is this true about US forking habits?

BBC London (a local station staffed mainly by idiot presenters
interested only in celebrity trivia and themselves, not to be confused
with things like Radio 4 or BB1 and 2) just said that the (alleged*)
US habit of cutting up food first with the knife then eating with a
fork only originated in the poverty of western settlers who only had
one knife in the family, sounds as likely as William Tell to me, what
do those of you in a position to know think?

* i dont recollect seeing any americans doing it and some deny it
exists
--
Mike
Remove clothing to email

"Mike.." wrote in message
...
BBC London (a local station staffed mainly by idiot presenters
interested only in celebrity trivia and themselves, not to be confused
with things like Radio 4 or BB1 and 2) just said that the (alleged*)
US habit of cutting up food first with the knife then eating with a
fork only originated in the poverty of western settlers who only had
one knife in the family, sounds as likely as William Tell to me, what
do those of you in a position to know think?

* i dont recollect seeing any americans doing it and some deny it
exists

I've heard the same story from Americans.

I've also noticed the practice is common in the USA. Some years back (in
the 1980s when I travelled to the USA a lot), someone at the next table said
"Excuse me, are you English?". When I answered and asked what had given me
away, it was the fact that I was eating with a knife and fork.


--
73
Brian, G8OSN
www.g8osn.org.uk

"Mike.." ha scritto nel messaggio
...
BBC London (a local station staffed mainly by idiot presenters
interested only in celebrity trivia and themselves, not to be confused
with things like Radio 4 or BB1 and 2) just said that the (alleged*)
US habit of cutting up food first with the knife then eating with a
fork only originated in the poverty of western settlers who only had
one knife in the family, sounds as likely as William Tell to me, what
do those of you in a position to know think?

* i dont recollect seeing any americans doing it and some deny it
exists
--
Mike

No, everybody eats that way from the always rich to the still poor. Except
those who eat with their fingers. The process is described in every
etiquette book. Yanno, there are any number of US familes who were never
poor at all. Until now, if you have to buy sterling or euro.

OTH, things do alter a bit when forking around, forking up etc.
--
http://www.judithgreenwood.com

Oh pshaw, on Sun 18 Nov 2007 05:00:17a, Mike.. meant to say...

BBC London (a local station staffed mainly by idiot presenters
interested only in celebrity trivia and themselves, not to be confused
with things like Radio 4 or BB1 and 2) just said that the (alleged*)
US habit of cutting up food first with the knife then eating with a
fork only originated in the poverty of western settlers who only had
one knife in the family, sounds as likely as William Tell to me, what
do those of you in a position to know think?

* i dont recollect seeing any americans doing it and some deny it
exists

I was taught to cut one bite of food (fork in left hand, knife in right
hand), place the knife on the edge of the plate, switch the fork to the
right hand and eat the food. This was to be done in repetition for each
bite one must cut. Everyone in my family eats this way, as do most of the
people I know. This I know as "American Style".

I have also seen people hold the fork in the left hand and the knife in the
right hand thoroughout the meal, cutting pieces as they eat and not
switching the fork from hand to hand. This I know as "European Style".

Either American or European style are considered correct.

Having said that, I have seen some people in restaurants cut up every bite
of food all at once, put the knife down and the proceed to eat.
Occasionally they will use the knife to help "scoop" something onto their
fork. I was taught that this was bad manners.

Another strange variation I have seen on occasion is holding both the knife
and fork almost straight up in a fist like grasp. There are some appalling
eaters here. :-)

I have lived my entire life in the USS and have never heard this "theory"
about the reason for cutting up all of one's food at once. I was only
taught that it was improper.

You might find this interesting...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork_etiquette


--

¦ A mind is a terrible thing to lose... ¦

Mike.. surprised us with

originated in the poverty of western settlers who only had one knife in
the family

Imagine an utterly poor family of twelve: with twelve forks and 1 (one)
knife. Completely ridiculous.

If poverty would be a consideration, wouldn't logic dictate that every family
member had a multipurpose knife, and possibly the family as a whole might own
a single fork, for forking purposes?


--
*** Waldo ***
Despite the high cost of living, it remains a popular item.

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
Oh pshaw, on Sun 18 Nov 2007 05:00:17a, Mike.. meant to say...

BBC London (a local station staffed mainly by idiot presenters
interested only in celebrity trivia and themselves, not to be
confused with things like Radio 4 or BB1 and 2) just said that the
(alleged*) US habit of cutting up food first with the knife then
eating with a fork only originated in the poverty of western
settlers who only had one knife in the family, sounds as likely
as William Tell to me, what do those of you in a position to know
think?

* i dont recollect seeing any americans doing it and some deny it
exists

I was taught to cut one bite of food (fork in left hand, knife in
right hand), place the knife on the edge of the plate, switch the
fork to the right hand and eat the food. This was to be done in
repetition for each bite one must cut. Everyone in my family eats
this way, as do most of the people I know. This I know as
"American Style".

Didn't anyone in your family realise that it's absurd to switch the fork
to the rght hand when it's already in your left hand, and likely to have
the next mouthful already impaled on it? What's the point?

It's about as absurd as eating with two thin sticks of wood, but I'd
better not go down that path ...
:-)

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, change 'ten' to 'net' in address)
www.stayparis.net

On 18/11/07 12:00, in article ,
"Mike.." wrote:

BBC London (a local station staffed mainly by idiot presenters
interested only in celebrity trivia and themselves, not to be confused
with things like Radio 4 or BB1 and 2) just said that the (alleged*)
US habit of cutting up food first with the knife then eating with a
fork only originated in the poverty of western settlers who only had
one knife in the family, sounds as likely as William Tell to me, what
do those of you in a position to know think?

* i dont recollect seeing any americans doing it and some deny it
exists

Don't know about the origins but I've seen many Americans do it. In fact, I
thought it originated here when people used their dagger to cut meat and
then spear it, then cleaned it, so that it could be used for its intended
purpose, if need be!
Isn't the fork a comparatively recent invention?
--
Sacha

Sacha wrote on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:09:24 +0000:

?? BBC London (a local station staffed mainly by idiot
?? presenters interested only in celebrity trivia and
?? themselves, not to be confused with things like Radio 4 or
?? BB1 and 2) just said that the (alleged*) US habit of
?? cutting up food first with the knife then eating with
?? a fork only originated in the poverty of western settlers
?? who only had one knife in the family, sounds as likely as
?? William Tell to me, what do those of you in a position to
?? know think?
??
?? * i dont recollect seeing any americans doing it and some
?? deny it exists

S Don't know about the origins but I've seen many Americans do
S it. In fact, I thought it originated here when people used
S their dagger to cut meat and then spear it, then cleaned it,
S so that it could be used for its intended purpose, if need
S be! Isn't the fork a comparatively recent invention?

Dickens, I forget where, called the American way of eating a
"horrible German custom". I always understood that, despite the
fact that hand switching is inefficient, it was ill-mannered to
cut up more than a bight or two at a time.It is not hard to
learn either "European" or "American" style; my kids did it for
their first trip abroad (ages 7 and 9) and used to enjoy using
the European method tho' they switched back on returning home.

Apropos oriental "sticks" as was mentioned, their use is not
difficult to learn once you realize that the motion of the upper
chop stick is similar to using a pencil. Again, my kids learned
to use chopsticks at about the same age as they learned
"European eating. After we asked for four sets of chopsticks,
the kitchen staff sneaked out to watch them in a Chinese
restaurant in Gallup, New Mexico :-) I have found that once I
told European visitors about the pencil motion, they learned
very quickly and, as the Thais who use a spoon and fork for most
else demonstrate, chopsticks are possibly the best implements
for noodles.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

"Wayne Boatwright" wrote in message
6.120...
Oh pshaw, on Sun 18 Nov 2007 05:00:17a, Mike.. meant to say...


Another strange variation I have seen on occasion is holding both the
knife
and fork almost straight up in a fist like grasp. There are some
appalling
eaters here. :-)

I've seen that all too often in Canadian restos too, especially when they
are eating steak! In fact, at the annual cycle club club dinner last night,
a young uni post grad was cutting up some prime Alberta beef that way. At
least he was chewing with his mouth closed!
Graham

Waldo Centini wrote:
Mike.. surprised us with

originated in the poverty of western settlers who only had one knife
in the family

Imagine an utterly poor family of twelve: with twelve forks and 1
(one) knife. Completely ridiculous.

If poverty would be a consideration, wouldn't logic dictate that
every family member had a multipurpose knife, and possibly the family
as a whole might own a single fork, for forking purposes?

G