[QUOTE=modgirl]I have some rather important business dinners coming up in the next few months (mostly in the UK), and it's important that I (at least appear!) well-cultured.
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Good luck with either method that you choose--you must be a fantastic person to work with, just by virtue of your caring enough to ask the question! I worked in London for 2 years and still travel there frequently--in my experience it has made a difference. I've received specific comments informally and formally in performance evaluations--I feel it was a wise investment on my part (and good fun for the Irish/Aussie/Kiwi roommates who slathered food in butter and loaded everyone w/pints for my 'coaching' sessions).

IMHO, hunching over and eating as in a pie-eating contest is much more brutish than holding the knife/fork in the 'wrong' hand. It's always amusing to see 'well-bred' looking folk lean over 3" from their food (especially on planes) and proceed w/trying to set their own sonic speed records. Are they unconfident in their ability to successfully transport the spot of mystery meat the full 24" from plate to mouth if they were merely leaning forward? Or are the morsels so tasty that they absolutely must minimize plate to mouth time? Oh well, I guess it's ok as long as they're using the 'correct' hand placement...