jeffma@tekgvs.UUCP (Jeff Mayhew) (12/10/83)
Although I've never seen a pronounced tendency toward Americans
chopping up their food into tiny bits (with the exception of my
sister), there is one thing that I've noticed when comparing
eating habits in Europe with those in the U.S.: Europeans tend
to hold the knife in the right (or dominant) hand and keep it there
--the fork is kept in the left hand, and the food usually gets delivered
to the mouth with the fork-tines pointing downward. In the U.S. the
more common practise is to slice with the knife in the right (or
dominant) hand, and then transfer the fork to that hand for the final
food-transfer to the mouth. In my own view the first method is by far
the more practical of the two.
Another interesting tendency: in some parts of Europe, pieces of
pie are eaten from the crust side, rather than from the pointy part.
Rumor has it that a Russian spy was once caught as a result of the
suspicion cast on him by his "unusual" pie-eating habits (he claimed
to be an American, spoke flawless English, etc.). Try eating your
pie this way the next time you're visiting a friend's house--you'll
be surprised how fast others will notice.
Jeff Mayhew
Tektronix
!tekgvs!jeffma
P.S.: Is this a topic for net.cooks (the closest thing to "net.food")? max@ucbcad.UUCP (12/11/83)
#R:tekgvs:-1600:ucbcad:23100003:000:530 ucbcad!max Dec 11 03:31:00 1983 The question of fork-knife ritual doesn't arise, of course, in many older cultures of the "far East" (actually to the west of many of us). Cutting up food is done in the kitchen, not on the table; the diner's equipment (chopsticks and so on) can be elegantly simple, since food is served in bite-sized form. I understand that the Chinese sport the most elaborate national cuisine in the world (some twenty thousand distinct dishes). And all despite (or perhaps because of) the lack of knives and forks at the table! Max Hauser
laura@utcsstat.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (12/11/83)
goodness gracious! I *watch* for these sorts of things and have never noticed people eating from the pointy end of the pie. Then again, I don't eat pies very often. Is this for real? Laura Creighton utzoo!utcsstat!laura (come to think of it, I was eating pie in the Buffalo restaurant I mentioned...)
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (12/13/83)
When you're eating a nice baked algorithm, is it preferable to use a fork or a spoon? And is it impolite to add catsup? :-)