# Fork etiquette **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 6, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557 "2011-06-06T22:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/41 "2011-06-07T17:47:34Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > I am a switcher, and have always been curious about something when reading these threads: > > If you are used to eating with the fork in your left hand and a knife in your right, what do you do when the meal doesn’t include large pieces of meat to cut? Do you use the knife anyway to help with scooping? If no knife, do you wield the fork in your left hand as normal, or use your right hand? > > In my entire life I would guess that about 5% of my meals have needed a knife, so it seems odd to imagine eating left-handed all the time just to facilitate the meat-cutting I seldom do. It’s not entirely clear what you’re asking here, because you don’t specify which is your dominant hand and what is the dominant hand of your hypothetical non-switcher. Assuming we’re talking about right-handed eaters: Under the American system, a right-hander cuts with fork in left hand and switches to fork in right hand to eat. If there is no cutting involved, the switcher just keeps the fork in the right hand. Under the European system, so far as I have seen, a right-hander keeps the fork in the left hand and, even if there’s no cutting to do, generally keeps the knife in the right hand in order to help push food onto the fork. I don’t know what one would do under this system if there was no knife involved. I imagine that in eating soup, a right-hander would use the spoon with right hand. Under my system (I am right-handed), the fork stays in my right hand regardless of whether I use a knife. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/42 "2011-06-07T17:55:16Z")
Sorry, I am assuming a right-handed eater. ---
**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:** [June 7, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/43 "2011-06-07T17:56:23Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > If you are used to eating with the fork in your left hand and a knife in your right, what do you do when the meal doesn’t include large pieces of meat to cut? Do you use the knife anyway to help with scooping? Yes. The only time I could think of using the fork in my right hand is when eating pasta. ---
**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:** [June 7, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/44 "2011-06-07T18:58:35Z")
> [@awldune](#): > > I am a switcher, and have always been curious about something when reading these threads: > > If you are used to eating with the fork in your left hand and a knife in your right, what do you do when the meal doesn’t include large pieces of meat to cut? Do you use the knife anyway to help with scooping? If no knife, do you wield the fork in your left hand as normal, or use your right hand? Basically, yes. The knife does much.more than cut. It’s used to steady objects so the fork can pierce them without them pinging away, it’s used to load up the times of the fork neatly, it’s used as a backstop for small items to save chasing them around, but also, when the expectation.is that the meal will be consumed with knife and fork together, the presentation can be different- it isn’t just meat that gets cut up - vegetables can be served in attractive large chunks, for example. In the case of meals where the knife is largely redundant, the fork is usually held in the right hand, instead of the knife. ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/45 "2011-06-07T20:05:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > when the expectation.is that the meal will be consumed with knife and fork together, the presentation can be different- it isn’t just meat that gets cut up - vegetables can be served in attractive large chunks, for example. Yup, my first experience with a salad in Germany was a disaster. How and why do they stuff these huge lettuce leaves in their mouth. Answer, they don’t. They use knife and fork even while eating salad to pare down the ingredients into proper fork fulls. I am a bit surprised that my European friends in Germany don’t use their bread as a back stop. That is something I have often done even in the States. They seem to always go to the knife. Even at the expense of putting the piece of bread already in their hand down to pick thier knife back up. Oh wait, on second thought, I think they put their fork down to pick up the bread. Well, I have something to look for at dinner tomorrow I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/46 "2011-06-07T22:13:39Z")
I’m gonna be so self-conscious next time I eat in the US. (Yes, I’m aware that nobody will give a crap how I eat). ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/47 "2011-06-07T22:18:14Z")
My family is ethnically Japanese. We tend to cut up our food initially and thus do not have a need to switch hands as often. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/48 "2011-06-08T09:13:24Z")
What’s this stuff about chasing food down? Do you also consider using a spoon as chasing food down? If it’s mushy, you scoop. If it’s stronger, you poke. If you need to cut off piece, you hold the fork sideways. And, I do what **ouryL** does more often than not. Though, while I’m cutting, I may pick up a piece with my fork. But that’s a horrible way to spend the entire dinner, as it’s hard as heck to eat anything you can’t poke in that manner, seeing as the fork is non-dominant hand. But usually the food (even steak) is tender enough I can cut it with my fork and avoid the whole mess. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/49 "2011-06-08T09:50:26Z")
I agree. _Fork_ etiquette ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/50 "2011-06-08T11:46:32Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Though, while I’m cutting, I may pick up a piece with my fork. But that’s a horrible way to spend the entire dinner, as it’s hard as heck to eat anything you can’t poke in that manner, seeing as the fork is non-dominant hand. Only because you are not used to it. Those of us taught to use a fork [del]properly[/del] from childhood find it trivially simple. ---
**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:** [June 8, 2011, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/51 "2011-06-08T12:07:07Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > What’s this stuff about chasing food down? Do you also consider using a spoon as chasing food down? If it’s mushy, you scoop. If it’s stronger, you poke. If you need to cut off piece, you hold the fork sideways. People are talking about peas, corn kernels, cherry tomatoes and probably other stuff that either has a tendency to roll, or is too rounded or crisp to be stabbed. > [@](#): > > And, I do what **ouryL** does more often than not. Though, while I’m cutting, I may pick up a piece with my fork. But that’s a horrible way to spend the entire dinner, as it’s hard as heck to eat anything you can’t poke in that manner, seeing as the fork is non-dominant hand. Concur with **amarone**. There’s nothing horrible about this, except for unfamiliarity. Eating with chopsticks is horrible if you can’t do it. > [@](#): > > But usually the food (even steak) is tender enough I can cut it with my fork and avoid the whole mess. Good point, except to a certain extent, the food you’re served is probably tailored to the prevailing mode of eating it. There’s nothing especially wrong with that - in either direction - some of the food served in places where knife and fork prevail together, is tailored to work well that way (for example, crispy roast potatoes, whole stuffed peppers, etc) ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/52 "2011-06-10T03:12:24Z")
Sorry if this sounds like thread-shitting, but in this day and age, does anyone really give a fork? No, seriously… does anyone care about fork etiquette these days? ---
**Author:** ![cplif](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/48db29/32.png) [@cplif](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cplif)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/53 "2011-06-10T16:27:03Z")
One point of using both knife and fork is posture, as kids we learned : fork in left up or down (regardless of dominant) knife in right, spoon in right for soup with left fist on the table and sit up straight. You get used to it. I’m surprised at so much mention of knifeless eating in the west, even vegetables or poleta demand detailing for confort. I guess it’s all training, eating spaghetti with chopsticks is easy, once you’ve gotten over the cramps. More a matter of custom than anything else. Richelieu had round end knives created for the Kings table after getting tired of watching the age old ritual of (very poor) tooth-picking at the end of each meal with the steack knives ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557/54 "2011-06-10T16:51:01Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Sorry if this sounds like thread-shitting, but in this day and age, does anyone really give a fork? > > No, seriously… does anyone care about fork etiquette these days? It’s not so much a matter of etiquette. Somebody who repeatedly switched utensils between hands during a meal would strike me as being poorly adapted to their task, not at ease, like somebody who constantly adjusts their clothing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fork-etiquette/584557.md?page=2)