Americans - are fries and bacon always finger food?

[Tenar]

Bacon – fingers, though I always feel guilty about it.

Fries – it depends upon the setting and upon the fries.

[Ms_Macphisto]

@Dorjän

Ah never mind, upon closer reading there was the usual confusion between bacon as in “Canadian bacon” and bacon as in “back bacon”.

I know that Ginger made a similar point, but I thought that back bacon and Canadian bacon were the same thing, just different terminology depending on whether you’re in Canada or the US.

Bacon - I haven’t eaten bacon in many years, but I always used a fork growing up, no matter what kind of bacon it was

Fries - Depends on circumstances. With a burger, they’re probably finger food. Anything where I’d use cutlery for the main dish, I’ll use a fork for the fries. Poutine is eaten with a fork, naturally.

Canadian, if you hadn’t guessed already.

[ouryL]

@amarone

I’ve lived in the US for over 10 years across a couple of stints and thought I had got used to all the strange differences (from the UK) in eating and dining habits. Then I married an American. One morning I looked over the breakfast table in shock and horror at the sight of my wife picking up bacon with her fingers. She informed me that everyone does that. Sure enough, an informal survey of her extended family supported that. But is it truly an all-America thing? Do y’all (I’m learning the lingo) eat bacon with your fingers?

Then Mrs. amarone informed me that I am the only person she has ever met who eats fries with a fork. Well, I was the only person until she met my parents, who not only eat fries with a knife and fork, but also burgers and even baby-back ribs. If I am unfortunate enough to end up eating in McBurger King, I will certainly eat the fries and everything else with my fingers. But in a proper restaurant I could not contemplate using my fingers for fries unless the rest of the meal was also finger food. Combining it with another Americanism and you would presumably eat steak and fries as follows:

[ul]
[li]pick up knife and fork[/li][li]cut a piece of steak[/li][li]put down knife, transfer fork to other hand, eat piece of steak[/li][li]put down fork[/li][li]pick up some fries and eat[/li][li]repeat[/li][/ul]
I would also hope to see “wipe grease/salt off fingers”, but that’s probably optimistic.

So, do you eat fries with your fingers under all circumstances?

That’s right, you Brits eat raw bacon.

[parthenokinesis]

American Bacon - eat with fingers
Fries - eat with fingers
Steak fries - eat with fingers
Rashers - eat with fingers
Sausage links - eat with fingers
Ham, Spam, Canadian bacon - eat with fingers
Jello - eat with fingers
Soup - use a spoon

All you Brits, mortified of getting a little grease on your fingers, just amuse the punch outa me.

[Nimue]

@amarone

The picture I linked to does indeed show a particulalrly lean example. However, English streaky bacon is the same cut as standard American bacon.

Yes, quite – sorry if my post made it seems as if this were not so. I imagine if I could be troubled to go to a proper butcher’s and pay a heap of money, I may be able to procure streaky bacon with as much meat as the bacon in that photo. But supermarket bacon is packaged here so that it looks as if it has got a lot of meat, but it’s actually just one miniscule strip on the edge of a heap of fat. Maybe Americans just like really fatty bacon. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about that. It does beg the question, though – where does all that delicious bacon meat go.

People keep saying this but it is simply not true - you just haven’t been brought up in a background where to pick up your food with your fingers is almost a mortal sin.

Well, true – but that does answer your question about bacon and fries being finger foods. But don’t you find eating crispy bacon with knife and fork a slow and laborious process? Or are you just very adept at it after years of practice. I envision trying to cut a piece of crispy bacon and have it go flying off the plate.

I will be cruel: bacon sandwiches. Think about 'em. Imagine the smell. The taste…

Mmm, grilled back bacon on a fresh soft buttered bap. Yum. Our next visit over is this winter, and see if I don’t eat bacon, fruit pudding (of the sweet suety sliced variety) and unrefrigerated eggs every morning. … Or at least twice.

[amarone]

@Brynda

Ah, British-American food-related differences. How I love this topic. My British in-laws were here recently, and it amused me to watch them eat bacon, ribs, and --best of all–a bagel with a fork. Fries with a fork I am used to from watching my husband, but the others were all new to me.

On the other hand, I am sure I look like an uncouth heathen to them eating things with my fingers, and ever worse, using my fork tines up for everything I eat with a fork. I must admit, the whole using the fork tines down looks better, and using the knife to guide the perfect bite onto it appeals to me, but I haven’t gotten the hang of it yet.

I’ve just shown this thread to my wife and she wanted me to let you know that she knows how you feel when eating in front of British in-laws.

[Nimue]

@amarone

People keep saying this but it is simply not true - you just haven’t been brought up in a background where to pick up your food with your fingers is almost a mortal sin.

One more thing occurs to me. After 8 years of seeing his weekly fry-ups, I can’t recall whether my husband eats crispy bacon with his fingers or not. I guess I’ve been averting my eyes from his heart-attacks-on-a-plate for too long. He has been living in the States for a few years now, but then, that hasn’t changed you. So this weekend I’ll have to remember to observe his breakfasting habits.

[amarone]

@Nimue

Well, true – but that does answer your question about bacon and fries being finger foods. But don’t you find eating crispy bacon with knife and fork a slow and laborious process? Or are you just very adept at it after years of practice. I envision trying to cut a piece of crispy bacon and have it go flying off the plate.

I am probably generally adept with a knife and fork as that is how I have always eaten almost everything, but it took no extra practice to handle bacon. No, it is not slow and laborious. If the bacon is particularly crispy, I will be slowed slightly by sliding the bacon between the tines rather than stabbing it, but that’s no big deal. Bear in mind that I gain extra time through having my knife and fork in my hands all the time. I do not lose time by having to put them down so I can then pick up the food with my fingers.

[Mangetout]

@parthenokinesis

All you Brits, mortified of getting a little grease on your fingers, just amuse the punch outa me.

It’s nothing much to do with the grease, it’s more a question of dining etiquette and practicality - pretty much anyone will eat fish and chips straight from the paper with their fingers; most people will also use their fingers to eat meat served on the bone, but a meal including any item that requires a knife and fork (i.e. to cut it up and otherwise manipulate it) will pretty much always be eaten entirely with knife and fork, simply because eating some of it with fingers means trying, ineptly, to handle the knife and fork again with greasy fingers.

[Brynda]

@amarone

I’ve just shown this thread to my wife and she wanted me to let you know that she knows how you feel when eating in front of British in-laws.

She and I should compare notes sometime. I love you guys, but some things just make me shake my head. Or scratch it.

Aren’t you from Yorkshire, too? My husband is from Halifax.

[yingtongtiddleipo]

@parthenokinesis

American Bacon - eat with fingers
Fries - eat with fingers
Steak fries - eat with fingers
Rashers - eat with fingers
Sausage links - eat with fingers
Ham, Spam, Canadian bacon - eat with fingers
Jello - eat with fingers
Soup - use a spoon

All you Brits, mortified of getting a little grease on your fingers, just amuse the punch outa me.

Don’t be silly, I’m no more mortified by getting grease on my fingers, than you are for looking like a toddler in a high chair when you eat.

You eat spam with your fingers? Spam? and Jello? With your fingers?

Together?

[amarone]

@Brynda

She and I should compare notes sometime. I love you guys, but some things just make me shake my head. Or scratch it.

Aren’t you from Yorkshire, too? My husband is from Halifax.

Yep - Selby. More accurately, Brayton.