How to use a fork

While channel surfing, I stumbled over an episode of Ready, Steady, Cook. A British cooking contest, where the results are tasted in front of an audience.
What struck me was the way the contestants held their fork. They held the outer curve on top and tried to balance as many peas as possible on such a labile surface. 3-4 was the max.
In most countries on the continent, we use a fork with the inner curve as a loading platform, just as you would use a spoon.

Can anybody explain why the British use their fork in the way they do ?
How do you use your fork ? Is a fork a left hand or right hand tool ?

um I think thats the difference between upperclass and lowerclass or something, not sure, but I've used it both ways, mostly the inner curve way though.

Uh, nope my mum just said it's the polite way of doing it.

How does one even get peas onto the outer curve of a fork?!

It's true. We Brits do use our forks upside down. We also keep the fork and knife in our hands at all times, using the knife to push food on to the fork. I don't know why we do this.

When I was at nursery school (pre-school?), we were given special little pushers instead of knives to help get the food on top of the fork.

You push them with the knife onto the back of the fork, it's simple.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyuC950XCTI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fypq2qhRZnI&feature=related

And the sense in putting the knife down to switch fork hands is? You're only going to have to pick it up again.

I know. Silly, isn't it? But I do it unconsciously. American quirk, I think.

#7 exactly. It keeps us Brits highly amused!

I'm proud to be a quirky American!

Apparently the lady in #6 only knows the US and the UK etiquette.
On the continent, we keep our fork in the left hand, but after cutting the meat and vegetables, we just turn the fork so we can load more and keep the knife. The rest is the same as for the UK version.

According to many foreigners, some of us Dutch have a variation on the US etiquette. We cut our meat, take the fork in our right hand and place the left arm left and on the upper edge of the plate, making sure nobody is stealing our food. It is NOT considered good manners, but widespread.

Still, why use the fork upside down when loading food to your mouth?

I think its considered good manners so that you can't put too much in at once. I know that I would ALWAYS eat like that if in polite company or at a 'proper' family meal. Otherwise, if I'm on my own, I'll shovel it in any way I like.

I'm also big on the no cutlery idea. If it can be eaten reasonably by hand and I'm on my own, I much prefer to do so. Cavegirl in me perhaps?

I hate swtiching the fork back and to when i am eating, so I made my own solution. I still hold the fork in my left hand and cut my food with the knife in the right. but i cut ALL of my food at the start of the meal. Then I switch the fork, just once, to my right hand and eat my entire meal with the tines facing up. Instead of using my knife to shove food onto the fork, if I need food helped up, i just push it against other food on my plate. I don't know about the rest of the USA, but in the south the knife isn't used to push food on the fork, you use bread for that. When I was growing up, everyone held a biscuit or something in their hand to help push the food around. I stopped doing thqat when I got big wnough to notice that no one does that on tv, in movies, or in nice restaraunts.

hesho

may i join u guys in this convo

is anyone even here?

fine ill leave

No cutlery, my sister married a guy from pakistan, they have curries every day, they never use knives and forks, never (spoons though, yes) They generally have rotis every meal, (wholemeal flatbread) to scoop and stuff.

I paid attention to my hands while eating today, my fork twirls so i use the front and back both.

bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

hey there IS people here

WTF? 13-16?

i had a boyfriend who who never used a fork either

Hey dead memories, you can join, just leave a few minutes for people to type replies if you want one

he moved back to his home land

y do u wanna no my age

sorry ill leave :( you guys are kinda being mean oh and im 15

Dead memories, this isn't a real time forum, people reply days later and it's generally polite to type everything you want to say and leave 1 message instead of 3 or 4.

msg 24, dead_memories msg 20 was referring to your posts 13 to 16, not your age

too many msgs in this post

I think we have a random mix of customs here. I was taught to use my fork tines-down whenever I have a knife in the other hand, and tines-up whenever I'm only using a fork and not a knife. The trick to peas with a fork tines-down, is to spike a couple of them on the end of the tines, so that they don't roll off. Or just pop some mash on the fork and the peas will stick to the mash.

I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life...

I had no clue that peas were originally yellow, and someone experimented with them and turned them green for the novelty...

Forks. It's a shovel with tines. Lower class all the way baby.

Another St Patrick's day experiment gone horribly wrong.

#31 - With your fork or with your dead_memories?

#32: peas were originally yellow, and someone experimented with them and turned them green

...still waiting for someone to complete #29.

It makes the peas taste funny.
But it keeps them on my knife...

happy now?

:-D

I am a country girl who knows how to get the food into her mouth before her brothers steal it off of her plate (old habits die hard). Being an American, my fork is a slotted shovel and stabbing tool (mostly for brother's hands). It always stays in my left hand, because I am left handed, hence no awkward switching. Eating fancy gives me heartburn.

I would just love my kids to USE cutlery.

Does it bug you when people pronounce cutlery...cutelry?

As for Oz, we generally got Brit-style. And to get the peas to stay on...well that is what mashed potato is for! Or gravy. But have been known on occasion to turn the fork the 'wrong way' but it is ok to do this if you use your right hand.

Now, what about eating soup? Soup gathered in the spoon with the bowl tilted away from you and spoon likewise before taking aforementioned spoon to ones mouth?

Oh dear, my friends tease me about this mercilessly. You think that they would have better things to do, would you not? Like just EAT for heaven's sake? ;)

I use the upside-down fork method anytime I need to cut food. I also hold my fork in my left hand. When I'm eating a salad or anything already bite-sized, I flip my fork over curve down and use either my left or right hand (I'm ambidextrous).

My friends get the most teasing in about the fact that I ALWAYS cut up my pizza upside-down fork fashion- never pick up, fold, and bite. Does anyone else cut up their pizza, or am I officially weird? :)

Oh, forgot about soup. I hold my spoon curve-side down. ;) Then, the liquid is scooped up, pushing it away from me. That's saved SOOOO many napkins and shirts- less chance of flipping soup on yourself. The person sitting across from you may want to duck however! Not that I know from experience...ahem.

When cutting food - fork in left hand, with outer curve up, to hold the food down while slicing with knife, in right hand.

Conveying food to mouth - depending on foodstuff, but spearing pieces on fork, still with outer curve upwards, shoving 'looser' stuff like mash on (with knife) after the more firm foodstuffs are secured on fork. For foods not firm enough for this method I use the fork as a spoon. But this method is not perceived as civilized, by most people, not where I come from.

We do use our hands when eating burgers. But only at fast food joints. If you order a burger at a pub or restaurant you are supposed to use cutlery. Pizza? If ordering a slice, by a street-side vendor, yes, why - fingers. NEVER in a restaurant.

I have seen people trying to eat sandwiches and rolls with knife and fork. I use my fingers. There are limits to insanity ;-)

Fingers are our natural utensils. How I eat is entirely determined by what I'm eating. Steak=fork and knife. Pizza and hamburgers= fingers.

...somehow I think culture and society has a great influence on that choice.

I ate however I fancied until I had to go to restaurants with a group of persons signing the bills for my then start-up company. They originated in the social strata of kings and high gentry. Manoeuvring your eating utensils in a 'correct' manner suddenly became VERY important ;-)

Only time ever I've known someone to send back the champagne we had before dinner because it was 'spoiled' was in that group. It probably was, and it was a real expensive real champagne. But I also think there was a lot of mannerisms and snobbery. Very educational experience, all in all.

Hamburgers are always in the hands. Pizza can be knife and fork in a restaurant.

I had to eat a pear with a knife and fork once. It felt so very wrong.

Any chopstick users here? How do you eat your peas?

One at a time.

Yes, one at a time. But food made for chopsticks is usually prepared in reasonable chopstick-chunks, and peas, if there are any, can be sopped up with noodles et al in one swab.

#44,45: Oh, you can get way more than one. Just a thing of practice :P

I was brought up to eat curve down. But will shovel when hungry.

I tend to make my own pizzas and hence can add so much topping that knife and fork is the only way. It doens't feel odd then.

Supposedly one test of 'proper' etiquette is if you can eat an orange with an knife and fork.

Chopsticks. Depends on the shape and material I've tried various kinds, the parallel steel korean ones I find easiest, but took longest to get the hand of. Quite heavy too. Hardest food probably non-sticky rice, but a very close contender was whole chicken. You had to stab in with the sticks and then prise apart to get some meat.

#46 - I know. I manage sometimes ;-) Only Scandinavia isn't a chopsticks region, so it's not like every day is practise time!
I have eaten soup with sticks. Worked just fine.

Pella, your list of skills and talents never fails to amaze me. Seriously!

*blushes*

Soup with sticks. I wanna see that! Post it on Youtube.

#33, re #29 - "...it makes the peas taste funny, but it keeps them on the knife"!

As another brit, I will always be able to hear my dad saying "You're fork is not a shovel!"

But it works so much better that way!

I just went to a Thai restaurant with a friend and they brought us no utensils. It wasn't until after I had asked for some that I saw a container full of chopsticks on the table (which didn't strike me as very sanitary). I would have used them, but felt it would be even worse to after I had asked for a fork. Food was great!

I used to work in a chinese restaurant where initially we just had chopsticks on the table. Six months later we were so tired of people asking for cutlery that we relented and just put them on the tables when we set them..............

#52 LadyN - "Your fork is not a shovel" - I've got my parents voices saying that in my head too! So I was always told that the "polite" way is curve down, but i dont often bother unless out to dinner.

More often than not I use a splade @ home, its like a cross between a spoon & fork, some people call them sporks but that just sounds wrong to me. We have 2 types of splades at home & I'll always use the wider one if I can (as in if they're not all in the dishwasher)coz it has a sharpish edge which can be used like a knife for most foods .

The one's I like best are like the 4th item in this pic:

The others are more like this:

Then there is this book, It's a Spoon, Not a Shovel.

I'll tell the 'soup with sticks' secret - you use the sticks to retrieve chunky stuff, and drink the rest :-)

Mrslee - When I've been to Thailand they usually give you sticks, but spoon is needed for some courses so most beach/street side restaurants/eateries had forks and spoons. No knives available, though.

#55 - Seanie - Good to know I'm not alone hearing those voices!

On the chopsticks front, whenever we had chinese take-away when I was much younger, my dad would make us try to eat with chopsticks first of all. Only when we proved absolutely that we couldn't manage with them were we allowed to go and get a fork! (And I'm talking being about 5 yrs old. My fingers were too small!)

I find it quite funny that I always have to explain myself in Asia as to why I can use chopsticks. When I moved to Japan, and when I travelled in Malaysia and China, there was an automatic expectation that I would be completely bewildered by chopsticks.

Many people (especially in Japan) seemed suspicious when I claimed that I learned to use them at home. While they were not our first utensil of choice at home, whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant etc, my parents would force my brother and I to try using chopsticks. I started doing Japanese at primary (elementary) school and they taught us all how to use chopsticks then as well. These days, most Chinese/Japanese/Korean etc restaurants in Australia will not even put knives and forks on the table unless you ask for them.

My new housemate (who's Japanese) had a Korean friend over the other week for dinner. Both of them were not only surprised to find about 20 chopsticks in the drawer (I don't know how my housemate didn't notice them before) but my housemate explained my proficiency to her friend by saying that I had lived in Japan. I had to protest and say that I had been using chopsticks since I was five, and so have most of my friends, Asian or not! Going to Japan had nothing to do with it.

I think there's an urban myth of sorts taught to school children in some Asian countries that Westerners have never used chopsticks and will be confused by them. It is perhaps a hangover from 20 or 30 years ago when that may have been the case.

About 4 years ago I had a boyfriend who's favorite restuarants were Wagamama and Tampopo, which are westernised noodle bars here in Manchester, well I learnt to use chopsticks because we went every other week and they don't give you knives and forks unless you ask, unfortunatly not had the chance to use them in almost 2 years, given my family aren't very keen on actual asian food.