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When in Rome, do as the Romans do

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ankhtahr:
I'm always fascinated by all the small differences between cultures. Whether it's the different ways of counting with your hands, as has been made popular by Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, or different eating manners, it's the small things that can make a big difference. This community is spread so widely over the world, that it's a fine opportunity for us to find out what's true and what's not.

I'm very interested in e.g. eating manners in the US. I've heard that it would be common to cut everything on the plate into pieces and then lay down the knife and change the fork to the right hand.
In Germany you'd normally keep the knife in the right hand as long as you eat, and only cut your food, right before you push it onto the fork.

cesium133:
I've never done it that way, though I don't really pay enough attention to that sort of thing to notice if anyone else does it that way.

questionablydiscontent:

--- Quote from: ankhtahr on 11 Sep 2013, 07:57 ---I'm very interested in e.g. eating manners in the US.

--- End quote ---
Haha, we don't have manners in the US! :wink:

--- Quote from: ankhtahr on 11 Sep 2013, 07:57 ---I've heard that it would be common to cut everything on the plate into pieces and then lay down the knife and change the fork to the right hand.
In Germany you'd normally keep the knife in the right hand as long as you eat, and only cut your food, right before you push it onto the fork.

--- End quote ---
I'd say the proper etiquette is very similar to that, but I don't think you really need to cut everything on your plate at once. I'm no expert on refined dining, but I don't think how much of the cutting is done at once matters. Cutting a few bits-- or even just one bit-- at a time is fine.
But it is true that after cutting, you're supposed to lay down the knife and place your fork in your right hand before spearing your food onto the tines.

LeeC:
the only case where I have seen people cut all the food on their plate before eating is when serving a child.  I normally cut my food and eat with the fork that is already in my hand....sometimes I use the knife to stab the piece of food and eat it too... :mrgreen:

ChaoSera:
This might be slightly offensive, but eating that way seems kinda.. childish to me. I remember doing that when I was like 6 years old. Ever since I've been able to muster up the coordination to eat the way it's considered "right" in Germany, I can't imagine anything else. Just feels wrong to me, somehow.

Another interesting eating-related thing is tipping. In Germany it's considered polite to leave a tip, but only if you were satisfied with the service you received. From what I heard, in the US it's considered offensive leaving no tip at all, though I imagine waiters here don't like it either, when you don't tip. It's lost money, after all.

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