# Cutting Food with a Fork **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694 "2003-01-05T00:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/21 "2003-01-05T23:37:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by David Simmons \* > \*\*Well, if you don’t use the utensils you really should wash your hands first. If knife, fork and spoon are there for use you can come right in from milking the cows and just dive in. \*\* Yes, although in that sort of case, aren’t questions of etiquette somewhat…erm…de-emphasised anyway? ---
**Author:** ![nycjudy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3da27b/32.png) [@nycjudy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nycjudy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/22 "2003-01-06T02:21:52Z")
Apparently, it’s a difference between American and European or “Continental” rules. In America, where you’re doing wacky things like switching the fork from the left to right hand, it’s okay to do a little fork sawing. In Europe (and Australia, it seems) since the fork never leaves the left hand, there absolutely no fork cutting except when eating a dessert where if you need to cut, you do so with the fork in your right hand and scoop the food onto the spoon which delivers it to your mouth. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/23 "2003-01-06T03:47:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Yes, although in that sort of case, aren’t questions of etiquette somewhat…erm…de-emphasised anyway? \*\* Well, **Eatall** , if you’re going to bring in frou-frou ideas like “ettiquette” I’m leaving! Us workin’ guys ain’t got no time for none of that nohow. ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/24 "2003-01-06T07:11:24Z")
If it doesn’t require a knife, I don’t use it. There is a lot of food that doesn’t require the use of a knife, why bother if you don’t need it? BTW, I do cut up my pasta (long spaghetti and angel hair type varieties) with my fork before I eat it. I can’t stand twirling it around my fork. I like manageable bite size pasta. It’s tastes better too. Oh and I **hate** the regular long fork, I must use a small fork, you know the salad fork. Whenever possible I ask the restaurant for an extra “small” fork, or my host. Seems rude/weird but I can’t stand long forks. My food just doesn’t taste right with long tonged forks. Blech. 😉 (and it’s true) ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/25 "2003-01-06T17:52:36Z")
> [@](#): > > In the absence of a knife, is it proper to cut your food with a claymore? Well, then you have to find it. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/26 "2003-01-06T20:34:32Z")
Uh, I meant the sword, not the shrapnel mine. The latter would be, shall we say, excessive. ---
**Author:** ![GaryM](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garym/32/241_2.png) [@GaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaryM)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/27 "2003-01-06T20:52:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*Only if you’re in a Vietnamese restaurant. \*\* Those are the claymores marked “Front Toward Roast”, right? ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/28 "2003-01-06T22:21:06Z")
Personally, I believe that anyone who uses a knife unnecessarily in cutting food would use a fork and knife on a potato chip. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/29 "2003-01-07T00:33:08Z")
Wow, the more I read posts by TechChick the more I think we’re the same person. This thread has been enlightening. I use my (small) fork to cut most everything and for some reason it drives my husband bonkers. I always assumed I was the one in error. We also argue over where the napkin goes, lol. (He puts his on his lap; I say how do you wipe your mouth if your napkin is on your lap? Mine stays on the table, right next to the unused knife.) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/30 "2003-01-07T01:29:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by voguevixen \* > This thread has been enlightening. I use my (small) fork to cut most everything and for some reason it drives my husband bonkers. I always assumed I was the one in error. We also argue over where the napkin goes, lol. (He puts his on his lap; I say how do you wipe your mouth if your napkin is on your lap? Mine stays on the table, right next to the unused knife.) According to Miss Manners and other (American) etiquette books, you don’t use the fork to cut with - though cake is probably the exception. You wipe your mouth by putting down the utensil you’re holding, picking up the napkin, dabbing at your mouth, then putting it back in your lap with the soiled side up. It can then continue to catch any accidental drips, if need be. You also don’t use the spoon for anything but soup or ice cream, if I recall correctly. (Or stirring after-dinner coffee, etc.) If you don’t have a sauce spoon, “accidentally” dropping a piece of bread or dinner roll in the delicious sauce (assuming you’ve finished eating whatever was in the sauce but want to finish it up), then picking it up and casually eating it is fine. ---
**Author:** ![AbsolutelyStark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@AbsolutelyStark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbsolutelyStark)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/31 "2003-01-07T05:23:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Early Out \* > \*\*What’s the matter, can’t get your face down to plate level? Fingers? We don’t need no stinking fingers! \*\* Plate? You use a PLATE? What, the ground’s too dirty for you? ---
**Author:** ![SandWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@SandWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/32 "2003-01-07T05:51:57Z")
I never thought about the potential of each utensil till I witnessed the German Foreign Exchange student use his butter knife to pile up his fork to get the most in each bite. He would get into a rythm that reminded me of someone working with mortor trowells. Scoop with the fork, then use the knife to put more on, then lift the fork a bit and drag the flat of the knife along the fork to scrape the knife contents onto the fork. So to the OP, I say yes, there are times when it is important to eat with a knife and fork, and other times when you can whip out the claymore, er, big fork. I sometimes think if I had a fork that had one edge sharpened, I could get away with just a fork. Then I worried about cutting my mouth with the sharpened edge. To avoid that I thought of a hinged cover of some sort that would push up when the fork was used as a knife, and then I started thinking about food particles getting caught in the contraption that would be hard to clean, and then I started thinking that knives were an okay deal and who would want to slice their mouth open with a sharpened fork, even if it was efficient. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/33 "2003-01-07T06:37:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I sometimes think if I had a fork that had one edge sharpened, I could get away with just a fork. According to my mother (and who could doubt my mother’s authority? ;)), the more expensive flatware comes with the dinner (long) forks slightly sharpened on the outside of the rightmost tine and the edge of the “palm” (where the tines come together) specifically for the purpose of cutting off bite-size portions of tender foods. ---
**Author:** ![Pix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df788c/32.png) [@Pix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pix)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/34 "2003-01-07T11:26:52Z")
I think anyone who dares to be so evil as to cut their food with a (spits) fork should be shot on sight for flirting with the devil since this is clearly what not using a knife means. Pix xx ---
**Author:** ![Pix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df788c/32.png) [@Pix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pix)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/35 "2003-01-07T11:35:15Z")
I think anyone who dares to be so evil as to cut their food with a (spits) _fork_ should be shot on sight for flirting with the _devil_ since this is clearly what not using a _knife_ means. God invented _knives_ for a reason, and those who choose to take Satan’s path by abusing the knowledge of the Holy One are subject to judgement from those who witness it. And those who witness are subjected to such traumatic horrors to free therapy. In fact anyone who is shot for this deed should think themselves lucky that they are on their way to an indefinate period of torture by (spits) _fork_ in Hell, as it surely this is too civil a punishment for the likes of these heinous crime perpetuators. Sinners. Pix xx ---
**Author:** ![SandWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@SandWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/36 "2003-01-07T15:25:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pix \* > \*\*And those who witness are subjected to such traumatic horrors to free therapy. \*\* Who needs therapy? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/37 "2003-01-07T17:58:10Z")
You should only cut the fromage with flattware and, of course, never while spooning. ---
**Author:** ![Pix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df788c/32.png) [@Pix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pix)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694/38 "2003-01-08T10:46:39Z")
Ahem. It’s the fact that I have not had free therapy after witnessing this terrible and mind wounding occurance that has made me this way. Just you bear that in mind next time you use a (spits) _fork_ to cut up your food. It’s just not natural. It doesn’t say anything about it in the bible so it must be a sin, and all those who take part in such barbaric practices will be damned. I bet £1 that they are damned. Either that or you’ll go blind. Pix xx [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutting-food-with-a-fork/146694.md?page=1)