Why do Americans eat with the fork in their right hand?

Question

This is a historical fact so 10 points to the first person to answer correctly.

It has to do with what you stand for.

Has to do with Red Coats

Answer 1

This started during colonial times when the American colonists were forced to lodge British soldiers. Originaly, the colonists ate just like the Europeans still do to this day - with the fork in the left, the knife in the right. When they are done cutting meat, the fork and knife stay in those hands, the fork in the left hand is used to bring food to the mouth and the knife hand can be used to help move food around the plate. In those days, knives were a lot sharper - they had to be - the meat was a lot tougher. Since this was a politicly divisive time, the soldiers were scared. Keep in mind the soldiers and colonists were eating at the same table at meal time! They started having the American hosts put down there knife, switch the fork from the left hand to the right and then use the the right hand with the fork to bring the meat to ones mouth.

I have been an exchange student in Europe. I decided to follow the European way as an experiment and I will never go back! Think about all the time you spend picking up your knife and down and switching hands with the fork! Plus it is so much easier having the knife hand to guide everything.

Answer 2

trenchant.org - daily
Confused Etiquette


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"Until the 1840's everyone used the American style of handling dining utensils. Around 1852, a French etiquette book announced that if one wanted to eat in a high-class manner, one would not switch the fork to the other hand. Eventually this 'continental style' evolved and Europeans of all classes started using it. Americans made the 'original' style their style, and continue to use the American style today. Actually, both the American and Continental styles are appropriate with Continental style becoming the more contemporary way to eat. While some people combine both styles only one style should be used when dining. The style which helps one eat attractively and with ease is the most appropriate.

American Style: When cutting meat, the knife is in the right hand and the fork is in the left hand. After cutting, the knife is placed at the top of the plate and the fork is switched to the right hand (tines up).

Continental Style: When cutting meat, the knife is in the right hand and the fork is in the left hand. After cutting, the fork (tines down) and the knife remain in the same hands. Special note: American spies were often captured during World War II because of their use of the American style of eating."

[Gloria Peterson - Dining Customs]
Everyone that I have observed has used the American style.

I do not, and I never have.

I keep my fork in my right hand, and my knife in the left, and do not switch them during the meal. That is, I use the Continental style, but with the pieces reversed. This would make sense if I was European and left-handed, but I am neither.

Nor do my parents eat this way; they think it is strange and in fact find it impossible to eat this way, being right-handed Americans.

I do not know why I eat like a left-handed European, but it has always felt like the most natural way to use a fork and knife.

I asked my parents if I was French and left-handed and nobody had bothered to tell me, but they assured me I was not.

« August 12, 2002 »

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Answer 3

The cause of the difference in custom is uncertain. It is believed to have originated because the 16th century American colonists had established themselves before the fork, and any custom of its use, had become widespread in Europe. The implement did not become widespread in Europe (certainly northern Europe) until the 18th century, and was not adopted in the United States until the 19th century. The American use of blunt-ended knives was also a factor.

Another belief is that, as the frontier was a rough and ready place, the placing of the knife back on the table indicated to others that you had no intentions of hurting them. The dropping of the left hand into the lap near a pistol or another knife, however, was an important safety precaution.

Answer 4

A hamburger is a sandwich. Sandwiches are eaten with the hands. French fries are a sort of "dress-up, dress-down" food, here. If it is served at a sit-down meal with cutlery, it is expected that you will use a fork. If no fork is provided and it's served in a little cardboard container, then it's considered finger food. I can't believe that the McD's in New York didn't have a fork -- most of them in the US serve salads, and they have forks availble for customers. Perhaps it was your accent? EDIT: ROFL! What, people in Nottingham don't have a British accent?!

Answer 5

Traditionally the left hand was used for cleaning yourself after you had been to the toilet. Ergo the left was deemed unclean and the right was okay for eating.

Traditionally it is a great insult in Asian countries to offer your left hand in greeting and it is also why Sharia law prescribes the cutting off of the right hand as the penalty for theft.

In Europe, due to advanced standards of personal hygiene and a more complicated cuisine, it became expected practice to use the right hand to hold the knife and the left to hold the fork.

Answer 6

I consider myself 'right handed' but I eat with the knife in the left and the fork in the right. I play golf left handed and tennis etc right handed.

I am normal - the rest of you are weird ;-)

Answer 7

In America, you cut everything up, then put your knife down and eat with your fork in your right hand and your left hand in your lap.

In Europe, you cut one piece off at a time and eat that, and it is considered rude to put your hands under the table, showing your business is "above board".

I don't like the idea of having my hand in my lap while I'm eating and keep having to swap hands!

Answer 8

This peculiar practice of switching the fork over to the right hand started in a private school for "young ladies and gentlemen," whose headmistress devised this idiocy to keep their otherwise-mischievious hands busy at table. Also, the idle hand - usually the left - was to be placed in the lap, in contradistinction to the European practice of resting one's wrist on the table's edge.

Answer 9

It originated in Germany where the Kaiser was born with a withered arm.
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/2014/02/treating-the-kaisers-withered-arm.html

Or Google "the Kaiser's Withered Arm".

To limit exposure of his withered arm he would lay his knife down on the plate and take the fork in his right had to raise the food to his mouth. The court followed him out of respect and it spread to outside the court to the public.
German immigrants were a major part of the immigrants to the United States and brought the custom with them which was well ingrained by then. A habit that they never changed.

Answer 10

Im British, i write with right hand and have fork in right hand. It has nothing to do with any historical fact, everyone is different.