Is eating with both a fork and a spoon at the same time really considered bad manners in Canada?

Question

I recently heard of an Asian Kid in the first grade somewhere in Canada who is being given disciplinary action daily for being rude and having no table manners. His offense, the report says, is that he eats rice for lunch using both a fork and a spoon at the same time. Referring to his using both his utensils together, his school principal commented, "How like a pig!"

Answer 1

From other people's answers in here, I suppose people in the US and in Canada consider using both utensils at the same time to be rude. But then, table manners depend on where you are. Like here in the Philippines, it is correct manners to eat meals with both the fork and the spoon. And please take note that while one uses both at the same time, they are not both for putting food into one's mouth at the same time as if stuffing it. The fork is used to HELP PUSH FOOD (USUALLY RICE, THAT COULD BE SWIMMING IN SAUCE OR SOUP) ONTO THE SPOON. It is not for putting food into the mouth alternately with the spoon, as some others who answered may have imagined. What I think should be considered bad manners (and unhealthy too) would be eating a burger or a hotdog on a bun fully unwrapped, when the person eating didn't wash his hands. Those things from fastfoods usually come wrapped in paper, but I've seen lots of Americans in the US unwrapping them completely and holding the buns with their bare hands, when they didn't clean their hands first. Most Asians would unwrap their burgers bit by bit, as they finish portions of the burger, they would unwrap the adjacent part.

I think such accusations come from people's ignorance of other cultures. They see everything unfamiliar to them as wrong.
They think they alone are right, when it's them who could be wrong. And if eating with both a spoon and a fork together
is considered as eating like a pig in Canada, aren't they shocked when they see others using chop sticks? And what about
those people who eat with their bare hands, I suppose the Canadians and the Americans want them punished too.

Answer 2

Well, in the Philippines where the kid comes from, the usual manner of serving food is mostly in tidbit sizes. There is really no need to use a knife since the food there is not served in big chunks or slabs.

Additionally, philippine dishes tend to be soup or sauce based, and the rice there is pretty loose, unlike the Chinese or Japanese variety which is sticky enough to be picked up by chopsticks. It's fairly a common sense practice to push the food unto your spoon by using your fork, rather than using a knife to push it unto the fork and having all your rice kernels and sauce drip back down unto your plate.

I guess being a pig at the dinner table would be a person slobbering all over and displaying uncivilized table manners... unless the kid was such a slob while eating at his school, I think it was a very inconsiderate comment of the teacher.

Table manners and etiquette just differs from country to country. There are even cultures who, for example, find it rude if you would be eating your food quietly, since they consider eating noisily a display of appreciation for the food. Some Asian countries sip the soup straight from the bowl rather than using a spoon. It's really impossible to judge what practices are acceptable and which are not, as every country does it a little differently.

Considering that every country is getting more globalized and exposed to ethnicity's from all over the world, we need to show each other more tolerance, and discern more thoroughly to know the difference between whether the person we are with is just acting in a manner that may be strange to us because it's another country's customary practice, or if he really is just being filthy.

Answer 3

Table manners are pretty much common among western countries, other than anecdotal exceptions. Spoons are used for liquids, and a fork (or fork and knife) should be used for everything else. Using a spoon and a fork together does sound a bit bizarre... did the child eat two-handedly? That probably would be considered a little bit pig-like in most places. If he alternated both tools, it probably should just be considered eccentric.
In any event, he will probably very much benefit from at least being made aware that there is something called table manners and what they consist in.

Answer 4

In Canada we use knifes and forks yet I actually have considered forks and spoons utilized in Vietnamese eating places. there's a good vietnamese eating position I typical said as 'the fairway bamboo'. i have considered distinctive human beings use forks and spoons there and at different vietnamese eating places. i have not considered the different cultures do it yet I actually have considered Indians, Tamils and Africans use their hands to eat-really roti. as far as manners bypass-i imagine that's a cultural element so it really isn't any longer undesirable manners.

Answer 5

"Two-fisted eating" is considered bad manners in the US, too (unless of course someone is eating spaghetti and only using his spoon and fork together to twirl it up). He needs to slow down at the table. As far as web's answer, table manners are in place to respect others who might be around you when you are dining. He says that eating is supposed to be a pleasurable experience, but I have to admit that I would find it hard to enjoy my meal if a diner beside me was blowing his nose at the table, talking with his mouth completely full, or (yes) two-fisted eating. I will admit that I sometimes stuff my face like a complete pig, but ONLY when there is nobody around to offend.

Answer 6

In many countries it is common to eat with a fork and spoon, mainly used for rice dishes for example in Iran, Thailand, Cambodia...

Answer 7

What a strange teacher! I do eat with spoon fork and knife if i want to, according to what i am eating( one to cut , one to gather or pick and one to scoop and eat) there's nothing wrong with it! Why having so many rules if eating is supposedly a pleasurable experience?

Answer 8

The teacher was severely disciplined for her rudeness and inconsideration