Is it true that in the USA the correct etiquette for eating is to use fork in right hand?

Answer 1

My mother was born into a very upper-class family and she was taught that on no account should you use a knife to eat at table with - anything that could be cut with side of a fork should not have a knife near it. I'm not sure what they did with meat - all I know is how embarrassing her table manners were - always. She mashed everything up rather than use a knife - still does, but she's 90 now so we don't mind so much. We don't eat meat either, so that isn't a problem - but you still need a knife to cut up a carrot occasionally. Not my mum, mash, mash, mash. I would never accuse Americans of eating badly for the sake of it, as did my mother and her peculiar family, but I am pleased that my son is determined to teach his little boy to cut up his food properly - and seems to be succeeding.

Answer 2

Basically, the American way has the idea that you eat with a fork with the dominant hand, and from time to time, you pick up the knife with the dominant hand, shifting the fork to the other one, cut the meat with the dominant hand, then put down the knife and shift the fork back to the dominant hand and eat the piece. Whatever does not require a knife for cutting is separated by the fork.

I personally have had a bit of a "mixed training," so to speak. My Dad was left handed, my Mom was right handed, and until school forced me to change handedness, I was left handed. From watching both parents as a tyke, and from being naturally left handed forced to be right handed, I have ended up dealing with meat and stuff that needs a knife like a European, cutting the meat with the right hand and eating it with the left. Then I put down the knife and switch the fork back to the right hand, but sometimes not - often I seem to prefer to continue using the left hand to use the fork, depends on the stuff I'm eating - I don't do peas well with the left :O).

Answer 3

As far as i know there is no correct etiquette in the USA.
It seems they do not use both knives and forks when eating, but first cut the food up, put the knife down and use just the fork to eat with whichever hand they like to use.

Answer 4

American style

The knife is held in the right hand and the fork in the left. Holding food to the plate with the fork, a single bite-sized piece is cut with the knife. The knife is then placed towards the top and right of the plate and the fork transferred to the right hand, with the left hand falling to the lap of the consumer. The cut piece is then eaten using the fork, wielded in a 'spoon-like' manner rather than to impale the food. The process is then repeated as necessary. A left-handed consumer can retain the fork in the stronger hand, although the knife is still released.

[edit] Variations

While cutting, the fork may be held upside down with the handle along the palm (hidden handle). Because most forks have a curve this will point the tines downward towards the food.

Some Americans choose to disregard the knife entirely, using a fork in their right hand and cutting their food by sawing with the edge of their fork.

[edit] European style

This contrasts with the European manner of constantly holding both knife and fork, in the right and left hands respectively, throughout consumption. The hand grasp is also different, in Europe it is considered better manners not to hold a knife or fork as one would hold a pen, but to have the handle running along the palm and extending out to be held by thumb and forefinger. This style is sometimes called 'hidden handle'. This method is also common in Canada and other former parts of the British Empire. In contrast to to American method of using a fork much like a spoon (tines up), the Europeans primarily use the fork with tines facing away from the user (tines down).

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 5

Americans tend to use only the right hand when eating, alternately swapping between fork and knife. Eating "European style" with fork in the left hand and knife in the right is reserved for eating steak, and otherwise may be considered a little strange, but entirely acceptable.
And since my parents immigrated from France over twenty years ago I am really tired of the derogatory remarks from some Europeans.
You base your knowledge of us on movies? Or a 3 week vacation? I am really tired of the nonsense!
And where isn't their a Mc Donald's? They are located in all of Europe now so that means, you also don't need cutlery also.

Answer 6

I am English and I always eat with just a fork, mainly used in my right hand, but sometimes the left. When I was at school we had an American teacher, who before school dinners started, would go along all the lunch tables and remove all the knives, so we had to eat with just our forks. It is a habit I have never managed to break.

Answer 7

I think that etiquette is quite clear on how to use knives and forks, however a lot of American food is designed to be eaten with a fork or with your hands. I think that most typical Americans however in a nice restaurant would still use both knife and fork but are less regimented at home.

Answer 8

There's something I never thought I'd see, etiquette and USA in the same sentence. Half of them wouldn't know a knife or fork. The ones who think the know everything cut their food up into tiny bits first and then use a fork in the right hand. Don't look, its a disgusting mess. You carry on doing the British thing.

Answer 9

I think that this is a thing that all people should be taught in schools as a subject to teach the morons how to eat with a knife and fork and to remove their stupid baseball hats too and turn off the cell phones at the table. Nothing worse than being in a family restaurant and seeing some slob with the fork and the cell phone in same hand yakking away loudly and drooling with his/her baseball hat on and trying to look important...goofy and ignorant is the term I would say.

Answer 10

Yes, we eat using a fork with the right hand with the prongs of the fork facing upward. We also hold the fork like a pencil or pen with our thumbs on the top...We use the fork for scooping.

In Europe people generally use a fork in the left hand with the prongs facing downeard. Europeans usually hold the fork like a pointer stick with their index finger on top. Europeans use the fork for stabbiing and pushing food together.