Is it okay in formal table etiquette to use the knife in my left hand while the fork is in the right during a main course or something?
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Times have changed. Which hand you use no longer matters. The statute of limitations on switching the fork back and forth from your non-dominant hand has been over for a while.
(I’ve even heard that the whole elbows-on-the-table controversy is beginning to be a thing of the past — but so far, this is still just a rumor.)
In a formal dining situation, the courtesy behind the old rules of etiquette still matters.
Eat at a pace which implies that you’re more interested in the company than the food. Don’t chew with your mouth open. Finish each bite and swallow before you put anything else in your mouth.
The rest of it, like not cutting up all your food at once (yes, that used to be a rule) or tearing the bread into smaller bits and only buttering one small bit at a time (also an old rule, you weren’t supposed to butter the whole roll while it was still hot enough for the butter to melt nicely into the crannies) is now generally considered to be a matter of personal preference.
Only the stuff which affects the dining experience of your table-mates is still in the jurisdiction of modern etiquette.
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Yes that is left handed European style of eating. For dining etiquette goohle Emily post formal dining etiquette.
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In formal dining etiquette, the rules are somewhat lengthy, but they are straightforward and consistent. Fork goes in your left hand, knife goes in your right. There is no difference for left-handed people, since neither utensil requires any special dexterity — you use your left hand to stab the food and bring it to your mouth, and right to cut stuff.
Also, there are very few types of food that are touched with your fingers. The only common meal course thst can be eaten with your hands is a sandwich (hero, wrap, sub, hamburger, etc). Pizza is properly served uncut and is eaten with a knife and fork. Fresh fruit is usually eaten with your hands, as is the asparagus stalk. There are quite many more specific rules involving proper grip of utensils, handling / buttering of bread, arrangement of utensils and glasses areound the table, proper grip of glassed depending on the type of grip (holding by stem vs. cradling in hand), etc. These are easy to learn and most people on the old continent tend to learn them in their childhood.
Not everybody will have a chance in their life to be invited to (or organise) a formal dining event, so not everyone needs to know these rules. However, those who are, by the nature of their job, or social circle, expecting to attend such events in their life, are expected to respect these rules, much like a shop keeper expects customers to respect the “no shirt, no shoes —no service!” rule in his shop.
Observing these formal dining rules in our regular daily life, while not required (or generally expected), makes dining a more pleasant experience for everyone.
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Formal table manners anywhere but the US require that you hold the knife in your right hand and the fork in your left at all times. Things that can’t simply be stabbed and picked up, like vegetable purees, are pushed onto the back of the fork with your knife.
If you are left handed, the opposite rules apply.
In the US, keep your knife in your right hand for cutting, switch the fork to your right hand for eating, using the curved side of the fork like a shovel for anything that can’t be stabbed.
No matter where you are, asparagus is eaten with the fingers, after placing it on your plate with your asparagus tongs. If your host/hostess is so benighted that he/she fails to provide asparagus tongs, you can eat everything with your fingers and throw the bones over your shoulder for the dogs.
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No. Knife is held in the right and fork in the left. In the USA I gather people then switch hands to bring the food to their mouth from the fork with their right, but in England and Canada you just use the left which is already holding the fork to eat the food. I guess left- handed people do it the opposite way, but the official table manners are right-handed. I think it matters more that you don’t spill or drop food or choke, or fling it on anyone else. Try to use the correct fork, and don’t crash your elbows into people and probably no one will notice which hand you use. If you’re left-handed, watch your elbow. My ex is left handed, and if I sat on his left he’d knock my right arm and food flying with his left elbow.
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Yes. That is the normal way of eating outside of the United States. Only in the US is it customary to eat one handed. Continental Europeans eat exactly as you describe. It’s a good way to see who was born in the US and who wasn’t or was born of immigrant parents and eat the European way.
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I think if you are left handed, this would be the normal thing to do. But either way, it really doesn’t matter if you don’t make a spectacle of yourself.
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