Do you use a knife and fork?

[beebee25]

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.

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 :).

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 .

At home, I drink soup from a mug.

I couldnt care less how others eat!

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.

@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.

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.

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

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..

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.

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

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

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.

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

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?

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

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

This thread is reminding me of all the furore over Zohran Mamdani eating with his hands!

So, should Chinese restaurants in the UK only provide a knife & fork, instead of chopsticks being that they’re in Britain?

I find it impossible not to notice. It's like it's hardwired into my brain that it's not right.

I try not to be judgey because it doesn't impact me and there's losds of potential reasons for it.

Others than I immediately notice:

• holding a knife like a weapon or up in the air while jesturing with hamds while talking
• Eating off the back of a knife
• Scraping the plate with cutlery

Noticable but don't bother me but other things do - speaking with food in your mouth, picking things of teeth or slurping or burping sent me over the edge.

Culterly is the least annoyong thing about bad table manners.

I'm left handed so if I see someone doing this I assume they're left handed. Having said that, I hold my knife and fork the right-handed way. I hold my spoon in my left hand because I just can't manage it in my right.

The should certainly offer them. If people want to try something else as linked with the food they eat then that’s ok as it is about an experience of another culture. This is entirely different from eating ins western styled eatery or a pub, But then you know that and just trying to be goady aren’t you love

Yes, I'm mid-50s and originally British although now also American. I've eaten with a fork in my right hand for most of my life.

I don't shovel food in either. OTOH my British in-laws, who religiously eat with knife and fork, shovel their food down as if it's going to be taken away from them. They all went to (very expensive) UK boarding schools which they say explains it.