Well you can do that
But you can also do face up as you move it through space sideways.
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Have I been using a fork "wrong" all my life? (upside down)
- Thread starter Soapbox Killer
- Start date
Well you can do that
But you can also do face up as you move it through space sideways.
Legitimately the American style, it turned out: https://www.resetera.com/threads/how-do-you-use-a-fork-and-knife.390086/
Why cant i just keep the fork in my right hand the whole time and use a knife in my left hand when need be?
I did it when I was younger, but it was like too much work so I just ended up learning to cut with my left hand
Actually this is the correct ways to eat peas with a fork. It's a little tricky but once you get into the groove it's quite easy
OP
OP
See, that fork is the wrong way, not the way I use it.
I'm a loner. I rebel. I eat alone. I live alone. I train alone!
For peas, I guess that makes sense. But I feel for rice, one would have to catch it mid air with chopsticks.
On a serious note about using a fork and knife to get the peas/rice, I've been taught quite the opposite to the British way (if convex side up is the British way). Hold the knife on the plate as a kind of wall, then scoop with the fork against the knife so that you don't scratch the length of the knife against the plate.
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That's what I thought you had said, but throughout the thread the different ways to interpret "down"/"up" had me doubting myself.
OP
OP
The only way I remember that is fork and left have 4 letters and spoon, knife and right have 5.
I'm wondering why you didn't post a screen cap of this so we can tell what exactly you mean by curve side up vs down since you could interpret it two ways.
This is the only scenario in which I put my fork into my mouth upside-down.
OP
OP
Same here. Meat requires more force to stab so this fork position solves that issue. If you are forking some soft pasta like ravioli or tortellini OR also need to scoop part of your bite while also stabbing then the other way would probably work just fine or better.
I have been such a PLEB.
I shall convert to curve up, like a proper lady.
OP
OP
"I eat my peas with honey;
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny
But it keeps them on the knife."
Most Americans switch the fork from their left hand to their right after cutting to put the food that has been cut in their mouth. I don't do that, and didn't know it was considered unusual here until someone commented that I "eat like a European" at a dinner party. Being mostly left-handed but easily able to handle a knife in either hand, it never occurred to me to switch. After that I started watching people switch hands while they eat and it's just ridiculously inefficient.
why is that even a rule, you're just cutting food why do you need your primary hand to move up and down a few times instead of using your off hand?
i swear if typing was around 1000 years ago we'd all be beholden to some weird ass rules about only using your left hand to type and right for the numpad or some shit
That's like shy bladder syndrome, except shy fork syndrome.
This is blowing my mind.
I have never seen anyone eat curve side up, but it is a thing. How do you pile stuff on the convex side of the fork? Logically, it makes no sense.
I have never seen anyone eat curve side up, but it is a thing. How do you pile stuff on the convex side of the fork? Logically, it makes no sense.
Waiting for that inevitable "Have I been breathing wrong?" Era thread any day now...what am I talking about, of course someone is gonna find out about using your diaphragm correctly and post a thread about it soon.
OP
OP
"Wrong" is/was relative to this so called proper way to hold a fork.
To be fair, I see a lot of people breathing in a way that their chests inflate and deflate instead of their stomachs. They remind me of fighting game characters with their exaggerated breathing animations.
I'm gonna go and say that probably a bunch of people don't quite know how to breath properly 😮💨.
Everybody knows that you hold it sideways, cut your food straight down with the edge, and then use the fork to fling the cut food from the plate into your mouth. Use the opposing thumb for tension.
It takes years of practice to get right but that's what Etiquette Schools are for.
It takes years of practice to get right but that's what Etiquette Schools are for.
There are two ways to use a fork and both are useful given the circumstance.
You use it this way when not using a knife for looser, one handed meals, in your preferred hand. The fork is used as a kind of scoop this way with the prongs acting to skewer anything along the way that a spoon wouldn't be able to. Use it for things like pasta, rice dishes, mex bowls, curries etc.
You use it this way in conjunction with a knife for more solid foods like steak, chicken etc that you have to slice up to consume. Use it in your non-preferred hand. You stab downwards on the food with the fork, slice that piece of the food off with the knife, and now you've got a skewered piece of food ready for consumption. I can't imagine using it the other way in this scenario.
Neither of these are about etiquette. It's straight up easier eating food knowing both these methods.
You use it this way when not using a knife for looser, one handed meals, in your preferred hand. The fork is used as a kind of scoop this way with the prongs acting to skewer anything along the way that a spoon wouldn't be able to. Use it for things like pasta, rice dishes, mex bowls, curries etc.
You use it this way in conjunction with a knife for more solid foods like steak, chicken etc that you have to slice up to consume. Use it in your non-preferred hand. You stab downwards on the food with the fork, slice that piece of the food off with the knife, and now you've got a skewered piece of food ready for consumption. I can't imagine using it the other way in this scenario.
Neither of these are about etiquette. It's straight up easier eating food knowing both these methods.
That's how I've always used it. If there's shoveling involved, I am using a spoon most times anyway.
I'm right handed, so normally fork on the right unless I'm cutting with a knife. If the knife is just for pushing, I hold fork on right and complain about lack of bread. But, damn, I haven't done the "switch hands after cutting" thing since I was little, like, I prefer to do complex motions with my right hand but just bringing into my mouth previously stabbed food is easy enough for my left.
I'm European and I'm pretty sure we'd make fun of anyone piling food on the convex side, it goes against the fork's very own design. This lady is talking about her British husband though, and the British are known for swimming against the current for the sake of it.
As for the American way, it just seems super annoying, you cut all your food and then you eat instead of cutting as you go seems like something you'd only want to do in one of those (very American) food eating challenges.
Hmm I guess I've been eating like a king.for example when I cut meat from a piece of steak, I grab it with my fork curve upside and into my mouth.
Wow nice been doing it like a gentleman day1. Woot!
Wow nice been doing it like a gentleman day1. Woot!
