when i went 2 italy this summer and my family and i ordered pizza, i noticed that they only eat it w/a knife and fork. i was the only 1 eating it w/my hands lol
2007-08-31 14:34:30 · 14 answers · asked by una ragazza siciliana 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
i was born in italy and i lived there until i was 8 BUT considering that i've been living here 4 10 yrs i wasn't used 2 ppl eating pizza that way!!!!!!!!! is it wrong 4 me 2 c differences within cultures?
2007-08-31 15:22:58 · update #1
No, it's not wrong of you to recognize the differences between cultures. If everyone did - and if everyone respected those differences, we wouldn't have wars.
2007-08-31 18:15:39 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I eat pizza with a knife and fork when I'm out. It's neater that way and I can worry less about dripping sauce on my clothes. However, since restaurant pizza is nothing more than overpriced tomato sauce, vegetables and white bread, I very rarely eat pizza out. (Not when I can make a whole wheat crust with tomato sauce and veggies at home for well over half the price.) Tonight, I went out for dinner with my husband and a friend. My black bean burger was getting a bit messy, so I ate it with my knife and fork. Growing up, I was taught that most foods, especially at a meal with others. My in-laws use their fingers, even for non-finger foods, at meals, doing things like pushing food on their utensils, picking up non-finger food with their hands and eating, it, even licking their fingers and I find it quite repulsive.
(However, if you were to see me at home, alone eating, you would not think I was the same person.)
2007-08-31 22:23:23 · answer #2 · answered by Vegan_Mom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's quite common for Italians to eat pizza using a knife and fork. Pizza is not considered a finger food.
2007-08-31 21:41:42 · answer #3 · answered by chris m 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I grew up in Europe, but I've become pretty Americanized, so I understand how this felt weird to you. But Italians (Europeans in general) do it all the time. (I did find that when my Austrian relatives visit, they quickly adapt to the American way of picking up the slices, especially the kids.)
The weirdest thing to me was last May, when my husband and I had dinner in a little countryside restaurant in northern Italy -- good food, but mostly groups of blue collar guys with a few local couples mixed in -- and there was this table of big bulky workers mixed in with some active Italian military that was right next to us. They guzzled beer, talked and gestured loudly, had a grand old time, but every one of them ate his pizza with a knife and fork the way Americans would think only a prissy maiden aunt would do it. Imagine that in an American bar!
2007-08-31 21:53:17 · answer #4 · answered by Lisa B 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I didn't eat pizza with my hands til I was at university! Always ate it with a knife and fork at home!
Took me about 10 years of marriage before I'd eat something like pork ribs or fried chicken with my hands.... boy, that stuff from childhood is ingrained!
2007-09-01 18:50:34 · answer #5 · answered by Lydia 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
How old are you? and you have such a Nic name.. seriously.. What is so weird about wanting to use a knife and fork on pizza. You were in a different country, did you expect to see things like back home. In some counties they do not even use knifes and forks but just their hands for everything.. How is the old saying.. "In Rome do as the Romans do", in other words in what ever country you are in, you do as the custom for that country is.. You need to grow up.
2007-08-31 21:47:44 · answer #6 · answered by Mari-Mari 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Yeah, it's apparently just some cultural difference. My Dad still can't get over the fact that this one guy he met ate his popcorn with a spoon! I do think that is weird, but then he probably thinks we're slobs for digging in with our hands.
I think it's interesting that my friend from India eats everything with his hands. But when he is eating publicly here in the US, he eats with utensils, but I'm sure it seems awkward to him. I'm sure that to Indians, we appear as a bit weird for using utensils, just like it seemed weird to you to see Italians using utensils for pizza.
It's just cultural differences. We should just enjoy the various ways there are of doing things, and marvel at our differences, but not criticize each other as long as nothing immoral is being done.
But I must say, it IS interesting!
2007-08-31 22:50:13 · answer #7 · answered by Heron By The Sea 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Well, first off, everybody knows, you can't get good pizza in Italy....I mean,,,and the only way to eat it is get a buffet and eat all the toppings and throw away the crust..I don't do this, but I know a certain man who does.....I eat a Personal Pan size for me and you can pick it up with your two hands or three if you have them.....mushroom and anchovies....only way to go...
2007-08-31 21:55:08 · answer #8 · answered by dreamdress2 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
No, that's acceptable. Sometimes I'll use utensils if it's really hot or the toppings want to plop off. I'll usually use my hands about halfway into though.
2007-08-31 21:40:27 · answer #9 · answered by Opal 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
When in Rome.......Do as the Romans do....I've been waiting 40 years for the perfect time to say that. Thank you for making my dream come true!
2007-09-01 01:39:08 · answer #10 · answered by ndn_ronhoward 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋