating in the US with a fork tines down mashing potatoes and vegetables against the back of a fork with a knife and we certainly wouldn’t think it was rude. Just weird.

We’ve seen enough tv to see you eat fish and chips and drunkenly scarf down shawarma sandwiches to know that you have more than one set of rules. We do too. But to pretend that there is only ONE right way to eat is funny.

I am happy he uses fork!

^ I hear ya, gal!

R45 I’ve had fellow diners in American restaurants point out the way that I eat food in the non-American way. Complete strangers. As well as when I’m eating with new acquaintances.

Vivian Vance

Yes . Never thought anything of it until I started school. Sat down at the lunch table to eat. My first grade classmates literally stopped and stared. I was immediately labeled a sissy or communist or both. My mum was Brit and we lived in Florida.

I love it! First grade commie!

Face to the trough and inhale works just fine for me.

How hard can this be? Were you raised in a bloody barn?

OP - HKLP

[quote] The only difference between American and European style would be that Americans will then move the fork to the right hand to bring the piece of meat to their mouths.

We do do that, don’t we? That is so fucking funny. It never occurred to me how fucking awkward that is!

Yes, as I'm British.

Bri’ish.

[quote]That is so fucking funny. It never occurred to me how fucking awkward that is!

I don’t find it particularly awkward. We’re just using our dominant hand to do the work. I’m a leftie and fairly adept at doing things with my right hand anyway (we all are pretty much out of necessity) so it’s not uncommon for me to switch sometimes and not others. It’s totally subconscious, unless I’m at a very nice restaurant and I feel my dead mom’s eyes drilling into the back of head, watching for me to switch. It’s just an instinct in some situations.

I absolutely CAN NOT handle a pair of chopsticks with my right hand though. I’m fine with my left, but the way I can’t even control a pencil with my right hand, I can’t do chopsticks with my right hand. It would be an exercise in futility.

Recherché Somebody had to say it.

In the manner that some Americans label what they consider normal and acceptable virtuous and denigrate the “other”, in some Southern areas of the United States, the continental manner is called the “poor man’s” way of eating, which seems to me a bit of self-comforting reverse psychology.

If the right hand is dominant, that is, used for writing, greeting others, and eating (i.e-fork/spoon) then the secondary act of cutting with a knife should be reserved for the left or non-dominant hand. To switch hands just for cutting is inefficient and awkward looking. If you're right-handed, eat with your right hand and cut with your left.

With the fork held at an elegant low angle in the right hand, pierce the meat and hold it still. Take the knife in the left hand and cut the meat using a gentle sawing motion being careful not to loudly scrape the plate. Eat one piece of food at a time and place the fork and knife on the plate forming an inverted V to indicate you are not finished. When ready for the plate to be cleared, place the knife and fork parallel to each other with the knife blade facing inward.

[quote]To switch hands just for cutting is inefficient and awkward looking ... With the fork held at an elegant low angle ...

One could just as well say that keeping the tines always pointing down and the back of the fork upward while eating is inefficient and awkward, and that pausing to switch hands so that both cutting and eating are done with the dominant hand is more elegant.

In any case, the European style dictates keeping the fork in the left hand at all times, while the knife remains in the right. Another characteristic difference between American and European table manners is that American children are commonly taught to keep their left hands in their laps when not using it to eat, and that keeping it on the table is rude; Europeans are taught to shudder in horror at the idea of a hand kept out of sight under the table.

Potato, po-tah-to

Ou la la, ra sha sha.

Amateur.

Europeans are civilized, not barbarians. They don't cut their meat.

Shit, I wish I had a steak right now. I'm eating Tater Tots.

OP is a pig.

Yes, and only in the most exquisite way!

Miss Manners basically makes the same argument in favor of the American style of eating as r35. Generally speaking, much of table etiquette as it is has been practiced over the past few centuries is inefficient. Surely the most efficient way to eat a piece of meat is to pick it up by the bones with the hands and bite off bits directly from the bone. But we don't do that, and so that demolishes the argument that efficiency is the goal of good table manners. . However, for some of the European-trained eaters here to have had their table manners commented on by rude Americans is also unforgiveable. The essence of good manners is to make other people feel comfortable and to make them feel that the hosts or other guests are very glad to have them in their midst. We have all seen numerous examples of the knife and fork technique of Europeans on countless TV shows and in films so it should be accepted as a very normal and valid alternative to the American style and not commented on, nor should the American style be seen or commented on as being barbaric by Europeans. Comments about table manners should only be directed at children. But sometimes a nice comment is welcome. I had a friend show me a more elegant and graceful way of cutting meat when I was in my mid-20s. I can't even remember, but I think I left the fork tines in the left hand facing towards the knife as I cut, and he just gently said, "I think you'll find it easier to cut if you turn the tines downward". I tried it, saw immediately how much better it worked, and thanked him.

In the next generation, this entire discussion will be rendered obsolete, as most people under 30 don't even use utensils, with the possible exception of a spoon to eat cereal. The rest of their diet consists completely of finger food - burgers, fries, and pizza.

You got it backwards, OP.

[quote] I pierce the meat with right hand, saw myself a piece off and eat it with my right hand. I'm a right-handed person.

You cut the meat with the right hand because it's much simpler (for a right-handed person) to cut something with the right hand. That's why fork goes left, knife goes right. You don't put the knife down when you don't need it and let the fork switch hands, unless you're a toddler or eating in front of the TV.

I'm left-handed, and was never raised with any objection to using the left hand. For better or for worse, I have my left-handed grandma on my dad's side of the family to thank for that. She strongly advocated against any effort to change my handed-ness.

I don't usually eat meat tough enough to require the use of a knife; I usually cut it with the side or edge of the fork. On those occasions when I'm forced to use a knife, it's with the left hand, with the right holding the fork stationary as a guide. No point in trying to switch that out; my right hand is damn near useless.

I have never eaten in the company of 'Europeans,' or anyone else to whom something like which hand one uses to transport food to the mouth would matter, and it's highly unlikely that I ever will.

I’m mostly right-handed. But when I eat, it’s fork in the left hand, knife in the right, and no switching back/forth nonsense. Fork tines down when cutting/spearing food, fork tines up for general eating. Knife in right hand for cutting and pushing food onto fork. The American way wastes time/energy switching back and forth between hands that should be dedicated to shoveling food in one’s mouth.

Another Euro custom: I eat bread when I have soup. When I’m done, whatever bread is left over and any breadcrumbs brushed off the table are placed into my empty soup bowl.

I eat American style

Europeans don't cut their meat unless they are Jewish or Muslim!

[quote] The American way wastes time/energy switching back and forth between hands that should be dedicated to shoveling food in one’s mouth.

My post in a nutshell. The European style is just an invitation to "shoveling."

[quote]If the right hand is dominant, that is, used for writing, greeting others, and eating (i.e-fork/spoon) then the secondary act of cutting with a knife should be reserved for the left or non-dominant hand.

This is actually more difficult than I think most right handed people are even aware. Kitchen knives are either single beveled or double beveled and all serrated knives like bread knives and many steak knives are serrated and singled beveled. They’re only sharp on one side-the left. And serrated steak knives are serrated on the left side side so that when it’s on your right hand it’s slightly angled so the serrations or single bevel are pushing into the meat and and the serration or single edge are working with you, not against you. Try to cut a piece of meat with a knife in your left hand and you’ll still get the job down but you’ll end up tearing more than cutting the meat. So using the knife in the left hand actually is harder and more difficult when you have a knife that was specifically designed for your right hand.

And don’t believe me? Google it. You can buy left handed or double bevel knives or a whole set of left handed steak knives (but that would be pretty useless if most of your family or friends are right handed).

There are so many things that are set up without much thought for left handed people. And simple things like tying your shoes. I was a teenager who had to double knot my shoelaces to keep them from coming undone until a teacher in junior high taught me that if I just made the bow with my other hand, my shoes would stay tied and wouldn’t come undone. I still don’t even understand how switching it works, but it does and suddenly at 15 my shoes stayed tied (finally!)

My biggest pet peeve though are cookie scoopers. They kind with the curved metal sweeper that moves from left to right and empties the scoop. Those are an absolute impossibility with your left hand! The moving part is on the right side and designed to be used with your right hand putting pressure into the opposite side without the sweep. In a left hand, you put the scoop in and the sweeping mechanism (whatever that’s actually called) is going in first and it gets stuck and you get to use it maybe once or twice before the force of pushing it in from the right edge jams and then it won’t release anything anymore. And the mechanism gets unaligned and stuck in the center of the scoop and becomes useless. You have to forcefully realign it and grind against the gears that make the sweep move and it’s just such a stupid problem and I’ve never been able to find one that was backward and would work for a leftie.

And scissors? Forget about it. I actually bought a pair of right handed scissors on Amazon where I actually could have gotten left handed scissors and I didn’t even think to, because using scissors in my right hand has long since become the habit because your chances of encountering a pair of left handed scissors in the world are just slightly higher then winning the lottery.

YTF.

I do it in continental style.

That was really interesting, thank you, R76.

You can buy left-handed scissors for children through educational resources suppliers easily enough, but I've never had to look for adult versions! In education, we aren't ever supposed to push children to write with one hand or the other - just support them with additional techniques and specialist tools if they ultimately 'veer left'. This applies to using a knife and fork, as well.

In nursery schools, I've noticed that many children are ambidextrous and don't find their dominant side until 5 or 6.

R79, I imagine it’s probably still true, but growing up, little kid right-handed scissors had red rubber handles and left-handed scissors had green rubber handles.

And from kindergarten on, I was always in a class with at least four left-handed kids and only one pair of left-handed scissors. So when the teacher said go, it was like all the tributes at the Hunger Games rushing to the cornucopia to try to get the weapons first in order to get the one pair of scissors.

In first grade, one of the left-handed kids stabbed another one in the hand with a pencil because he wouldn’t give up the scissors.

Oh, and if you want to see something really funny, ask a left-handed person to cut up a whole chicken. I’ve watched thousands of videos of people cutting up chickens, trying to figure out how to do it, and I still can’t.

It’s just a brutal act of grotesquerie. I’m sure there are plenty of left-handed chefs that can do it. I cannot.

[quote]I am an idiot.

[quote] In first grade, one of the left-handed kids stabbed another one in the hand with a pencil because he wouldn’t give up the scissors.

Was he on the spectrum?

Okay, say you have a meal where you don't have to use a knife- if you eat European style, do you then still eat with the fork in your left hand? Spoon?

I was raised European style (I'm American) and use my left hand for both forks and spoons (right hand may have a bit of bread in it), but being right-handed, use chopsticks with my right hand.

IMO, it looks better when you eat with the fork tines curving upwards. That is the "front" of the fork, after all. When you set a table, the fork is placed lying down with the tine curving upwards. The design on the fork handle is facing upwards, as well.

Americans eating Continental style looks affected, IMO. My sister (American, right-handed) eats in a hybrid of European / American style: fork stays in left hand, knife in right, tines facing up. Pretentious!

[quote](right hand may have a bit of bread in it)

Assuming your bread plate is to your left, isn't this awkward?

r86, hmmm, I don't dine at restaurants with proper placement of plating and cutlery that often. Usually there's a little plate off to the right- what is that used for (yes I can look it up, but it's pleasant talking to people)? The fancy pants restaurants that I did go to, I wouldn't eat bread because of all the food my family/friends would order (or in the case of Per Se, 20-30 courses that I don't remember at all)- didn't want to fill up on bread, or the bread would be served first, and not again, unless someone ordered more.

[quote]what about table settings? how do you set a table? are there different styles for Americans Vs European?

Calm down. One fight at a time

Does this mean you leave the skin on?

I would rather be a savage American than a deparate european trying to look like they are something they are not.

I thought Europeans didn't cut their meat.

Didn't read the previous postings, so apologies if someone already pointed this out.

[quote]Was he on the spectrum?

I don’t know. It was the 70s and pre-spectrum. But I doubt it. Give 4 left handed kids one pair of scissors to share and any of us were bound to lose it and stab another at some point.

R92, keep in mind, there’s research to suggest us lefties are more likely to be geniuses. And murderers.

R90 what is it that those “deparate” (sic) Europeans are trying to look like, if not themselves?

You seem triggered.

Ugh. That was me at r92 and r93. I didn’t mean to address the post to myself, I meant to sign it as r92. I’m clearly not one of the geniuses. (Still could be one of the murderers though).

t93, "Sinister" in Latin can mean "left".

R96. I knew that. In stereochemistry molecules can be in R- or S- configurations. S stands for “sinister” and R stands for…right. (Well, “rectus” technically, but that just means right).

But keep that in mind all you right-handed, goody two shoes.

We lefties are sinister, murderous geniuses. And you’ve been denying us access to scissors and other basic necessities for far too long now. And we spent the entire 1980’s organizing. “Right” in front of your faces.

All those little little kiosks and stores that sold left-handed goods with silly names like “Everything’s Left”? That was just a front for us to organize. We didn’t really need left handed tape dispensers.

But then the internet gave us the cloak of privacy to organize without stores so we closed them all.

And why am I telling you this? Now?

Because finally our time has come and we are ready to unleash our plan. Our master plan. Soon.

And you’ll all rue the day when you “left” us at a table, 4 helpless, future genius murderers and only one pair of scissors.

You’re all about to find out what “sinister” truly means.

Get your affairs in order.

I think I was in high school before anyone suggested keeping your fork in your left hand, but that IS how the table is set so it made sense. I already knew what to think about how other people are eating: "You don't notice."

[quote]I already knew what to think about how other people are eating: "You don't notice."

That’s good advice for pretty much everything in life. Don’t stare.

Do we have a European/Europe Troll?

R100, no, we just call them Europeans.

I grew up eating in the European style because my mother was raised by a European mother and that's how all her children were raised. My father was the only one in the family who refused to use his utensils in that fashion. I got a fair bit of guff about it all the way through school. I even had one teach attempt to force me to eat the "American way". My mother dealt with her

Yes, I cut meat with my right hand and then transfer my fork in order to eat it. I don't consider it "European".

Good, R103, because that's not the European style, it's the American style.

I don't get keeping the fork down when adding food onto it. In the video, the guy is shoveling that slop on top of the fork. It makes more sense to let gravity work with you, by turning the fork up, if you are going to place food on the fork; just like he would do with a spoon. I keep the fork down when poking into meat or something, but if I'm trying to add food onto the fork it's going up because of gravity and common sense.

Watching him do that was like watching someone use a shovel with the face towards the Earth, like why?

Another righty here who eats “left-handed” because my mom was a lefty. I only use a knife in my left hand and only use a fork in my right hand…no switcharoo. In fact I can’t even cut meat properly with my right hand. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[quote]I see even trashy people doing this, like it makes them classy and ra-sha-sha.

Ra-sha-sha?

OP, you make me wonder who the trashy people are.

Some Europeans actually use the American way of holding their utensils. And most all Europeans use the American way when using a spoon or eating desserts such as pies or cakes with a fork. The upside down fork method is mainly for meats and most vegetables, and the knife is kept in the other hand to help putting food on the fork in some instances. I have relatives in Portugal and some of them eat in the American way.

My father always said the European way looked low class to him.

Those who don't look like Neanderthals.

I prefer uncut European meat. Thanks for asking.

R110 in a restaurant asking the server questions: “How’s the stanksleeve? Is it fresh? No? Oh good, I’ll have that.”

I’ll have the cheese dude plate. Thx

r105, I looked at that video, and like you, I would never attempt that kind of pile-on. In that kind of saucy situation, I cut the meat tines down, then move the fork to my right hand to pick it the food up, tines up. Otherwise it's going to end up on my tie.

R102, what did your mother tell the teacher, and how did the teacher react?

[quote] what did your mother tell the teacher

She said nothing to the teacher. She called the principal (who happened to be from Scotland originally) and who was a close family friend, and problem solved. That teacher suddenly became extra nice to me.

So your mother (i) was passive-aggressive, and (ii) failed to teach you how to speak up for yourself.

Yeah, the mother is a fucking cunt, aren't they all?

[quote] So your mother (i) was passive-aggressive, and (ii) failed to teach you how to speak up for yourself.

On the contrary, I spoke up the first time the old witch said something to me about the way I held my utensils. I told her "this is the way my family eats", but that wasn't good enough for her. This happened in the early 60s. Students back then were expected to watch their mouths when dealing with the teachers. Today that teacher would probably get shivved on her way to her car after school.

The odd schoolmate who said anything about it was dealt with a bit more harshly.

I cut my meat a l'Americaine until one summer while working at The Club at Point O'Woods on Fire Island, I became friends with this girl who showed me "how they do it in Europe," from which she had recently returned. We were both between years in college. The European way was is so much simpler, I've done it that way ever since. I don't stack vegetables on top of my meat or fish, however.

You sound pretty trashy yourself

People should not think Europeans eat fork down with everything. Some food simply do not lend themselves to doing it that way. You can't eat peas or beans fork down unless you have something to bind them, like mashed potatoes. When the food doesn't work fork down they eat fork up.

that's why i don't eat peas.

R121 maybe you can’t eat peas or beans fork down, but I can.

The Pack It On The Back Of The Tines method is frightening to observe when the mounded fork is shoved into the pie hole.

I can't remember the last time I was served peas or beans.

I’m left handed…I cut with my right and hold my folk with my left hand….no switching

Same here, R126. But the question is about how you hold the knife and fork, not how you avoid the silly Americn silverware switcheroo.

The so-called European style is simply a civilized manner of eating. The American style looks cumbersome and unsophisticated: you cut your food, leave the knife aside and then, switch the fork from the left to the right hand before you eat? Why not grunt in approval and show your appreciation by burping right after every morsel?

The worst is, though, when people use their fork as a spoon, or hold their knife and fork as if they were daggers and cut their food in a violoncello style (fork in vertical position stabs the food while the knife is crudely used in a sawing motion like a bow). And let's not even talk about the people who lean in to smell their food as soon as it is served, or bow their heads above their plates every time they take a morsel as if to prevent any spillage. But one of the worst crimes is when people tuck the napkin into their shirt, or partially tuck it into their belt - that is just so disgusting and uncouth.

Oh, and finally, let's not forget about the people who use bread to clean the plate after they've finished eating... Gosh, that is just so embarrassing! Just add more sauce to every morsel when you're eating, and leave the leftovers on the plate! You're obviously not in the middle of a famine, so show some restraint.

I can't tell if r128 is kidding.

[quote]Oh, and finally, let's not forget about the people who use bread to clean the plate after they've finished eating... Gosh, that is just so embarrassing!

That's what bread is technically for.

What's embarrassing is watching a bunch of useless jackasses that eat buttered pieces of bread. Grow a cultural heritage or something. You think that spreading fat on bread and consuming it is more elegant? Babytastes.

It [italic]embarrasses[/italic] you to watch someone spread butter on bread, r130? You're the one with babytastes.

You think it's embarrassing for people to eat properly. You're an idiot, R131.

r132, I didn't say word one about "embarrassing" until I read your screed at r130.

If its a pork chop, I pick it up and eat it. I told my neighbor...it's a fucking pork chop!!

so how do you eat pasta? do you twirl your pasta around the fork with your right hand and spoon on the left?

I haven't used a spoon for pasta since I was six. I twirl it against the bowl or plate.

That's correct, R135. When you eat striped pasta (spaghetti, tagliatelle, fettuccine, pappardelle, bavette, tagliolini, capellini), you MUST use your fork and spoon to make a small nest before eating it. Every other type of pasta is eaten with a knife and a fork, unless it's served in a minestra or light soup.

Also, pizza is ALWAYS eaten with a knife and fork. ALWAYS. No one civilized would eat it with their hands.

[quote]Also, pizza is ALWAYS eaten with a knife and fork. ALWAYS. No one civilized would eat it with their hands.

That would probably get you punched in NYC. But it would be a very elegant punch. A harsh but educational bout of fisticuffs.

R1;8, I like the cut (no pun intended) of your jib.

No. See skeep thaht schtep.

R137 has never dined in Catania.

I just suck the meat off the rib.

R137, I like the cut (no pun intended) of your jib.

R128. Agree. Americans are uncivilized pigs. Barbarians about cutting meat.

[quote][R128]. Agree. Americans are uncivilized pigs. Barbarians about cutting meat.

Oh cram it, limey. We cut our meat exactly the same way you do, we just switch the utensils in our hands and we don’t try to cram food on the wrong side of a fork and shove it in our faces like we’re poor orphans who were never taught which way the fork goes and have 3 minutes to eat under the watchful eye of Fagin before he sends us out to pick pockets.

Striped pastas?

As in, cut in shapes similar to stripes, tubes, threads or ribbons, R146. It's easy enough to understand.

There's a very nice demonstration of both styles at the following video. It's also interesting to read the comments following the video, which basically mirror the discussion about it in this thread. One interesting thing to note is that in Europe, people are told not to put their hands in their laps when not eating, instead leaving the wrists against the table, whereas in the US, we are taught to keep our hands in our laps.

what are you cunts eating today?

I will be making kaldereta with beef, rice, a salad and sinigang made with rhubarb, pork and chinese broccoli.

This thread simply serves to show how many savages there are, although most of them pretending to eat at a table with flatware actually are dining from take-out containers with a plastic spork.

r130, what do you think of restaurants serving bread with olive oil? Does that embarrass you to see people eat their bread with liquid oil?

European or American do any of you “mono-eat?” — I noticed I do this sometime during college — when served a restaurant plate that has say rice, meat and a vegetable I’ll eat all the rice, then all the meat, then all the veg instead of varying, or putting some rice and meat together on my fork. I know this is weird and falls into aspie-baby-taste land, and I never made a conscious decision to eat this way, but if an entree has multiple components (vs. something like a dish of spaghetti) it seems to be my default.

R153, I've known a couple of people who eat all like that. One thing at a time until it's finished, then move to the next thing on the plate. No offense, but the people I knew who ate that way were difficult / inflexible people in other aspects of life.

"Ra-sha-sha?" WTF? I have never heard this in my life.

Ra-sha-sha seems to me another made up word, like stretchaneeny.

It’s part of my method to avoid offending the intact

No. I think the way people from the UK eat looks like they are in occupational therapy after a massive stroke. I think American table manners are much better (not that anyone follows them). My Dad told me in WWII that's the way they would pick out the Americans (which sometimes wasn't what you wanted) - by the way they cut their meat and switched hands with the fork to eat.

To R158, My Uncle Lucca was a spy in WW2, and he said the same thing about spy training. By not remembering where they were, by eating soup wrong& the knife and fork disaster, more agents were killed by traitors and the Germans.

Uncle Lucca said the best spies were the ones who could blend in with the locals (he spoke 7 languages-born in USA, raised in Europe). He had the best stories about WW2, revenge against the double agents in France and Italy after the Germans surrendered in May, 1945. he was told that these men and women were not to be put on trial but needed to be "taken care of".

Grateful to be a lefty.

European? Not European, kind of think my family is borderline trash, definitely Irish trash, and that’s how they taught us, not sure it’s fancy, just the norm I think

R160 I’m a righty but my lefty mom taught me how to cut meat as a lefty… that Canadian woman’s video was useless to me…and many others.

r153 r154 I have a friend who eats that way. And then he would pick up his plate and lick it when he was done. In restaurants, even. I broke him of that habit. Now he simply cleans his plate with his fingers. I can't tell you how many times I've suggested he ask for bread. He always refuses.

Another friend and I agree our friend is seriously lacking in social skills. He is also nearly devoid of empathy. He can be funny at times, but he often doesn't know when to stop making a particular joke.

[quote]And then he would pick up his plate and lick it when he was done. In restaurants, even. I broke him of that habit. Now he simply cleans his plate with his fingers. I can't tell you how many times I've suggested he ask for bread. He always refuses.

I was going to say that’s reeeeally bad, but if he’s a good friend, have him over for dinner but never go to a restaurant with him again.

Until you said…

[quote]Another friend and I agree our friend is seriously lacking in social skills. He is also nearly devoid of empathy.

Unless he gave you a kidney, cut him loose. Empathy ranks higher than table manners in the real world.