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I'm a right-handed American born in Newark NJ .. but grew up with my Swedish grandmother and German grandfather. I eat European style.

I use the American style, and my Mother taught me good table manners.

That said, if anybody ever implied I was doing it wrong... I would probably put down the silverware all together, grab the meat with my hands, and gnaw away at it like a hungry dog. I would also make lots of grunting noises, and lick the plate clean.

People are starving all across the world. Who the hell cares whether somebody use the proper fork or spoon, or whether they hold it correctly. I'd rather eat with someone who scoops food into their mouth using a giant nose-ring-spoon, face buried in the plate... than somebody playing the role of etiquette police.

oops - posted to the wrong table manners thread. American style.

Euro. I grew up here but my mom is French and my dad, goes with out saying, is a Francophile and very much European as he spent his high school years in Switzerland. I never understood the fork and knife choreography, I've tried doing it just for giggles and it's infuriating. It makes eating so complicated and cumbersome.

FFC, you are correct, but some people have issues with this. My ex girlfriend for one thing. She gave me a pass on it since I'm French, but she thought that Americans who didn't eat the "American way" were "pretentious" and "foodies trying to look like chefs" or some other such nonsense. Like I said, some people have issues...

I'm absolutely fascinated by this - I have to confess: until last night I'd thought the "European way" was the normal way, and the "American way" was simply an indication of poor table manners or something that children may do (my apologies to everybody who eats the "American way", I had no idea, and that would be poor manners on my part).

It doesn't help that my American husband (born in Brooklyn, raised in NJ) eats the "European way", while my in-laws (who do have very poor table manners indeed, such as touching every single piece of bread in the bread basket served for the table while choosing the one roll they will ultimately take, and so much more) eat the "American way". Oh well, I've learnt something.

I grew up with chopsticks...in my right hand. Lefties are "re-educated" to use the right hand as much as possible.

For non-Asian meals, I used American style for a very long time. When my sister went to Germany and I visited, I noticed the European style. We started wondering why the Americans adopted such a practice of switching the fork from the left hand to the right. We wondered if it had anything to do with that "left hand is the devil's hand" mentality or if Americans were that insistent on differentiating themselves from the rest of the world.

Regardless of which hand is used, I can't stand food smeared all over a utensil. ugh. Clumps of gravied mashed potatoes on fork tines or grains of rice stuck to the end of a chopstick...blech...I once asked a date wether he intended to eat what was all over his fork or just wanted to advertise to everyone what he was having for dinner.

@ FFC I don't think anyone is arguing here about which is the correct or incorrect way to eat. It is merely a discussion of the cutlural differences that exist when eating and what different people prefer and why. For example, I was raised to eat the "American" way; however, after living in Spain I now eat with a fork and knife in my hands throughout the meal. I do agree though, there are people who barely have food to eat, so if this was indeed an argument, it would be ridiculous!

I have a friend that will cut up ALL his food then seperate it on the plate so nothing touches. He them puts a tiny bit of each thing on the plate on his fork and goes clockwise till all the food is done. This is a real pleasure you watch. It is OCD at it's best.

@simon -- Indeed, I hear ya! :)

@avideater -- I realize there's no argument. It was tongue-in-cheek... mostly. ;)

MMmm... pudding...

If I am using a knife it is the Euro style for me, every now and then I try the American style just cannot do it. Not sure why either as I am the only one in my family who eats food that way.

@katarina_santiago -- ditto! i have no precision with my right hand.

dyslexic?

Euro for me. I think either is fine but... I ask you this...

Is the SHOVEL method acceptable? I think NOT!!! Do you hear me Jeffrey Steingarden? I think the shovel method is for children under 8, if you are an adult and still using the shovel method, you need go sit at the kiddie table until you learn proper manners! So, back to the kiddie table Jeffrey! :)

Like others above, I use both styles, depending on what I'm eating. If it requires cutting, then euro style. If not, then I'll hold my fork, tines up, in my right hand.

And if it's spaghetti I like to twirl.

I cut my food lefty.
I write righty.
I bat lefty.
I throw righty.
I prep food by cutting righty.

I use a fork and spoon to twirl spaghetti or any other long macaroni.

When I eat Asian food I use chopsticks (well) and have since I was 14.

BF uses his right hand to cut food, puts down the knife, switches hands with the fork and eats. I think that's the American high etiquette way. :D

As a southpaw, I use the knive/fork combo like a European. As an American, my tines are always facing upI Regardless of which continential style, I have observed the ill-mannered thumb comes into play more often than naught:

Euro: Pile as much food on the back of the fork as possible, using thumb instead of knife to push food. Place way-too-much food into your mouth.

American: Use thumb instead of knife to create a barrier. Push food up to barrier and use thumb to 'push' food onto fork. Place way-too-much food into your mouth.

My husband grew up all over the world (lived in Africa, South America, Europe) and his Caribbean parents taught him to eat with a fork and a "pusher" which was a blunt child's knife, used to push the food onto the fork (fork in left hand, pusher or knife in right). Having grown up in the States, I always ate the "American" way. Once we married, and I saw how much more efficient the European way was, I just sort of morphed into doing that, and now that's how my kids eat. Not so much a matter of etiquette as it is a matter of convenience. It's easy for kids to eat when they don't have to keep switching hands, and it helps them to have a "pusher" for those pesky bits of food that won't get onto the fork, otherwise.

I was just thinking. (I know you are all seeing the smoke!) If people who eat American style would eat European style, then those with less finesse would have their knife to help secure food to their fork, eliminating the need to use their thumb to push food onto their fork. ;-O

Eating Euro-style makes food taste better!

I am serious. That dumb ass American style where you do the "dance of the knife and fork" definitely detracts from the pleasure of eating. Try it!

Oh yeah and what was with that thing where you had to plunk your inert left hand in your lap? Ugh.

I remember hearing my mom remarking that I ate "European style" when growing up, but thought nothing of it, nor was a difference explained to me.

I do remember one of my first trips to DC to meet my future (now former) in laws, and my mom in law to be remarking on it. If only she had stopped her remarks right there. : )

I tend to eat Euro style when I have certain foods like steak, chicken, or any other big hunk of meat that can't be cut with just a fork.

Since I don't make dishes like that very often I bet I eat American 90% of the time.

I've always wondered when you eat Euro style how do you eat peas or something that really needs to be scooped? I've never figured it out.

I was raised with European style, but never was the fork to be "upside down" - never!

I'm so glad to hear mention of a pusher. I learned how to use one, and we have one as part of the (German) family silver. I brought it into work a few months ago and only my coworker from former Rhodesia could even hazard a guess as to its purpose.

I eat American style and never really thought about it before, didn't realize it was such a thing. I will say I am very right handed and would most likely have a hard time getting the food neatly into my mouth with my left hand!

I have NO IDEA why, but I've always eaten European style, or rather, backwards American style. I'm a rightie who cuts with her right and eats with her left. BUT if there's nothing to cut, I generally eat rightie...

I'm British and I eat appropriately (also having strict parents who were insistent on this). I hold my folk in my left and hand and knife with the right hand, I do not 'shovel' food. Sometimes I go for dinner at friends houses and have to ask for a knife so I can eat my food. I often receive complements on how well I eat.

In restaurants I eat American style, though I occasionally switch back to the European style I used for that year I lived in France without realizing it. In Europe I definitely only use European style. In Asian restaurants that use chopsticks, I use chopsticks.
AND in Filipino restaurants or at home I often use a spoon in the right hand, fork in the left. Yes, this is the aforementioned shovel style. And it's the absolute best way to pick up rice, meat, and sauce all in one bite. If people haven't seen it before, it freaks them out.
I have one nephew who prefers to eat with his hands (the way his grandmother eats at home) and it's just fine by his parents as long as he doesn't do it at school where everyone assumes it's bad manners.
Nothing wrong with learning all styles, it helps you understand a culture. For instance, French people are freaked out by American style because you put your hand in your lap while you're eating, and it makes them wonder what you're doing with that hand! European style always keeps both hands on the table.