# Eating European style **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 9, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100 "2017-11-09T04:30:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/1 "2017-11-09T04:30:01Z")
I’m trying to learn how to eat European style, with the fork turned tines down in my (weak) left hand and the knife in my right hand. This works fine for many foods, such as a chicken breast or a steak. But how do you do this with smaller food items, such as garden peas or rice? I know you’re supposed to use the knife to shovel the food onto the fork, but I’ve been completely unsuccessful in my efforts. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/2 "2017-11-09T05:57:55Z")
This is why God invented mushy peas. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/3 "2017-11-09T06:04:51Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I’m trying to learn how to eat European style Why? Is your style not working? ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/4 "2017-11-09T06:09:21Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > This is why God invented mushy peas. Still not [European style](https://youtu.be/9BbWKEevO8g). ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/5 "2017-11-09T06:27:11Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > This is why God invented mushy peas. I believe that was Satan. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/6 "2017-11-09T06:41:00Z")
I don’t know if I’m being whooshed, but I eat peas and rice with a spoon. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/7 "2017-11-09T06:46:38Z")
I don’t know which “style” I use, but what I do is the right hand gets dedicated to the job which requires the most precision. When cutting meat, I want the right hand on the knife. When shoveling stuff against the knife, using the knife as barrier to shovel against, I want the right hand on the fork. I don’t use the knife to shovel food onto the fork. I use the fork to shovel food agains the knife. I’ve been eating this way since I was a kid, and I had never been to Europe, so it was just my way of eating. Do Europeans always keep he fork in the left hand, with the fork tines turned down, even when eating stuff that doesn’ need cutting like peas? Tines down? That makes no sense. But I understand why the poster above mentioned mushy peas. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/8 "2017-11-09T07:21:53Z")
This has always been my natural way to do it, but I grew up in a Polish household, so I’m sure I just copied what everyone else was doing. Yes, I just shovel peas onto my fork. I take the fork in my left hand, hold it perpendicular to me, tines up, maybe tilt it slightly towards the plate, and scoop the peas from behind onto the fork. No need for mushy peas. More often, though, if there’s mashed potatoes around, I use those as “glue” to jam the peas into to shovel them more efficiently into my pie hole. But same shoveling technique. If I’m bored enough tomorrow, maybe I’ll make a vid. ---
**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:** [November 9, 2017, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/9 "2017-11-09T07:26:32Z")
I eat my peas with honey I’ve done it all my life It makes them taste quite funny But it keeps them on the knife In all seriousness, there’s usually other food on the plate such as mashed potatoes etc, which can be used to cement the peas into a small clump that is easier to keep on the fork. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/10 "2017-11-09T07:27:06Z")
What is the suck-peas-thriu-straw technique called? ---
**Author:** ![PlaceboTarget](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/placebotarget/32/1073_2.png) [@PlaceboTarget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlaceboTarget)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/11 "2017-11-09T08:22:57Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I don’t know which “style” I use, but what I do is the right hand gets dedicated to the job which requires the most precision. When cutting meat, I want the right hand on the knife. When shoveling stuff against the knife, using the knife as barrier to shovel against, I want the right hand on the fork. I don’t use the knife to shovel food onto the fork. I use the fork to shovel food agains the knife. I’ve been eating this way since I was a kid, and I had never been to Europe, so it was just my way of eating. It’s not ‘European’, but common sense. The OP may find it awkward or inconsistent to switch the fork and knife during the meal. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/12 "2017-11-09T08:32:09Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > What is the suck-peas-thriu-straw technique called? “Showing off”, “Nice children don’t play with their food” or “Some people might not be getting any pudding…” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/13 "2017-11-09T08:43:50Z")
In my family there was certainly nothing wrong with turning the fork “tines up” to eat peas, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/14 "2017-11-09T08:43:52Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Do Europeans always keep he fork in the left hand, with the fork tines turned down, even when eating stuff that doesn’ need cutting like peas? Tines down? That makes no sense. But I understand why the poster above mentioned mushy peas. Depends, is Spain part of Europe? We’re most likely to eat peas either as part of something sticky enough that holding them isn’t a problem (they just come with the sticky rice or noodles), or carefully tines-up, or with a spoon. Spoons aren’t only for foods which are mostly liquid, they can be used for “little round things that try to roll away” as well. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/15 "2017-11-09T09:25:25Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > What is the suck-peas-thriu-straw technique called? Bangkok-style? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/16 "2017-11-09T10:10:14Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Bangkok-style? Colombian style, you mean. ---
**Author:** ![Remember\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Remember\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Remember_me)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/17 "2017-11-09T11:25:08Z")
“Tines down” is not “European style” in my experience. If anything, I would define it as “posh British style” as I have only ever seen British people eat that way or at least claiming that that would be the proper way to eat even if it is very complicated and uneffective. The “German style” of eating with fork and knive would be to use the fork however it is most practical. Comparing to what Nava said about the “Spanish style” I would see that as “European style”. Tine positioning doesn’t really matter here. - If you use a knive, the knive stay in the right hand and the fork in the left hand - If the meal or course requires no knive, than the fork can be used by whatever hand suits you better (right hand for right-handed people typically). Simillar if you use a spoon. - Tines up or down, as well as scooping or piercing, depend on the particular food item you are eating at that moment. It would not be unnormal to use your fork tines down to pierce into a piece of meat and then cut it off with your knive. Then turning the fork around (tines up) to move a small amount of vegetables onto the tines behind the meat using your knive. When eating a normal meat, potatoes, vegetable and sauce type-of-meal I frequently turn my fork to whatever position is practical. The most important part: Don’t overfill your fork. And also important: the knive stays in the right hand and the fork stays in the left hand - unless you need your hand otherwise, e.g. to drink something or pick up a piece of bread. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/18 "2017-11-09T12:35:28Z")
> [@Remember\_me](#): > > “Tines down” is not “European style” in my experience. If anything, I would define it as “posh British style” as I have only ever seen British people eat that way or at least claiming that that would be the proper way to eat even if it is very complicated and uneffective. The last time this topic came up (a few months ago, the same time as the Great Egg Cup Kerfuffle) I specifically took notice of a scene in the BBC series _Humans_ where the starring human family was eating a meal–and holding their forks tines up. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/19 "2017-11-09T12:44:18Z")
I also wonder why you have decided to change the eating habits of a lifetime. If it ain’t broke, etc. I have always used the European style as described by Remember/me above: fork in left hand, knife in right hand, but turning the fork as practical. The UK-style of piling food on the back of the fork has never seemed terribly practical to me (despite repeated instructions by the scary dinner ladies at one of my schools). I’m also not a fan of mixing foods together, so mashed potatoes plus peas plus meat in one mouthful is not appealing to me. ---
**Author:** ![upend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@upend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/upend)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100/20 "2017-11-09T13:17:38Z")
I’m British but I eat Gangham Style. makes a terrible mess most of the time [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-european-style/801100.md?page=2)