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Chewing with your mouth open is bad manners. Holding your fork in a non-prescribed fashion is bad etiquette.
This is I guess is the fine line. Your kid will find their natural way of things in time - normally around the point they are interested in relationships. A bit like bothering to wash and sorting your hair. Revolting eating habits reduces the pool of people prepared to do nasty things with you. The picky (and by that I generally mean fit) ones are the first to strike you off the list. Only the spectacularly stupid put themselves on the reject pile for avoidable reasons. As with much in life, the natural desire to procreate normally sorts you out in time.
My kids were capablebof using a knife and fork "properly" by age 6-7, certainly by Scout age.
Admitedly we all shovel peas rather than stab them when its just us*, but we do at least know what to do.
Eldest appears not to have embarrassed himself at formal banquets at Hogwarts Cambridge.
*special exception for MrsMC who doesn’t have much use of her left hand.
is that pasta with cheese sauce and raisins???
I have got to try that.
and it was normal to have the sharp pointy thing in your dominant hand. ipso facto RH knife – other hand, fork.
Think you might be on to something there. Didn't people used to eat only with a knife and nothing else? Trust the UK to base the modern rules on mediaeval customs.
Reminds me of another weird thing that the UK does times tables up to 12, whereas pretty much everywhere else does up to 10. Had an epiphany recently when I realised this is probably due to the old lsd money system.
If kids can eat appropriately it’s a confidence builder,
Eating is about putting food in your mouth, chewing it, then swallowing it. This tread is about social norms, such as removing your hat when you enter a room, it's not about eating. Kids are disgusting when they eat, they mostly grow out of it. This is not some new phenomenom, I'm sure cave people complained about the lack of table manners of their children.
This tread is about social norms, such as removing your hat when you enter a room,
I'm going to guess that this hasn't been a social norm since before the 80s, when people wore hats that weren't baseball caps or beanies, because I can't remember the last time I observed anyone doing this. Even in churches there will be people wearing hats, and not just the bride's mother. 😀 Looking around the office and there a 3 hat wearers in about a dozen people. I am now going to buy an appropriate hat so that I can doff it to the opposite sex (ding dong, Nurse Bell!) and remove it when entering rooms.
Can this thread be combined with the downstairs cloakroom one?
Can this thread be combined with the downstairs cloakroom one?
This.
What if you are wearing a Dryrobe whilst holding your fork incorrectly?
stingmered
Full Member
@RustyNissanPrairieforget about the fork, is that… is that pasta with cheese sauce and raisins??
It's JCB pasta obviously!
You can replace the “spoon bowl” with… the bowl. You don’t need a spoon to do the fork swirl. And it saves on washing up.
Hang on...that bloke is cheating by eating a disgracefully authentic portion size so plenty of empty plate for swirlage.I applaud his style but I'd like to see him pull it off on a properly loaded, carbo loading (who am I kidding - fat boy loading more like!) plate with chuff all white bits showing to get his swirl on.
I expect it’s something to do with sitting at dinner tables in fairly close proximity to each others where, to save a clashing of elbows
That makes sense when you're writing, and only using one hand. Less so when you're using both hands.
The picky (and by that I generally mean fit) ones are the first to strike you off the list. Only the spectacularly stupid put themselves on the reject pile for avoidable reasons. As with much in life, the natural desire to procreate normally sorts you out in time.
An ex used to eat with her fingers, and not just pizza/sandwiches/chips. Until she pointed this out I genuinely never noticed. Easier being vegetarian with no tough meat to have to cut up, and only ordered food that didn't need a knife and fork, but still a skill to hide it! Proof positive that you can get away with almost anything with good conversation and massive ........
My OH utterly grosses me out if I watch her eat, it's a genuinely upsetting spectacle to watch. And you have to watch because it takes her 20 minutes to plate up and acquire condiments so if you don't start eating before her your food will be cold.
In conclusion; if your eyeline has drifted down as far as the table the dates a disaster anyway 😂
While we are on the subject, what about weirdos who hold the knife as if it were a pen? I think they think it looks ‘refined’, but it’s just idiotic.
Yeah, trying to look ‘posh’ and achieving the exact opposite I think. I always wonder how they can eat anything that actually requires a bit of effort to slice. Steak for example. You’d need to ensure you always ate soft, beige food if you hold your knife like you were painting a delicate watercolour.
I was always told that holding your knife like a pen was a very common ("common" as in your gran would tell you off for being "common as muck") thing to do. The "proper" way is with your index finger on top of the knife, just before the blade. My gran has been dead some forty years and I still wouldn't dare contradict her......she was fierce!!
A more entertaining question, is how many people can/do actually eat with chopsticks.
Because being a snob about holding a knife like a pen, then eating your sweet and sour chicken balls with a fork is surely peak hypocrisy 😂
What if you are wearing a Dryrobe whilst holding your fork incorrectly?
Nuke from orbit, obv. It's the only way to be sure.
your sweet and sour chicken balls
Aren't chicken female?
Aren’t chicken female?
Nope. Well not exclusively.
No problems in our household, i’m still working to get them to use a soup spoon properly, as in pushing it away from you to load up with soup
That's just an English affectation.
I guess as mentioned above when I was growing up we all ate the same meals around the table seven days a week (no I don't mean the same thing seven days a week) usually with a knife and fork though there were certain meals where it was acceptable to eat with fork only (the Germans do this for things like goulash and potatoes where a knife would be superfluous). In fact I got told off at school once for not using a knife and my Mum gave them a piece of her mind.
I eat spaghetti with a fork only, no spoon. It's not hard.
In a posh restaurant I would probably go by convention and use a knife and fork, but there is no way I would ever try to balance peas on the back of my fork, there lies madness.
It took an American to point out to me that pizza could be eaten without a knife and fork.
I eat my peas with honey
Ive done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But they do stick on the knife
Chopsticks use maxxes out cultural differences. Full of admiration for those that use them proficiently - I can sort of but I'd not trust myself to guarantee an incident free meal whilst talking and thinking about something else.
But...and it's a flipping massive but.....anyone I've eaten with who does this naturally as their default eating style from birth and the food makes 90% of the journey from the table to their mouth still in the bowl. The chopsticks are only trusted with the last few inches. To me that kind of says its a bit of a crap method. But it highlights differences in 'manners' -if you were sat around a table and picked up your plate of food in a western society and just forked it in your gob from a bowl hovering just under your chin people would look at you very weirdly. Knife and forkers have our plates on the table (or pseudo table if eating off your lap).
I was in India with work over the summer leading some kids. We had two locals with us too helping with the project. When in front of the kids they ate 'western' with knife and fork. As soon as we were on our own and they were more relaxed they used their hands. Apparently they thought it was the polite thing to do when with a western group. It was 3 weeks of an earth toilet too. Our kids found it challenging because of the flies and smell etc. Our two indian guides found the whole concept of toilet roll the most revolting part of the experience. Cultural norms drive our world.
I can use chopsticks with my left hand and have also eaten sadza/meelies with my hands in Africa, it can be done elegantly (by the locals).
I take my hat off when I got indoors.
Because being a snob about holding a knife like a pen, then eating your sweet and sour chicken balls with a fork is surely peak hypocrisy
Aren't chicken balls an invention for the UK market, anyway there is a proper way to use chopsticks too.
Holding your knife 'like a pen' is the correct way. As is only using a fork for spaghetti. I'll get me coat ....
My kids always had their meals at the table, no radio or TV, we ate and talked.
You say this as if it's something of note...
Next you'll be telling us they are food and drank liquid.
🤨
Whoever invented table etiquette: “Hey let’s make people use the fork with their weaker uncoordinated hand, it’ll be a laugh!”
This. I'm right handed but have always used fork in right hand as it just makes more sense to me. Particularly these days when a lot of the meals I make are only using a fork such as pasta, curry, stir-fry etc served in a bowl.
I'd expect someone to be able to use a knife and fork appropriately, and chew with a closed mouth. Like this (reverse is fine if you are left handed or perfer it)..
If nothing else you have more control over what you are doing...
But I'm not going to get all bent out of shape if someone uses a desert spoon to consume soup instead of a soup spoon.
EDIT..in company obvioulsly, If I'm on my own I'll sometimes eat stuff straight out of the pan with a fork...why create more washing up?!
But I’m not going to get all bent out of shape if someone uses a desert spoon to consume soup instead of a soup spoon.
Oh I insist on a soup spoon but not one of those ridiculous bowl shaped things that you sip off the side off.
Yep we need to have a think about the connection between grazing at the fridge, pizza, fries and fizzy pop in front of the box and obesity. Sadly, that's the reality for a lot of kids and it's not doing them any favours.
Like this (reverse is fine if you are left handed or perfer it)..
If nothing else you have more control over what you are doing…
Maybe if "what you're doing" is waiting to impale food out of the air as it comes whizzing past, before sticking it in your left ear. No wonder the plate is empty and there's crap all over the table. 😁
One of our scouts sat down to eat a burger in a bun with a knife and fork.
One of our scouts sat down to eat a burger in a bun with a knife and fork.
Well I must admit I'm a bit confused as to how you are supposed to eat one of these massive burger towers that seem so in vogue now. I mean you can't actually pick it up and take a bite can you?
One of our scouts sat down to eat a burger in a bun with a knife and fork
It's less messy that way.
Anyone that uses cutlery to eat a burger or pizza should not be allowed to eat either ever again. It’s supposed to be messy you beautiful, sad weird people.
I take my hat off when I got indoors.
me too. I’m a huge hat fan but it just marks you out as special and not in the birthday way if you’re wearing one inside.
Well I must admit I’m a bit confused as to how you are supposed to eat one of these massive burger towers that seem so in vogue now. I mean you can’t actually pick it up and take a bite can you?
Agreed... burgers are designed to be eaten by hand. If you can't pick it up and bite it without dropping half of it all over yourself, whats the point?
Poor design for no reason, especially if they have to stick a wooden cocktail/kebab stick through it to prevent it from collapsing under its own weight.
Do you have Trump hands?
Nobody noticed the caveman fist eaters then? Mostly adults from memory The business end of tool sticking out of clenched fist next to thumb meaning only way to scoop is to scoop towards user makes actual eating look quite a challenge. Lots of tv ads showing poor technique can’t help people eh?
Agreed… burgers are designed to be eaten by hand. If you can’t pick it up and bite it without dropping half of it all over yourself, whats the point?
Poor design for no reason, especially if they have to stick a wooden cocktail/kebab stick through it to prevent it from collapsing under its own weight.
100% with you on this. It's a goddamn sandwich.
I never quite worked out what do to with the stick. Take it out so it all slides apart, or risk losing an eye. Are you supposed to move it around as you go? Madmess.
Yes, never really got the greed burger thing. Is there penis compensation going on here where you've got to be able to order something so massive the whole restaurant bows down to the meat package you must be hefting in your trousers? Or just some sort of restaurant on restaurant oneupmanship that's got out of hand and noone knows how to back down?
Here's a thought...a little bit crazy I know....if you really are that hungry you could order two burgers of edible proportions?
All the above plus brioche buns are shit. Give me a hu**** any day.
Do you have Trump hands?
I hope not! lol!
Pull stick out, split burger in half so that it doesn’t just slide apart, eat with knife and fork.
Then you may aswell buy a proper steak and chips... and a knife and fork.
The whole point of a burger is that it's easy to eat 'on the go' with your hands without making a mess.
Once you cross over into the domain of 'artisan' burgers, you are truly lost. 😉
They'll be putting lids on stews and calling them pies next, mark my words.
It truly is stupid but, people must buy them or they wouldn't sell them. I suspect a lot of it is just Marketing, people see it and go "oh my god, look at that!" without much thought - or care, I suppose - for the practicalities.