No moreso than keeping the fork in the left hand and the the knife in the right like a barbarian waiting for hand-to-hand combat.
What Americans really need is a more efficient way to eat.
I did the switching thing until I went to England and spent 4 months there when I was 19. I learned the fork-in-left thing, and using the butter knife as a tool for loading the back of the fork.
For people asking - that’s why the knife stays in the other hand the whole time - you’re forgetting the fork is also tines-down, so unless everything on the plate can be stabbed (mashed potatoes, peas, etc.), you use the knife to slide bits onto the fork and sort of press them together so they don’t go rolling off the tines.
I never did get the hang of the fork-loading method, so I do a sort of hybrid thing and only sometimes switch. I will mostly eat with my left hand, especially if there are things that need cutting whether with steak knife or butter knife, but things that are single-utensil I’ll eat with my right hand. Like a plate of potatoes or breakfast food for example. Those I’ll start and finish with just my right hand. Weird. Now that I think about it, once all the cuttable things on the plate are eaten or all cut, I think I also switch to my right hand again to finish.
I’m left-handed. If I’m eating something that doesn’t require cutting, like mashed potatoes, I keep the fork in my left hand. But when eating steak, the knife goes in my left hand, the fork in the right, and I don’t switch to take a bite. Overall I might switch a few times during a meal, not dozens.
I was taught to always keep my fork in my right hand, though I found that too difficult.
My parents grew up in Australia and learned to eat European style, but I was born in the US and was at least partially influenced by my peers. I keep my fork in my left hand and knife in the right anytime I am eating anything that requires cutting, but if there is no cutting needed I put down the knife and scoop things up with my fork in my right hand. Most of the time, though, I am switching between foods and retain my knife in my right hand just in case it’s needed.
Knife in left, fork in right, and they stay that way.
Why on Earth would anyone switch like that?
Aren’t we good enough eaters as it is? What do you want, us fatter?
Yeah, I’ve never really understood the whole efficiency argument here, either–it’s not like the goal is to cram the food into your slavering maw as rapidly as possible. If that were the goal, you’d just pick it up with your hands and shove it in, pausing only to growl at other diners who get too close. You’re still going to take reasonable-sized bites, chew them, use your napkin, take a drink here and there, etc., so what the bleeding Christ does it really matter if you spend an extra minute or so over the course of the meal futzing with your cutlery?
I’m now fairly sure that I normally hold the fork in my right hand. I’m right-handed.
But I’m really amazed that so many people are actually TAUGHT to follow any particular rules on this. For the past 25 years I’ve honestly believed that everyone just did what was subconsciously most comfortable for them as an individual.
For western meals I usually eat with fork in the left hand, knife in the right. I use the knife to push food onto the fork or help stabilize the food I’m stabbing.
For dishes that require no cutting, I eat with fork in the right hand. Pre cut salads (no wedges) or Chinese food (if I’m not using chopsticks) would fall in this category.
I make a specific exception for Thai food, where I use a fork in the left hand and spoon in the right, and another exception for long pasta, where I use a fork in the right hand and a spoon in the left.
Wacky, right?
I voted “other” since I always use my right hand to hold the fork/spoon (I am right-handed, and I would think most people would use their right hand unless they were left-handed), and I almost never use a knife while eating, and when I do, I cut the food before eating it.
So, your parents never taught you table manners? Never coached you on proper utensil etiquette? 'Cause this was a biggie in my house, growing up.
Just keep the fork in the right hand, and cut with the left. Or, if no one’s watching, just pick up the food with the fork and take bites. Switching is stupid, but so is using the nondominant hand to try and eat.
No, eathing with your hands is not efficient. You’d have to wait for the food to cool.
I recall there being a proper way to arrange the utensils on the table before a meal, but no, I’ve never encountered the concept that there is a proper hand to hold them in while eating. It really baffles me why anyone would care.
I am jealous of all you right-handers that have the dexterity to use your left hand to hold a fork, and to be able to bring said fork to your mouth. If I picked up a fork in my left, hand, it’d be like trying to pick up a pencil. I wouldn’t even know how to hold it correctly. Furthermore, I am not even sure I could do any cutting with my right hand. My left hand is the trained cutter in mealtime relationships, but now you have me so curious I’m thinking about switching to “Fork stays in left hand, knife stays in right hand” just to see if I can manage it.
Challenge accepted!
(No way am I doing the dropping the fork and knife and switching hands thing though. That’s just right out.)
Using one utensil, though, is more efficient than using two.
:eek: Holy shit, did we ever grow up in different environments!
I too was never formally or informally instructed on which hand to hold the fork or the knife in while cutting my food. Perhaps this is why I am such a social aberration on this issue.