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Original poster

Do you use a knife and fork?

169 replies

beebee25 · 11/11/2025 07:28

I was in a pub the other day and was queuing at the bar for a drink. There was a group of people eating a roast dinner nearby. One of the diners was just using a fork to eat her food. Scooping it up on her fork and shovelling it in. She seemed to be struggling with her Yorkshire pudding and got her knife out for a bit and chopped it up and then reverted to a fork.. why would somebody eat like this? I appreciate she may have been American but I have noticed recently a few young people eating like this. This makes me irrationally irritated and I have no idea why.

OP posts:
RubySquid · 12/11/2025 12:42

Snailslide · 12/11/2025 11:38

How do you cut food up without a knife?

Not everything needs cutting. Curry, biriyani, fajitas, stir fry, pad
Krapow, nasi goreng. That covers the majority of our food. Knives not needed for any of it

Holluschickie · 12/11/2025 12:34

Staringintothevoid616 · 12/11/2025 12:19

I don’t eat meat but use a knife and fork What particular British food do you avoid and why? What do you eat?

Edited
Show quote history

I eat mostly Indian, Chinese, Thai, Sri Lankan, Middle Eastern.
Anything with strong flavours and spices. That's what I like.

icouldholditwithacobweb · 12/11/2025 12:32

Cringing for you OP! What a thing to post in AIBU. I, and many others, eat with only a fork - because I like it and why wouldn't I?! Do you also have a problem with people eating with chopsticks? Or how about people eating with - gasp - no cutlery at all?!

On the plus side, if this is the biggest bugbear in your life right now, congrats I guess?

TenWeeCaramelJoeys · 12/11/2025 12:27

XWKD · 12/11/2025 12:19

I stick chopsticks into soup and then suck them like lollipops.

Oh God, that made me laugh🤣🤣 Hope you’re not in a hurry!

Frenchfrychic · 12/11/2025 12:21

I also find it incredibly rude to stare at someone in a restaurant so long you know this level of detail. You really need to stop that. It is not ok.

XWKD · 12/11/2025 12:19

I stick chopsticks into soup and then suck them like lollipops.

Staringintothevoid616 · 12/11/2025 12:19

Holluschickie · 12/11/2025 12:14

I don't eat anything that requires a kinfe and fork, usually. I don't eat meat and I don't eat British food if I can help it.

Show quote history

I don’t eat meat but use a knife and fork What particular British food do you avoid and why? What do you eat?

Holluschickie · 12/11/2025 12:14

Staringintothevoid616 · 12/11/2025 11:57

In Britain it’s normal to eat sit down meals in public with a knife and fork. This is the etiquette.

It is polite to follow the etiquette of the country you are in..

Edited

I don't eat anything that requires a kinfe and fork, usually. I don't eat meat and I don't eat British food if I can help it.

Staringintothevoid616 · 12/11/2025 11:57

In Britain it’s normal to eat sit down meals in public with a knife and fork. This is the etiquette.

It is polite to follow the etiquette of the country you are in..

Baconking · 12/11/2025 11:57

Despite our best efforts my DC, 20 & 14 mostly just use a fork and any cutting is more like tearing 🙄

I am left handed but use my knife with my right hand, but also wipe myself with my left hand...not sure I could manage very well with my right

MrsSkylerWhite · 12/11/2025 11:47

Snailslide · 12/11/2025 11:38

How do you cut food up without a knife?

Other than some cuts of beef, I find it easy to cut pretty much everything with a spoon and fork. We also tend to use pasta bowls rather than plates.

Snailslide · 12/11/2025 11:38

How do you cut food up without a knife?

MrsSkylerWhite · 12/11/2025 11:38

ViciousCurrentBun · 12/11/2025 11:37

@MrsSkylerWhite I reckon a huge mug is quite a good Idea but bit still bit narrow for bread dunking.

Does anyone remember the sketch with Martin Clunes as The Terminator killing someone with the wrong knife? you tube link here , this part is a P take of English table manners

Baguettes are your friends.

ViciousCurrentBun · 12/11/2025 11:37

@MrsSkylerWhite I reckon a huge mug is quite a good Idea but bit still bit narrow for bread dunking.

Does anyone remember the sketch with Martin Clunes as The Terminator killing someone with the wrong knife? you tube link here , this part is a P take of English table manners

GinAndJuice99 · 12/11/2025 11:35

We rarely have knives on the table at home as certain members of the family can't stand the sound of metal scraping against metal. I do worry the kids have grown up not knowing how use them though.

PinkyFlamingo · 12/11/2025 11:32

I couldnt care less how others eat!

MrsSkylerWhite · 12/11/2025 11:28

ViciousCurrentBun · 12/11/2025 11:26

I always eat soup with the spoon pushing forward in the traditional English manner but if it’s Chinese soup and dinner I will pick up and drink the last mouthful directly from the bowl which is perfectly acceptable. I just could not bring myself to do that with a bowl of Heinz chicken soup though :).

At home, I drink soup from a mug.

tinyspiny · 12/11/2025 11:27

I’m perfectly capable of using cutlery and will do so if I’m eating out but at home when it’s just myself and my husband I only provide forks , if I gave my husband a knife he wouldn’t use it so what’s the point of getting them out . Very few meals can’t be eaten with just a fork and I don’t ’shovel ‘ it in , I eat normally just not holding a knife .

ViciousCurrentBun · 12/11/2025 11:26

I always eat soup with the spoon pushing forward in the traditional English manner but if it’s Chinese soup and dinner I will pick up and drink the last mouthful directly from the bowl which is perfectly acceptable. I just could not bring myself to do that with a bowl of Heinz chicken soup though :).

1457bloom · 12/11/2025 11:23

A lot of people have trouble with their hands due to arthritis or a stroke so the diner may have found it easier to use her right hand. Anyway it’s NOYB.

ViciousCurrentBun · 12/11/2025 11:21

You need to look up the etiquette of eating with chopsticks, now that’s next level. I do abide by traditional English and Chinese table etiquette, having been raised by both. We taught DS GF to eat with chopsticks this week, she did really ok though I did baulk at DH taking over as he doesn’t hold his in the best manner.

People can eat how they like but disability issues aside I like traditional table manners. DS ex GF used to lick her knife, I never said a word, over a couple of years she saw none of us did it and just stopped doing it. Real manners means not pointing out peoples lack of traditional social graces even if you don’t like it.

Upsetbetty · 12/11/2025 11:17

SnowFrogJelly · 12/11/2025 10:58

In 2025 people still benefit from eating meals at the table using the proper cutlery

Show quote history

Yes by all means sit at the table and use cutlery, but it’s the judgement attitude I couldn’t get over. She would constantly nitpick us the DC not sitting up straight with their back straight, elbows on the table, making sure you’re napkin was on your lap like you were in an à la carte restaurant(even when you were having a bowl of cereal) eating every single morsel you put on your plate because that was the expected and accepted a thing to do. Regardless of whether you said you were full or not. It was fucking constant and so tiring, I never enjoyed a meal with her.

MrsSkylerWhite · 12/11/2025 11:04

MsSmartShoes · 11/11/2025 18:39

Table manners are important. Manners are important.

Table manners are different globally. There’s no one correct version.

SnowFrogJelly · 12/11/2025 10:58

Upsetbetty · 11/11/2025 09:15

Ugh this reminds me of the attitude of my MIL, so fucking uptight, yes she was English and had a fucking rod up her arse! Judged anyone who didn’t sit at the table like they were at downtown fucking Abbey!! Seriously @beebee25 its 2025 who gives an actual shit!

In 2025 people still benefit from eating meals at the table using the proper cutlery

fishfingerbutty · 12/11/2025 10:43

I use a knife and fork but am guilty of “ shovelling it in “: DH often does a double take when he notices I’ve emptied my ( equally portioned) plate while he’s barely halfway through his meal.

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