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

Good to know there are still some sensible people on MN. Honestly, who has time to be worrying about every little thing and where it might have been, who might have touched it etc. I suspect those of us who are capable of using a bit of common sense are far healthier.

There are far more germs on the keyboard or phone you used to type this message out.

Indeed. We didn't do our children any favours in 2020 by making our environment so sterile.

Hyacinth Bucket lives on, even though Dame Patricia Routledge is no longer with us. In the "brochure" episode, she he is seen polishing a fork (while having only a coffee), and then peering at the rim of the cup, muttering "you frequently find traces of lipstick in places like this".

I don’t think I’ve read anything so stupid and neurotic, both at once.

Have you got sick after dining out alot?

Do you also have your own set of plastic implements for the dentist?

I just take my own stainless steel spork that I take out with me for meals and dinner parties etc. It saves me no end of worry with regard to using restaurant/other people's cutlery that might not have been cleaned to my own high standards.

If you don’t trust their hygiene standards regarding cutlery how do you trust their cooking hygiene standards?

How unreasonable is it to point out that in many places cutlery does go through a dishwasher?

Well it looks clean, it’s not stained and it’s ironed.

You’re not wrong,
but at what point do you draw the line.

Nobody has said that it is.

Well, the cutlery looks clean...

The difference though, is the barely washed/rinsed only cutlery looks the same as that which has been properly washed whereas a napkin that has only been rinsed probably won’t look as clean as one that’s been boiled and starched. I could of course be all wrong but that’s what my (up until now) brain was subconsciously telling me. I’m saying all this because it’s exactly what happened on Friday in Nandos at an airport. The cutlery looked clean but I just didn’t “trust” it for some reason and cleaned the fork with the napkin although in this case it was a paper napkin and I took it from the middle of the pile.
(I’m also never discussed this particular subconscious behaviour before in my life! 😃)

Very rude if you take out your own cutlery at someone’s house.

This whole thread is bonkers.
Humans are not designed to live in sterile environments.

I let my dog lick all cutlery & plates clean ( I mean I could just put them back in the drawers ) but I put them in the dishwasher

Because people would look at us funny if we just used our hands...?

Seriously though. Things get washed. Far better for the health of the planet than disposable.

You'll be the one people look at weird if you get out your plastic cutlery!

Best not to breathe any air then op, it’s not just been in people’s mouths but in their lungs too.

Don't forget not to go to pubs too .. imagine how many people have drank beer or wine from your glass before you.. the horror ..

Would you kiss someone after a date at a restaurant? Or do you supply your dates with plastic cutlery too? How does that go down?

This could lead to allsorts of other questions..
why do we use public toilets?
why do we put genitals in our mouth?
why do we use public transport and touch things that others have?
why do we share a buffet?
why do nurses reuse equipment on us?

We can’t live in a totally sanitised society where everything is just for us.

Soup? Also even a small part of a fork ends up in your mouth when your biting the food of it?

How do you eat in a way no part of the cutlery gets in your mouth 😂

Wait until OP realises that the air we breathe has been in many pairs of lungs before.

Yes and we drink and shower in previous shit and piss water.

i took one to a hotel because otherwise you only have a duvet on top of you. I like a sheet so that when i get too hot I can just be under the sheet,