Fork or Spoon?
Jul 13, 2012 | 6:14 pm
#31
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: QFF Gold, Flying Blue, Enrich
Posts: 5,369
maybe not all Americans, but as far as I can tell it's only Americans. To me it looks incredibly clumsy.
Jul 13, 2012 | 8:31 pm
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 13,595
Why wouldn't one use a cake fork if appropriate (I.e. eating cake!) it is what it is there for!
I also have a lovely set of antique silver grapefruit spoons - aka predaters to the 'spork' by a good number of years!!
Especially as they struggle to cut through something a little bit tough, I'm itching to just jump in there and 'hold it like this'. It irks me as much as chewing with your mouth open.
But I'm also that weirdo who prefers using a cake fork where appropriate.
I also have a lovely set of antique silver grapefruit spoons - aka predaters to the 'spork' by a good number of years!!
But I'm also that weirdo who prefers using a cake fork where appropriate.
Jul 20, 2012 | 12:15 pm
#33
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: ORD
Programs: AA
Posts: 1,754
It seems silly to me to criticize those from another culture or country as lacking in etiquette because their eating habits differ from those in your culture or country.
To many Europeans, the way Americans switch knives and forks from hand to hand and eat food on forks with the tines turned upward may seem uncivilized. Here's a little secret: it is equally true that to many Americans, the way Europeans don't switch their knives and forks, and use their knifes to push food onto the backs of their forks, and raise food to their mouths on forks with the tines turned downward, seems uncivilized. Really. To a typical American that seems rather vulgar and medieval. We might do it occasionally, say, when eating steak, but generally, and especially when eating food other than meat, pushing it onto the back of your fork with your knife and trying to lift it to your mouth before it falls off seems, well, a bit coarse.
I recognize that I have this ingrained attitude toward the custom, but I also recognize that it is unjustified. It's just a different custom, no better or worse than mine.
People who eat mostly with utensils believe that it is more civilized than eating with one's hands. In many cultures around the world, people do eat exclusively with their hands. We don't ridicule them for it. But in DiningBuzz, as in so many places on Flyer Talk, Americans are a much more socially acceptable target for derision.
To many Europeans, the way Americans switch knives and forks from hand to hand and eat food on forks with the tines turned upward may seem uncivilized. Here's a little secret: it is equally true that to many Americans, the way Europeans don't switch their knives and forks, and use their knifes to push food onto the backs of their forks, and raise food to their mouths on forks with the tines turned downward, seems uncivilized. Really. To a typical American that seems rather vulgar and medieval. We might do it occasionally, say, when eating steak, but generally, and especially when eating food other than meat, pushing it onto the back of your fork with your knife and trying to lift it to your mouth before it falls off seems, well, a bit coarse.
I recognize that I have this ingrained attitude toward the custom, but I also recognize that it is unjustified. It's just a different custom, no better or worse than mine.
People who eat mostly with utensils believe that it is more civilized than eating with one's hands. In many cultures around the world, people do eat exclusively with their hands. We don't ridicule them for it. But in DiningBuzz, as in so many places on Flyer Talk, Americans are a much more socially acceptable target for derision.
Jul 21, 2012 | 11:19 am
#34
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: IAD, and sometimes OMNI/PR. Currently: not far from IAD, but home will always be SAN (not far from the "touch my junk and I'll have you arrested" Memorial TSA Check Point) even if I'm not there so much these days.
Programs: UA, CO, Calcifer Award for Mad Haiku Skillz
Posts: 5,076
Very well said, cubbie.
Jul 22, 2012 | 3:44 pm
#38
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Southern California, USA
Posts: 1,393
and if you eat rice + fried food, then you can eat by hand, no utensils needed 
