Family dinner conundrum- I keep it in my left hand rest of the family switches.
Do they have a basic fine motor control problem or am I just a heathen?
Are you left handed? If not then heathen
It depends, if I am also using a knife it’s the left hand, otherwise it 's the right.
It depends, if I am also using a knife it’s the left hand, otherwise it 's the right.
Same here but reversed.
Knife left, fork right. Fork only, left.
Eat with the left, typically sit at the head of the table. If at a restaurant and in a booth, I sit on the end with my left elbow to the aisle.
Are you all lefties, or do you just use the left hand because that is where it sits on the table?
Are you all lefties, or do you just use the left hand because that is where it sits on the table?
Lefty here - write, fork, throw, shoot basketball and pistol, racquet sports. Shoot rifle, bat, kick -right.
The European way is to hold the fork in the left with tines down, knife in right, and not switch. Cut, spear, eat.
The American way is to switch the fork back and forth. Tines down in the left to cut, then switch and tines up in the right hand to eat.
This just applies for things you need to cut with knife and fork.
I tend to mix between styles. I grew up with the American way, but got used to the European way when I was an attache and eating with European born friends here in the US.
The European way is to hold the fork in the left with tines down, knife in right, and not switch. Cut, spear, eat.
The American way is to switch the fork back and forth. Tines down in the left to cut, then switch and tines up in the right hand to eat.
This just applies for things you need to cut with knife and fork.
I tend to mix between styles. I grew up with the American way, but got used to the European way when I was an attache and eating with European born friends here in the US.
I usually go with the European way (but with knife in left, fork in right because I’m left-handed).
The wrinkle is if I’m eating something like a thanksgiving dinner, where I want to corral several foodstuffs onto the fork in a particular way for optimal deliciousness, and not a just executing a relatively simple spear & eat motion.
Then fork will sometimes switch to left hand, tines up; with knife in right hand to act as cutlery backstop and assist while the fork does the fine motor skill work.
Fork in least dominant hand, knife in the dominant hand.
There is no European or American; only the correct manner. The other suggestion is for the great unwashed, shovelling a TV dinner into their gaping maws from a couch table they purchased from the dollar store. Decide what camp you want to reside in.
Fork in left. Knife in right.
Switching is inefficient.
Am a lefty (writing, cycling, …other stuff), with fine enough motor skills to cut food with the right.
Another pure lefty here. Fork stays in my left hand.
I’m right handed. Fork is in my right hand unless I’m using a knife.
If you use a fork in your weak hand all the time you’re just a weirdo.
The European way is to hold the fork in the left with tines down, knife in right, and not switch. Cut, spear, eat.
The American way is to switch the fork back and forth. Tines down in the left to cut, then switch and tines up in the right hand to eat.
This just applies for things you need to cut with knife and fork.
I tend to mix between styles. I grew up with the American way, but got used to the European way when I was an attache and eating with European born friends here in the US.
As a Brit, I am wedded to what you describe as the European way.
Eating a salad I will switch to just a fork, held in the right hand, tines up. But I wince when I see someone (and, sorry to say, it’s usually a someone in a N Am restaurant) holding a fork in their right hand, tines down, and their knife in their left hand gripped in a clenched fist as if holding a dagger.
Lefty here for eating, writing, hand sewing, etc.
Though for throwing, batting, kicking, I’m a righty.
Boxing, I can switch and do either.
In college, I had a cast on my left arm and hand that included a thumb spica, so I had to learn how to eat with my right hand. And I could right with my left hand in a kindergartner’s printing, if I had to.
The European way is to hold the fork in the left with tines down, knife in right, and not switch. Cut, spear, eat.
The American way is to switch the fork back and forth. Tines down in the left to cut, then switch and tines up in the right hand to eat.
This just applies for things you need to cut with knife and fork.
I tend to mix between styles. I grew up with the American way, but got used to the European way when I was an attache and eating with European born friends here in the US.
Slowguy is correct, of course. I switched from American to European because I want the food in my mouth quicker. Ain’t nobody got time for switching hands every bite.
The European way is to hold the fork in the left with tines down, knife in right, and not switch. Cut, spear, eat.
The American way is to switch the fork back and forth. Tines down in the left to cut, then switch and tines up in the right hand to eat.
This just applies for things you need to cut with knife and fork.
I tend to mix between styles. I grew up with the American way, but got used to the European way when I was an attache and eating with European born friends here in the US.
Slowguy is correct, of course. I switched from American to European because I want the food in my mouth quicker. Ain’t nobody got time for switching hands every bite.
Similar. If needing a knife, my fork stays in my left because I am lazy/hungry/efficient and no need to switch. If only eating something requiring a fork (say a salad) fork in right. My left hand has fine motor skills such that I can wield a fork quite skillfully.
Family dinner conundrum- I keep it in my left hand rest of the family switches.
Do they have a basic fine motor control problem or am I just a heathen?
What do you mean by ‘‘they switch’’?
I never paid attention to it, but I think I’d use the fork in my right hand unless I’m using a knife. If so then I’d do knife right, fork left.
Family dinner conundrum- I keep it in my left hand rest of the family switches.
Do they have a basic fine motor control problem or am I just a heathen?
What do you mean by ‘‘they switch’’?
I never paid attention to it, but I think I’d use the fork in my right hand unless I’m using a knife. If so then I’d do knife right, fork left.
The question on the switch is what do you do when you are eating something like steak. Do you cut with your right hand, then switch the fork to your right hand to eat the steak bit you just cut?
Family dinner conundrum- I keep it in my left hand rest of the family switches.
Do they have a basic fine motor control problem or am I just a heathen?
What do you mean by ‘‘they switch’’?
I never paid attention to it, but I think I’d use the fork in my right hand unless I’m using a knife. If so then I’d do knife right, fork left.
The question on the switch is what do you do when you are eating something like steak. Do you cut with your right hand, then switch the fork to your right hand to eat the steak bit you just cut?
Yes, that’s the “American way†I described above. You cut with your fork in the left hand and knife in the right, then place the knife down on the edge of the plate or table and switch the fork to the right hand to eat. The idea is that it’s easier to use the fork to both stab and scoop with the tines up, rather than keeping it left hand with tines down. So you can cut a piece or two of meat, and then switch, and eat the meat, rice, potatoes, veg, etc.
Family dinner conundrum- I keep it in my left hand rest of the family switches.
Do they have a basic fine motor control problem or am I just a heathen?
What do you mean by ‘‘they switch’’?
I never paid attention to it, but I think I’d use the fork in my right hand unless I’m using a knife. If so then I’d do knife right, fork left.
The question on the switch is what do you do when you are eating something like steak. Do you cut with your right hand, then switch the fork to your right hand to eat the steak bit you just cut?
Yes, that’s the “American way†I described above. You cut with your fork in the left hand and knife in the right, then place the knife down on the edge of the plate or table and switch the fork to the right hand to eat. The idea is that it’s easier to use the fork to both stab and scoop with the tines up, rather than keeping it left hand with tines down. So you can cut a piece or two of meat, and then switch, and eat the meat, rice, potatoes, veg, etc.
I know that. I was trying to explain it for the other poster who was asking what the “switch†was. Hell, I even quoted the post I was answering…