Guy invites me to ''grab a bite''

This is the worst thread I've seen in a long while.

You should be proud of yourself.

No, but both problems are probably related to your upbringing.

This.

...

How am I supposed to eat?

You're supposed to eat it with your hands to show you're a tough brute of a man who will pound them raw to be desu

>Parents always make a big deal about switching utensils every time I cut/eat the food
>Go to a semi-nice dinner with some friends and nobody else does it, one guy even makes fun of me
I've learned that the "manners" many of us were taught as kids are a meme, just don't be a sick pig and you'll be better than 75% of common society.

Ummmm that's proper US table manners. Euros keep hands, Americans switch.

l o n d o n
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Am I the only one that didn't know what this even meant and had to look it up? I didn't even know people do that.

I'm left handed and naturally hold the fork in my right hand while cutting, otherwise it feels awkward like I'm using the wrong hand. But then when I eat I use my left hand. So....I guess I'm switching hands, but I didn't even know this was etiquette I just can't naturally cut with the fork in my left hand.

Again, that's proper in the US. You cut with your dom hand holding the knife, then place the knife down and transfer the fork to your dominant hand to eat with.

Europe keeps the knife in the non-dominant hand.

Any britbongs or ausfalians that can tell us about their country, since I don't know which they do there?

I live in the US, I can recall being taught to do this, but it just always felt uncomfortable and I guess my parents just stopped forcing it on me at some point. I just feels much more natural to cut with my non dominant hand.

I don't think either way is wrong, just do what's most natural for you and don't be a slob.

Honestly it's a failing of Western cuisine that food is not served in bite sized portions to begin with.

>Guy invites me to ''grab a bite''
>I agree
>He grabs his crotch and says "bite this"
>Everyone laughs

Kill me

Wrong actually. Europeans keep the knife in their dominant hand.

I personally don't understand what's so hard about cutting with your left hand, and I'm right handed. If I'm eating pasta or soup or anything not requiring a knife, the fork remains in my right hand. When I do need to cut, it's less work than holding the food down while I cut, then transferring to my mouth, so naturally I use my non-dominant hand. Doing it the other way round seems like it's only easier for people because they were taught to eat that way. Switching hands seems double retarded, and creates a stupid amount of work for yourself.

Ah that's right, sorry about that! My ex was yuro, but it was a long time ago.

>Europe keeps the knife in the non-dominant hand.

No, it keeps the knife in the RIGHT hand, period. Left or right handed doesn't matter. (Source: Me, raised in England. I'm left handed, but I was raised to hold the fork in my left and knife in the right, as was everyone else).

>>Switching hands seems double retarded, and creates a stupid amount of work for yourself.

In my opinion it's also silly because it always favors your dominant hand. If you actually make yourself use your non-dominant hand it significantly improves your dexterity with it.

What part of Europe?

I find it inconceivable that an entire continent full of many different cultures and traditions has settled upon one proper method of holding utensils.

>I find it inconceivable

Why? Haven't you studied History? Pretty much everyone copied the French way of doing things.

The same way that in Asia you had countries like Japan, Korea, etc, copying trends set by the Chinese.

Balkans, but also lived in Germany for a while.

My mom was pretty psycho about NOT doing this, because she and I are left handed. As was her father, who they attempted to switch in school and had problems because of it.

>guy invites me to "grab a bite"
>we get our food
>he takes more than one bite

really?????

I suppose it makes some sense in that regard(France and its haute cuisine and influence), but then why would you have Americans doing something equally arbitrary but different?

>You cut with your dom hand holding the knife, then place the knife down and transfer the fork to your dominant hand to eat with.
Americans: They don't know what the fuck they're doing

How the fuck did you all manage to get so fat with such a retarded way of eating? Do you walk up the stairs going two steps up and one step backwards?

>guy invites me to grab a bite
>it's a big bite

He said European.

Not britbong.

Except American table manners came first. Euros are just so poor and eager to shovel food in their mouths they started not keeping manners.

washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/miss-manners-forks-history-is-not-a-big-mystery/2011/09/01/gIQA0kYNaK_story.html

>why would you have Americans doing something equally arbitrary but different?

To tell you the truth, I don't know. I was raised in Europe, moved to the US when I was a kid. The opinion I have always held was that America simply didn't teach table manners, and people "switched" or ate with a fork only because that's the lazier and more natural route.

But I have heard people state that the "switch" thing was deliberately taught. (Where, I have no idea, and I've had many conversations with Americans about this) One person claimed it was deliberate in order to "slow down your eating so you aren't a glutton". I don't know if that is actually true or not.

My experience has been that strict table manners are not taught here, and people simply do what feels easiest to them. And I can see how it's easier to switch hands than it is to learn to use your off hand more effectively. It's like exercising--yeah, it benefits you, but it also takes effort. If you don't take the effort to learn when you're a little kid then it simply becomes a persistent habit.

Yeah, Cool story bro.
No one gives a fuck

Unless we are in a cartography discussion, what's the difference? Nobody said "continental Europe".

>Where, I have no idea, and I've had many conversations with Americans about this

My family was psycho about manners, and I also was given classes about both table manners and traditional dancing, escorting, etc. Not sure how other people learn it, and I will say 75% of Americans (and 99% of flyovers) have pretty bad table manners. But for sure I was taught to switch the knife deliberately (also where to place it on the plate, etc).

See the Miss Manners link about the origin of the American switch. It was actually the original way of doing it, and the US just never switched when Europe did. In that way it's similar to the English accent or Imperial Units.

I agree, table manners are not taught in the US most of the time. I think the most I've known is no shoulders on the table, which I still never pay attention to.

>not eating with your face buried so far into your plate that your shoulders are on the table
Is there anybody who DOESNT do this???

Don't fall for the bait, newfriend

I'm not your newfriend, newguy

lol faggot

Sorry your mom isn't there to cut your your well done tendies for you

Brits are more American than European.

As an American it has been my experience that table manners are deeply related to socio-economic class.

Most middle class folks switch hands, which is entirely acceptable by US standards. The lower classes often disregard table manners altogether. The Euorpean style has become firmly entrenched among the upper class.

...

>he actually takes his food home

dropped

I was taught the switch as a child. My mom was raised in the dirty south and had delusions of living in "Gone With the Wind" and strict about manners. My dad grew up running around national parks in the "wild" west (old man is old), as grandpa was in the park service. He didn't give two shits and let the boys be boys, so we were more free to develop our own way of doing life.
These days, I actually tend to keep the fork in my left hand, and cut with my dominant hand.

I wish I could efficiently use a knife with my left hand

I think you mean the English, Scottish and Welsh and more English, Scottish or Welsh than they are European.

I once dumped a guy after he told me he loved me and that he was "going down" and then crashing his plane into a feild. You could almost SMELL his autism.

No, I mean brits take their culture from America.