Using a knife and fork

I too am left handed and use my knife and fork in the traditional way
. Knife in the right hand, fork in the left, but pudding spoon or fork in my left.

can't see anything wrong with eating pizza out of the box.
why complicate things, make extra washing-up.
i too was puzzled by the lack of cutlery in 1970s mcdonalds, but have managed to adapt since.

It is impossible to avoid watching how some people eat when they are sitting opposite you, and while curry eaters may choose to use bread to transfer food to their mouths, cutlery is used mainly to avoid greasy sticky hands.
It is not that difficult to learn to use a knife, fork and spoon, but many parents are far too lazy to bother to attempt to teach their children.

A relative joined the RAF as a flying officer. One of the first lessons in their training was dining table etiquette.

kittylester Blossoming I'm left handed and was brought up with the conventional knife and fork arrangement. I never could wield a fork or a spoon in my right hand, though. I'd miss my mouth, no doubt about it. However, left handed scissors are a mystery to me. I can't make them work properly or cut straight with them.

Always the way I was brought up.
Taught my children to do the same and always lay the table for them correctly now.
After this it’s a matter of choice, they are all adults and I’m glad to have them eat with us whichever way they now decide.

Both are correct - right/left… left/right… and including some foods that are made to eat by hand. Okay by me.

I don’t mind which culture you are from (chopsticks, anyone?) I would accept either/or as long as they are not slobs at the table. Show some manners, don’t talk with your mouth full, use a napkin, no elbows on the table, and don’t make noises eating your food. Respectful conversation too, please.

I’ve seen examples of absolute pigs eating in restaurants or at dinner parties. Didn’t their mothers teach them anything?
I am a food snob when it comes to table manners.
USA Gundy

My father and I are lefthanded, my sibling and mother are righthand, we all eat with the fork in our left hands.

If I'm carving a joint of meat or cutting a crusty loaf, I'll hold the knife in my left hand.

I guess that having parents of both left and right hand dominance, I learnt to do many things both ways and have stuck with whichever way seems easier for me for individual tasks.

When I was teaching my own children, both right-handed, to do certain tasks that I do with my left hand, I found the easiest way to do things was to sit opposite them and they could easily follow what I was doing but the other way around and using their right hands.

“I eat my peas with honey
I've done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on my knife.”
Ogden Nash

I'm lefthanded and use a spoon in my left hand for soup or puddings. At school we sat on long benches and my left arm used to jab the right-handed person beside me! It was years before I realised I was the one in the wrong.

My DP is one of twins. His brother is left handed but uses his knife and fork in the regular way, but my right handed DP uses them the other way round!
The other day my daughter said that when she was out for a meal, with work colleagues, strangely, one of them complimented her on how she used her knife and fork. I obviously taught her well. Oh and she is 35!
My lefty grandsons (8 and 6) both use knives and forks in the regular way and are adept with chopsticks, one of them can also use a snail holder and fork! Obviously takes after me there! 😃

Strangely my granddaughter does this ….she cuts up her food with knife in right hand then puts down knife and changes fork into her right hand to eat. We are all right handed and she has eaten with us and her parents for 11 years and seen all of us eat ‘correctly’ but she just cannot do it! The nagging has stopped now and we let her go her own way. Otherwise she has impeccable manners . We don’t consider this a problem any more …as indeed it really doesn’t matter.

Does it matter? I am right handed but eat left handed. Can iron with either.
Surely it is whatever is most comfortable for you?

I think the knife should be in the hand which is the safest for cutting for you but tuck the end into your palm - it's not a pencil!!

My right handed son uses his knife in his left hand, as does my daughter. My left handed son uses his knife in his right hand!
They have dislocating finger joints so use their knives in their strongest hands.

Mokeswife

I think the knife should be in the hand which is the safest for cutting for you but tuck the end into your palm - it's not a pencil!!

why ?
doesn't bother me how someone holds their knife.

Well it does me. I hate seeing knives held like pencils .

but you do realise that's your problem, not the person who happily holds their knife in the way most natural to them.
it sounds like a kind of snobbish shibboleth, to be so bothered by it.
i can be tolerant of people who were conditioned to think like this, as long as they do not expect me to change to fit in with their world order.

Welbeck
it sounds like a kind of snobbish shibboleth, to be so bothered by it.

It is, but if it makes somebody happy to have someone to look down on, why spoil their fun.

I do not look down. I am just sad that so many people, both adult and child, exhibit the most appalling table manners. Using cutlery the wrong way is the thin end of the wedge. I have seen adults spear a roast potato and eat it like a lollipop. Wipe greasy fingers on a table cloth or sleeve. Drink soup from a bowl., and be absolutely flummoxed , when in a good hotel or restaurant , with how to use their place settings in the correct order.
My nephew when interviewed for a job at a well known firm was taken out to lunch. He did get the job and was told later that the lunch was a test. As he had to entertain as part of his job they didn’t want someone who didn’t know how to hold a knife and fork properly.

MrsKen33

Well it does me. I hate seeing knives held like pencils .

So you'd really judge my daughter who holds her knife in a fist. We taught her how to use a knife properly but she could never cut with it. Her fingers bend too far back until the dislocate. Holding her knife like a dagger helps. However, it is not immediately obvious what is wrong with her so people are judgmental.

there is no moral superiority in the grip on a knife.

I’ve always used my knife and fork in the so called “correct” way. Knife in right hand fork in left. However when I had a stroke I found I could no longer hold a fork in my very uncontrollable left hand and was liable to stick any food that got near my mouth up my nose instead! Therefore I have been using my fork in my right hand to feed myself and try to cut up food. However lately I’ve had more control over my left arm and hand so hoping eventually I can begin eating in the “right” way. However in the great scheme of things does it really matter?!!

I think I am a mixture of culture! Brought up by Mum form Jersey, we hold knife in right, but then we all switch over the fork to the right to eat, like Saggi's GD.

I could never get over using the back of the fork to push food onto. So for instance a meal of chicken, new potatoes and peas would be eaten british way until I get to the peas, then I switch! Mashed potatoes would be eaten with fork in right hand.

Knife and fork at 4 o'clock on plate when finished, napkin beside plate of left. I am sometimes guilty of elbows on table, but more during conversation between courses.

It isn't that difficult to learn how to hold cutlery correctly, but if anyone comments they are always called snobs.
Cheap.