Eating with a knife and fork in the wrong hands

[Getabloominmoveon]

Just sat in a cafe next to a whole family eating with their fork in the right hand and knife in the left. On the other side a young guy was struggling to chop up his food with just a fork. A few weeks ago an adult friend of mine admitted she didn’t know which way to set a table.This is In the UK btw.

When did this start? Have they never eaten with a table set with cutlery? Don’t people teach their kids how to eat properly any more?

At the risk of sounding like Hyacinth Bouquet AIBU to think that this is a basic life skill and people should eat with their cutlery in the right hands (unless left-handed, different cultures, Americans and all the other caveats of course).

I'm right handed but also eat incorrectly with my fork in the right hand and knife in the left........can I just ask what hand all the "correct" eaters use a spoon with?........I resteth my case 😜

Not this again

There's no law about which hands you should hold a knife and fork in

Mind your own bloody business

Why though? Why is it "important" that you hold your knife or fork in a particular hand? I've not seen any clear explanation for this on this thread.

Why is it important?

@buttercupcake Ok, we do all of those things in this house too (the toddler is in training but he's getting there).

What do basic table manners have to do with which way you hold your cutlery?

Well I've said that I don't believe it's important which hand you hold your knife and fork in - although I know some people do consider it so. I'm left handed and I do hold my knife in my left hand.

I said that it's important to hold them properly and to be able to use a knife and fork (I don't care which hand they're held in).

@CrunchyToes No one seems to have an answer for us!

Wow

I might have missed something else you posted. I assumed from the thread topic that that's what you meant.

I'm still none the wiser what the big deal is with the left/right fork/knife issue is? Unless someone is face diving into their dinner or launching it into their mouth from a trebuchet, I don't see why anyone would be so offended.

Although I've not eaten out in a while, i don't know what goes on in restaurants these days...

I’ve always eaten like that, I can eat perfectly well thanks

No they don't. I can only think it's some kind of long ago tradition or superstition that has gotten stuck somewhere along the line?

@Getabloominmoveon

Not rtft, but couldn’t leave without saying that it’s Hyacinth Bucket, not Bouquet. If it was Hyacinth Bouquet there would be no joke.

Ahh, that feels better. As you were.

You sound like an insufferable snob.

I’m 30 and have always eaten with my knife in my left and fork in my right hand. It’s just more comfortable for me. My whole family eat the “correct” way round (including my dad, my DH and my MIL who are all lefties). I’ve tried doing it the proper way and it just feels wrong. If something so trivial bothers you this much then you need to give your head a wobble.

2 put of my 3 grown up kids eat with cutlery in the wrong hand. Only recently discovered this!

If you get the food from the plate to your mouth without making a mess then you're eating correctly. Why is it bad manners to hold your knife in your left hand?

Who even notices this stuff? If you were getting covered in food from messy eaters at nearby tables I could understand how you might pick up on it but otherwise I can only assume you were not really enjoying yourself or the company you were with.

I'm right handed but have always eaten the "wrong way". I can eat the "right way" but it just feels odd and unnatural. There is nothing wrong with my table manners.

Judge away, I don't care.

My children both eat with their knife and fork 'the wrong way round'! I used to try and get them to hold them the 'proper way', but it was hard for them so in the end i just let them be :) I realised the only negative for them in holding the knife in the left hand, is other people's judgement, and in life we really don't need people who judge us

Nothing. If you read my original response again you’ll see that it was an entirely separate point.

Im right handed and eat with knife in my left. I remember when I was young, we’d go to dinner at my grandparents. Grandad would lay the table in the ‘correct’ way. But to me it was wrong so changed my cutlery back to “my” correct. Grandad would change it back again as he thought we were messing with him.

Until he realised that I immediately switched it back again to eat. He then mentioned me switching. I told him I couldn’t do it his way. So from then on he would set the cutlery at my seat my way.

I also taught my kids to eat in the correct way ie, whichever way was comfortable for them. For a long time I didn’t know whether two of mine were left or right handed as they used both and dd struggled with her motor skills. So what was actually important to me was that they were able to eat their food independently without me having to cut it up or it ending up on the floor.

I seriously don’t notice how other people use their cutlery, my dad and brother are lefties and I have no idea which hands they use. It’s never even crossed my mind to “look” in a restaurant to see what others are doing, It really doesn’t matter !

Another ambidextrous here. Always eat with the knife and fork the 'wrong' way round, it just feels wrong the other way. My parents tried to enforce the correct way, it didn't work. I dont think it really matters.

I'm right handed but I have always, since I was old enough to hold cutlery, held the knife in my left hand, much to the bemusement of my mother and siblings who couldn't understand how I could eat like that! Likewise, I don't know how they do it their way either!

Well I'm left handed and have my fork in the right hand, I was never forced to do this but as it's the fork that gets the food to where it needs to go I just assumed everyone did it that way, lefty or not.

Now if you had started a thread about the disgusting folk who lick their knives..............😦

Sorry I meant left!!

But Who said a knife must be held in the right and a fork in the left ?

My religion teaches me to eat with my right hand and wash myself with my left.

For this reason, even my left handed dd eats with her right hand and holds her fork in her right hand with absolutely zero problems yet writes and other things with her left.

My xh used his knife left handed even though he was right handed. What I could never understand was why. If you are rh and use your knife rh you can saw the meat/veg, whereas using the knife lh when you are rh you are ripping the meat/veg. To me sawing looked way easier than ripping. It never got to the point of arguments because in the grand scheme of things, who gives a fuck?
However, my fil eating with his mouth open, talking with his mouth full and scraping his plate made me ill.

DM is left handed and uses cutlery the right way. I know a fair few lefties but none of them use it the other way round. I thought it made more sense for lefties to hold the fork in the left hand anyway as you operate the fork more than the knife.
MIL holds her cutlery like pens, it looks quite odd and surely it's harder to cut food that way.