Which hand do you hold your utensils with? What foods do you touch? What country or region’s customs does your eating style conform with? Have you changed your eating style from that which you grew up with?
I hold fork in right hand, knife in the left, and never switch or set them down unless fingers or a spoon are necessary. I taught myself to knife with the left, because I thought switching hands was inefficient and clumsy.
I don’t watch other people eat so I’m not sure if anyone else eats that way. When traveling I try to conform with local custom, and use fingers or utensils that they use, the way they use them.
I just switched this year to European style. Knife in right hand and fork, tines down, in the left. I use the fork in my right hand if I’m eating something that doesn’t require cutting.
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Shovel implement in left hand, cutting implement in right. Start eating my least-anticipated portion of the meal first, moving up through the list until finished, never stopping or putting down my utensils. If at all possible, keep all items discretely separated.
I’ll admit to varying my etiquette based on setting.
In a nice restaurant, I know which implement to use for which task. I know where to place my butter knife after using it. Eating alone at home I am comfortable picking up a chicken breast and tearing it apart with my hands.
I’ve got laterality problems. On my way to 50 and there are still times when any way I try to hold the cutlery feels wrong. I may flip hands half a dozen times during a meal, depending on what specific pieces the specific dishes call for and on how laterally-imbecilic my brain is feeling that day.
A few months back I was eating out with my family and table-setting etiquette came up; I mentioned that if you know someone is left-handed you’re supposed to flip the setting (according to Abuelita, who knew more about Spanish etiquette than anybody not a professional of it ought’a), so that the cutlery is flipped and the cups go down from right to left instead of left to right, and my brothers exclaimed “oh c’mon, nobody drinks with their left!”
“Uh… have you looked at which hand am I using to hold my glass right now?”
In the same meal I drank with either hand depending on which one was busy with something else, used the spoon with the right for the soup and the left for the cake… I just have laterality problems.
I never knew anyone really cared about this issue until I joined SDMB, where we have had umpteen threads about it. I hold my fork or spoon in my dominant (right) hand. If I need to use a knife, I hold it in my right hand and steady whatever I’m cutting with my left. I will keep the fork in my left hand when I bring the food to my mouth. If the fork is still in my left hand when I’m ready for a bite of whatever else is on the plate, I won’t switch hands. However, I might switch back to my right hand if I know I won’t be using the knife again. Or not. I do whatever is most pleasing / easiest for me..
I eat bacon with my fingers (unless it is the thick cut, such as you get in England).
I also eat french fries and asparagus with my fingers
I eat bone in chicken breast with a knife and fork
In a restaurant, I will eat the first few bites of pizza with a knife and fork and then pick it up when it has cooled down enough that the cheese isn’t going to slide off.
Next, can we discuss drinking straight from the glass vs using a straw?
Knife in left, fork in right, no switching. (I do it the other way if I’m carving a turkey or roast though.) Otherwise, with spoons, or forkable foods that don’t need to be cut, I use my right hand exclusively, occasionally picking up the bowl in my left hand and tilting it to help better scoop out soup or cereal. For foods that don’t require utensils, like sandwiches or fries, I use both hands but favor my right.
I always ask for chopsticks at Asian restaurants, and I’m pretty good at using them (right handed), though probably nowhere near as proficient as someone who grew up on them. Is it just me or have Chinese restaurants stopped giving out chopsticks unless you ask?
Midwestern American here. I hold the fork in my right hand, knife in the left. When I’m cutting meat, I switch them, then switch them back. That aggravates Europeans to no end - or, would, if I ever ate with any Europeans.
Just about the only thing I’ll eat without utensils are bread-based things - a sandwich, a pizza slice, and so on. I also won’t use utensils on foodstuffs that Og intended to be eaten with the hands, like popcorn or chicken nuggets.
