Why do we use cutlery in restaurants

[Nannyogganny]

I was thinking this recently

Those knives, forks and spoons have been INSIDE thousands of other people's mouths.

I was starting to get disgusted by the thought. I think it is such a weird practice.

I have now bought my own cheap plastic disposable cutlery, and bring it with me

In decent places they are.

Eh? What about soup? And what do you do with forks? Hold the food six inches from your mouth and flick?

I had a boss in my early 20s (at least 2 decades ago) who made us polish them straight from a tub of boiling water with a drop of vinegar and a polishing cloth.

This was after they had already been through the pot wash and the sanitiser.

Same with the wine glasses but they weren't allowed through the pot wash. She HATED women wearing too much lipstick and tutted when it came back in on the thin crystal.

I hated her at the time she was a horrible horrible woman but she had extremely high standards and I look back at what I learnt from her about good wine and expensive Italian food and her massive proper fur coats with a pinch of fondness.

How do you feel about glasses? Surely a lot of people have had those in their mouths too?

But they're your friends, have you never asked them why they do this strange thing?

How do you know?

Usual practice is to dishwash them then polish in hot water

plastic cutlery is awful for the environment

🤢

Do you want my CV? How do YOU know they are not?

Exactly !! Toilet to tap 🚰
yummm !!!

You are the disgusting one using Plastic that gets scratched and not sanitised ! yuk and revolting. Look up infection control ….

OP I've owned restaurants and couldn't touch the cutlery when it came out of the wash! Unbelievably hot. And we used to polish it too - that involves steam. Much more hygienic than cutlery you produce from your handbag!

Is this the kind of thing that’d explain why so many Americans eat and drink from disposable tumblers and plates, using plastic utensils? AT HOME! !

Im sure there’s no corner of science that could back this, but eating with crappy plastic cutlery would ruin food for me (unless it was a case of having to); a good dinner at a restaurant, most certainly!

You could always stick to eating at Subway, OP. There's no cutlery to be seen there. I wish there was as I always get barbecue sauce on my hands.

I get it, I don't worry or think about it often. But when I do it makes me uncomfortable.

Not from a hygiene POV - even though I did see questionable things in the few restaurants/ bars I worked in 15 ish years ago now - more from a 'what lives has this fork already had'

Well, you asserted that pillow protectors are washed. I just asked how do you know?

So, yes, I take my own pillow to hotels, BnBs, etc.

As for all the others saying that cutlery is washed to a very high temperature, that very much depends on the establishment. Most cutlery is washed by the KP and rinsed a bit. It might be polished, but not all of the crockery or cutlery goes through a dishwasher.

Cutlery in restaurants is washed at very high heat so will be sterilised.

But you know that, don't you?

I think we can say that the campaign of fear worked too well.

Not always, it isn't. Have you heard of a Kitchen Porter, otherwise known as a KP? Do you know what they do?

Because industrial dishwashers run up to about 85 degrees? I sent feedback (by email to the head office) recently at an attraction near us because they provide wooden single use cutlery but in a cafe where you eat in, and they use real crockery. If they’re washing the plates anyway (in the industrial dishwashers visible in the open kitchen) why are they being so disgustingly wasteful with the cutlery? Wooden cutlery makes my skin crawl so I carry my own metal travel set if we’re getting takeaway but I wouldn’t crack them out in a restaurant!

Do you go to bars and pubs and drink from glasses that hundreds of other people have drunk from?

Do you stay in hotels and sleep in beds that hundreds of other people have slept in?

Do you also use hotel showers and use a towel to get dry that hundreds of other people have used to get dry with?

Do you get on trains and sit on seats that hundreds of other people have sat on?

My dad always had a funny little habit that Ive never seen anyone else do, he will rub the fork and knife with the napkin before eating if he is in a cafe/restaurant or whatever

Ive never asked him about it actually

The KPs in the numerous restaurants I’ve worked in have loaded the high temperature dishwasher, unloaded it, and helped with some basic food prep.

OP maybe you should stick to eating at home if you feel that way.

I used to work in the hospitality industry and crockery was put through an industrial dishwasher.

I also hate wooden cutlery like others here. Horrible stuff