# You should eat like a Brit. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 3, 2005, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860 "2005-12-03T03:34:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/41 "2005-12-04T22:17:08Z")
I go both ways. Depends on what I am eating, really. Otherwise, what \*\*Excalibre \*\* said. Besides, my ancestors came here to get away from the way Europeans do things! ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/42 "2005-12-04T23:45:09Z")
If I’m eating something that can be cut with the side of a fork’s tines, I’ll do that, keeping the fork in my right hand the whole time. If I have to cut off a bite with a knife and then eat the bite with a fork, I’ll do the “zig-zag method.” This has nothing to do with how I was taught though; it’s just that I’m likely to stab myself in the eye (or more likely get food all over myself) if I try to use my left hand to get a fork into my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/43 "2005-12-05T12:13:48Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > But none of you stop on my account. One of life’s little pleasures is watching people clumsily eating with their forks in their left hands, pausing every few moments between picking up dropped food to proclaim how efficient and not-at-all-pretentious they are. Likewise! You cut-then-swap-hands lot are endlessly amusing. It is is very hard to see how swapping hands is somehow efficient! ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/44 "2005-12-05T13:00:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > When the fork’s in the left hand the tines are curved downwards for stabbing. When the fork’s in the right hand the tines are curved upwards for scooping. Right. I totally agree. That’s why leftys have such a hard time writing, too. When they hold a pencil, the eraser is pointing DOWN. How do they do it? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/45 "2005-12-05T14:05:39Z")
> [@Excaliber](#): > > I’ve never understood the howls of protest that switching hands is such a vastly inconvenient thing to do. Most of the time, I don’t need a knife at all, since I’m not eating something involving much cutting. When I am, it’s obviously far easier to take half a second to switch my fork to my dominant hand than to try to develop fork-wielding skills in my left hand as well. > But none of you stop on my account. One of life’s little pleasures is watching people clumsily eating with their forks in their left hands, pausing every few moments between picking up dropped food to proclaim how efficient and not-at-all-pretentious they are. Sir, I challenge ye to a utensil-wielding eating contest of T-bone steak, mashed potatoes, baby peas and blueberry pie. I predict that I will clean my plate more quickly, less pretentiously and with more refinement than thou. Heck, I’ll probably be pickin’ my teeth clean with my fork tines before you even get to the pie. 🆒 ---
**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:** [December 5, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/46 "2005-12-05T15:27:45Z")
Since when was eating about efficiency or speed? 😕 Sure, if your food goes stone cold before you’ve finished it, maybe you need to review your strategy (or just warm the plates properly) but sheesh! Way to lose sight of the objective folks. Eating with the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right isn’t clumsy at all if you’ve been brought up to do it. Eating with the fork in the rich hand isn’t sloppy or lazy if that’s the prevailing habit in your culture; Likewise eating with chopsticks, a spoon or with your fingers from a rice bowl. There’s one thing more annoying than people eating the wrong way and that’s people being smug about eating the ‘right’ way. I happen to be someone who uses knife and fork in the standard ‘Brit’ way, so I’m not particularly saying this for self-justification. ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/47 "2005-12-05T15:48:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Since when was eating about efficiency or speed? 😕 > > There’s one thing more annoying than people eating the wrong way and that’s people being smug about eating the ‘right’ way. Well said, old bean. Dining (or “eating”) shouldn’t be a NASCAR or Formula-1 race. What’s wrong with a little refinement and elegance, folks? There’s so little left in contemporary society. Dining with proper table manners is a marvelous thing. On another note, I will say that the haughtiness and preaching typically associated with table manners is found far more among Euros looking down upon the American “zig zag” method, rather than vice versa. All too many Euros simply cannot restrain themselves from making condescending comments or stares, which is the hallmark of poor manners. A Brit may claim his method is far more efficient, but when were manners of any kind rooted in efficiency and speed? If efficiency is your benchmark, go Caveman. I like both a well-executed Euro and AmeriZag method. It’s poor table manners that drive me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/48 "2005-12-05T15:52:49Z")
> [@BraheSilver](#): > > I’m American, and hold my knife in my left hand and my fork in the right without switching. I’m right handed. What does that make me? I do that too. I cannot imagine why you’d do it any other way, but to each his own. Really, if you keep your mouth closed when you’re chewing and don’t splatter food all around, you can get by with whatever utensil approach you like. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/49 "2005-12-05T16:26:16Z")
> [@BraheSilver](#): > > I’m American, and hold my knife in my left hand and my fork in the right without switching. I’m right handed. What does that make me? I makes you like me. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/50 "2005-12-05T16:48:29Z")
> [@MangledTrout](#): > > Since when was eating about efficiency or speed? > [@Cognac the Magnifico](#): > > Well said, old bean. It’s **all** about speed and efficiency, Mr. Bean. Do you think that when our prehistoric ancestors wrested wildebeest carcass entrails from the slobbering mouths of hyenas that they bothered to shift their forks from left to right? Not, bloody likely, Jelly Bean. On the African savanna, the English non-zig-zag method reined supreme, Beano. Speed and efficiency are not the most important factors, but they may be factored in at some point, after the more important factors are met… and that’s a fact. If both methods may be considered aligned with refined etiquette and good manners, then, and only then, should speed and efficiency take precedence over bungling wackiness. Anyway, that’s my take on the matter, old Stringbean 😉 ---
**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:** [December 5, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/51 "2005-12-05T16:57:23Z")
Of course it mattered to our ancestors, but so did things like being able to start a fire by rubbing sticks together… how many of us can do that today? -I can, but how relevant is it in modern culture? Lots of these soft social questions have more than one right answer, or at least more than one answer that is not absolutely wrong. Humans invented knives and forks, why shouldn’t they have a choice about how they use them? If they had been handed, ready-made to Moses amid smoke and fire on the mountaintop, along with a strict set of instructions on their proper use, then perhaps I’d be more sympathetic. Although maybe not. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2005, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/52 "2005-12-05T17:10:00Z")
Can anyone make an objective case that any of the proferred methods of using a fork and knife is more “elegant” than the others? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/53 "2005-12-06T20:42:06Z")
> [@ascenray](#): > > Can anyone make an objective case that any of the proferred methods of using a fork and knife is more “elegant” than the others? Both methods are equally elegant so long as you raise your pinkies and comport yourself with smug indifference…and refrain from audible bouts of flatulance. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/54 "2005-12-06T20:47:44Z")
> [@Tibbycat](#): > > Both methods are equally elegant so long as you raise your pinkies and comport yourself with smug indifference…and refrain from **audible bouts of flatulance**. So an SBD is ok? ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/55 "2005-12-06T21:03:13Z")
> [@silentanus](#): > > So an SBD is ok? Quite so. So long as you don’t sit next to me. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/56 "2005-12-06T21:33:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Since when was eating about efficiency or speed? 😕 I don’t understand the aversion that table-manners mavens seem to have to efficiency and speed. I can’t think of any reason _not_ to eat in the easiest and most efficient way possible (without totally grossing out other people at the table). A lot of rules of etiquette don’t seem to promote speed or efficiency, but they usually have a purpose of making other people more comfortable. I don’t even notice how other people use their forks and knives, so I can’t imagine how using a fork and knife in a certain way would make others more comfortable. So this kind of thing seems to me to be inefficient for no good reason. 😕 ---
**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:** [December 6, 2005, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/57 "2005-12-06T23:57:34Z")
efficiency and speed simply aren’t necessarily all that important; not everything in life needs to be (or even _should be_) reduced to a clinical time-and-motion study - I think a lot of people (including me) believe that doing so diminishes some of the pleasure of the experience; for example, slicing into a moist tender, rare steak and carving off a piece of it to spear with your fork is arguably far less efficient than having someone else cut it into neat cubes that you can pick up with a spoon, but I just don’t want to be treated like that; similarly, someone could cut the kernels off my corn cob for me and give them to me in a bowl - again, with a spoon. That would be really efficient - I could probably eat them in half the time with no mess, but I want to tear them directly off the cob with my own teeth, while the butter runs down my chin, then I want to scour the gnawed cob over again, in the vain search for any missed bits - it’s vastly less efficient and dammit, it’s the way I want it to stay. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/58 "2005-12-07T00:20:37Z")
I’ve eaten both ways… I started the “other” way when we lived in Europe. But I never quite got the hang of eating stuff off of my fork when it was upside down. Now I eat Thai style. It trumps the heck out of either of the others in efficiency, although it does somewhat require the foodstuffs to be either precut or easily dissected. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/59 "2005-12-07T01:36:51Z")
Grew up eating American-style. Then I went to Germany for ayearat the age of seventeen. My host brother asked his dad why I was eating like that. I quickly learned the German style and I have never gone back. However, all foods that don’t require knives are eaten with my fork in my right hand. I think it’s easier and I don’t get any funny looks from Americans - I think it really is a european thing to notice how one uses their utensils. For example, I haven’t a clue how my boyfriend uses his fork and knife, and we eat lunch and dinner together almost every day. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860/60 "2005-12-07T12:45:38Z")
I use both methods. My mother is English and contends that european forks are weighted differently than american ones. American forks want to flip over when held tines up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-should-eat-like-a-brit/333860.md?page=4)