American Reacts to US vs UK Meal Etiquette 

I can still hear my head master from 40 years ago saying that

I feel like such a rebel because I definitely use that fork like a shovel. I will find ways to get the food onto that fork

@@marksmithwas12 oh,you barbarian! 😄

@@markwilliams5654 1980's

My mum still says it !

An American Marine was on a train in France at the end of WW2. The train was packed and he was very weary after being deployed for three years. He walked up and down the train and noticed a French woman with a little dog sitting on the seat next to her. He says to her "Please ma'am may I sit there, I'm very tired." The French woman was extremely offended and said "Non non my little girl Fifi never leaves my side to sit on a dirty floor." The Marine responds "But please ma'am I'm tired and I need to sit down." She responds again, "No no go away, you filthy man." So the American Marine picks up the dog and throws it out of the window. The woman shrieked "How dare you will someone defend my honour." A British gentleman interjects, "You Americans are all the same, you drive on the wrong side of the road, you eat your food with your knife and fork in your wrong hands and now Sir, you've just thrown the wrong bitch out of the window."

"Most of Europe" ahh you've studied all 53 countries, really. Which is your favourite 🤡

Yowza that's a harsh evaluation of Americans. Cultural intolerance much? Do yourself a favour never travel to a part of the world where you generally eat without utensils, using bread-based stuff like nan, you'll have an aneurysm.

@@Zooumberg😂😂😂

@DigitalNomadOnFIRE Errrm that's not a huge number of countries to study 🤣

Lovely posting.

americans look like a chimps tea party when they eat.

😂😂😂

😂😂😂

Brilliant... 😂😂😂 👍👍👍

Same for me. Watching Americans try to eat is like watching a toddler eat

Same here.

I was taught at a very early age to use cutlery properly, manners maketh man and all that!

Or just their hands😂

It's why they invented the spork

Like infants in a high chair

or a trough

@@hamiltonb.8468 Sporks DO come in handy, especially if you take food out somewhere in a flask. Last time I used that was when my mum was in hospital earlier this year. She wanted some of the food I usually cook for her, so I made some, took a small food flask in, and some disposable sporks.

We were all taught the same in NZ as well. I will admit that due to arthritis I do tend to eat using only my fork in my right hand now but again, ONLY at home on my own - never if there are guests - and I would never dream of doing this at somebody elses' house or in a restaurant.

It's the same everywhere - this is another "American discovers Americans don't do anything everyone else does"

I'm Aussie and no one I know gives a shit and is very relaxed. Okay when I was a kid I'd get told off for a few things, elbows on table etc. Actually my mum always said I was supposed to switch knife and fork to my right hand but I never did, it drove me crazy and made no sense because it was easier for me to use my left hand to cut but I think she switched because it wasn't easy for her? But thankfully she didn't try and force me to eat the same, as an adult etiquette drives me crazy, just making rules for every little thing to make yourself seem superior. Sorry, I'm not saying you do that but some people are so high and mighty about it like it matters what silver thing goes where. We all shit it out at the end 😂 that's my Aussie way of looking at it

@@SerenitySoonish Your ancestors were probably deported for their table manners.

....and no-one was taught how to use commas.

@@Brian.001 Or capitals, hyphens and ellipsis where you were born obviously.

@@Fletchr86 You are wrong about capitals and hyphens, and I'm not sure how else you would indicate that you were continuing someone else's sentence.

Americans eat as if they never learnt table manners. They literally eat like toddlers and I am shocked because I never paid attention to this madness.

That's pretty sad, man. I'm sorry your childhood was like that

@@default3252 I think it was a lesson learned. I'm sorry you are so sad.

@@elemar5 It's interesting that in most of the world, it's illegal to physically assault another human being... unless it's a child you're supposed to protect. Just some food for thought

@@default3252 Things were dfferent 40-50 years ago

@@default3252 Clearly someone has never had kids, sometimes they really don't care what you say but they care if there is a consequence

If you're from North of Watford it's definitely not mushy as in up.

Just what I was going to say😅

I'm in South Wales. Definitely ''mooshy'' here.

@@BigStib Some places in the UK are clearly inferior to others

I only ever eat mushy peas with fish and chips.

Ha ha, think you coved the lot. Well done. I cant add to that 😁

@jojeffrie962 my gran was a stickler for it. I grew up knowing how to not get my knuckled rapped. That wooden spoon hurt

@@richidraykat Ah, you too. . . . . . . . . . . .

@572Btriode I was also an army brat, so manners were literally drilled into me as a child.

@@richidraykat Yep, father was a Major in WWII and an acting colonel most of the time, drilled we were, not such a bad thing either.

Seriously though, how insane is it to be offended by what someone does with their eating implements, as long as they are in no way hurting you? Who cares?

​@@CowmanUKExactly. It's bizarre how so many British people actually get bothered by such stupid, meaningless things. Any excuse to judge others and feel superior I suppose. Sadly we have a lot of people like that. Just look at the condescending comments from British people who think they're special for just using a fork in the way they were taught lol.

It's called etiquette.. it's not really rude, just frowned upon to use your fork like a shovel ... Some people appreciate a few standards in formal situations...

@@CowmanUK I know right? That's (a decent number of) old people for ya. Meanwhile, the same people that whine about how "impolite" young people will gladly despise anyone with different skin

@@CowmanUKit’s called ‘class’ 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's true. My cousin works in a restaurant in the US. He says the noise is unbelievable. Plus they walk about like they're at the supermarket 🙄

@@101steel4 sadly, as far as I’m concerned, the old way of sitting down at your table and staying there until you have finished no longer seems to pertain. Children, particularly, are allowed to get down and run around during the meal and what ever became of “please May I leave the table?”. As for noise, polite conversation was what we were allowed, no shouting or heated discussion. Father would remind us that we were at the meal table. Nowadays we do occasionally sit in front of the tv and eat but manners still remain, but when at the dining table the tv is switched off and all mobile devices likewise. We all know Americans eat differently from British people, the surprising thing is that our reviewer appears not to have noted this before! As for the cutlery, oh my word! Depending on how many courses defines the number of cutlery pieces and how they are laid out for the diner, let alone the different types and sizes of knives, forks and spoons. However with fewer and fewer eating proper meals, by which I mean entertaining guests for set meals, this becomes less common. We still eat using traditional British “manners” though, which we taught our daughter and she is teaching her children.

An American friend of mine actually apologised to us once when an American family were making so much noise and disrupting everyone’s meal. She said that until she started to hang about with Brits she hadn’t realised how noisy Americans are in restaurants.

I live near a seaside town and get plenty of American tourists. Once standing outside a chippy, one of them shouted at me "Is this where I get fish and fries"? I said no, and walked off.

True. Americans tend to be very loud and disruptive and completely lacking self awareness. Like children. Not all of them though. Just some.

I don't think that most people are fussy about where you place the cutlery on the plate, although I'm sure that some are. How you use cutlery, however, is important in many families. Not as much as it used to be, sadly. In the UK, you will still find some people eating pizza with a knife and fork.

Tines not prongs! saying prongs makes someone to appear less refined! 😄👍

Amd then you'd realize that you're dining with the wrong people. I couldn't sit at the same table as such pettiness. There are manners and there are the anally retentive.

Seems a bit of an over reaction to someone from a different culture doing something a bit differently from you 😅

@@faithpearlgenied-a5517 🤷‍♂️😂 I suppose so! They are still developing. Give them time.

@@RodneyMcMinge If you then left, that would be a blessing. 👍 we’re only messi g you know?

Italian invention...

I was just thinking that. I always had to ask if I could leave the table.

I think you might need to explain the term 'dinner lady' to our American cousins.

I just explained in a another comment (As a kid from the 90s) that Teachers and dinner ladies would go around showing children how to use a knife and fork properly at dinnertime in school, Its like we were all taught table etiquette at in both places so it just become second nature. For our American cousins- Dinner ladies are usually local Ladys, Mums and Grandmas from around the schools local area that work the dinner hour in schools, they make sure each kid gets to sit down and eat, and keep watch of you all through the dinner hour (So the Teachers can go have a lunch break too) They would make and server the hot dinners and generally walk around the lunch rooms making sure were all ok and they would always help if you needed them too, alongside they all would teach us proper etiquette, so asking politely for things to be passed to you, how to hold your knife & fork, how to clean up after yourselves. Pretty much all of us were taught at home by parents anyway, Dinner ladies and teachers would just add to that process keeping it up outside the home.

@@amz7290 👍

And not being allowed to leave if there was still food on my plate. And having the leftovers served to me at the next meal - this was common at the time, after years of rationing. On the odd occasion I had school dinners, I do remember the dinner ladies saying something to somebody about the knives and forks. It never registered at the time, it had already been drummed into me at home.

Really? Have you been in a uk restaurant recently? Most knives and forks are pointing at the ceiling with the knife pointed for emphasis. Does it matter though? The sun will rise tomorrow whatever you do.

Thank you! I'm French and this horrifies me when I see tourists do this!

True !

Don't forget about overloading it too 😂 especially at grammar schools.

Not really an appropriate emoji for that anecdote imo

@@default3252 character building

@@101steel4 Yeah, the character it built was someone who thinks that was okay

Me here. I'm a left hander but would never think of using my knife in my left hand

Me too, I’m left handed and cut with the knife in my right hand. Sometimes I need a steak knife, but that’s due to nerve damage in my hands

I’m right handed. I eat left handed 😂

Oddly, I'm right handed but use my fork in my right and knife in left. Always felt more comfortable that way. Cutting with my right hand is so awkward.

I found out recently why we keep elbows off the table, apparently it dates back centuries to when tables were not so substantial, long banqueting tables could not support a lot of people leaning on tables, I don't know if that's true or not. Forgive me if I'm telling you something you already knew.

I thought it was because sailors (we're talking Napoleonic times) used their elbows to stop their plate moving around, and no-one wanted to be mistaken for someone so uncouth!

@colinmorrison5119 you could be right. I've no idea why we were taught that but I do remember it being drummed into us and God forbid if you accidentally put your elbow on the table 😩

As a 35 yr old I now put my elbows on the table (it's more comfortable for me to have that point of weight distribution as I have shoulder and back problems, and also if I'm at a restaurant Im usually in my wheelchair which is often not aligned well with the table for size reasons) but I still feel self conscious when I do it and it took me years to stop trying to keep them in the air for the first half of every meal 😅

I was always taught when finished to put the knife and fork together on the plate but at three o'clock. That way if there was any uneaten food still on the plate anyojne clearing away woould know that I was finished with the plate.

​@@glynwigley1581I was taught 4 o'clock!

@@MrBulky992 it's five o'clock when you're done. Test this in restorant with your cutlers, they will pick your plate away.

With knife blade facing towards the fork so no one gets cut when removing the empty plate

Yeah, all peas are popular in the UK, but mushy peas are the best with Fish and chips.

Personally never seen the appeal to mushy peas.

@@martinwebb1681 They're also brilliant in a chip butty

Mushy peas are made with Marrowfat peas they go soft when cooking, the addition of bicarb of soda is what makes them mushy, garden peas are a completely different variety of pea, they remain firm when cooked, I don't know about other area of the country, but here in Yorkshire mushy peas are eaten with added mint sauce and are absolutely delicious on a hot pork pie

@@diane64yorks I only use mint sauce on mushy peas when eating them with meat, never when with fish.

when i'm at home i very rarely use a knife. like this is far too formal, i don't know anyone that eats like this

@@lylukkI don’t know anyone who doesn’t. One exception is take away: Chinese - fork only or chopsticks, pizza - hand, fish & chips - fork and hands.

I’m British, and neither myself or anyone I know would eat pasta with a knife 😂 And pasta is a dish where you need a fork, for the prongs! Although I would hold the fork like a spoon, which according to this bizarre video, makes me rude 🤣

@@quirkymerky To clarify, if I'm eating alone at home I'll often just use a fork, but if I'm eating at the dining table with family/friends I'll use a knife and fork and eat politely

Absolutely, but I wonder if the young lady has experience of such affairs?

Start from the outside and work your way in, and the dessert cutlery above the plate as opposed to the starters and mains cutlery which is to the sides of the plate.

​@@davebirch1976in some circles putting the dessert spoon and fork above the plate is considered common

@@gillfox9899 I have heard about that, but perhaps the dessert spoon and fork are moved down beside the plate when dessert is served.

@@janettesinclair6279 no they are placed closest to the plate, spoon to the right, fork to the left.

because people who eat like pigs have no thought for other people. they are revolting.

@@Brian.001 That may be true in some cases but generally I think it's about upbringing and how/if they were taught by their parents. It doesn't make them a bad person.

In Denmark we do the same. It has nothing with High class or social status to do. Its all about the Way one is brought up.

The way the knife is held is seen as a class indicator: holding it like a pen with the handle sticking up between the fingers as many do these days is an etiquette faux pas: the refined way is to hold the handle in the palm of the hand.

Especially if they eat with their mouth open! 😝

Now that’s a good point.

Schools are o busy transing up kids now.

The right to left, is it like horozontally (9 o'clock) or 10/11/8/7 o'clock? tho I usually leave it at 5 o'clock XD

It's a form of insanity. Seriously who cares, and why? If a person isn't being obnoxious or actually hurting anyone, why should anyone be upset what they do or how they eat? It should be up to them, not anyone else. You may as well be upset how they tilt their hat, blink, tie their shoelaces or scratch their elbow. Etiquette, for the most part, is forcing your crazy rituals on other people.

There is no 'properly' it's all just made up etiquette for certain people to feel superior to others. There's absolutely no need to place your cutlery together on your plate like that. There's no logic to it, it's all bullshit. It's strange how so many people go along with the nonsense they were taught as kids and not only do they actually feel proud of themselves for it, they think it makes them somehow 'better' than others 😂

When you are finished the knife and fork are placed together at the 4 O’clock position

​@@CowmanUKi understand how the younger generation don't care about tradition and manners but if i saw a British person eating their food with Only a knife and shoveling it in, id think dragged up!

we were never allowed to leave food as children. your parents decided what was healthy for you and as my parents grew up under rationing when there was so little to go , you just did not do it.

Or all the knives went overboard 😂

Same, I’ve never even noticed someone using their cutlery in the wrong hands or fork prongs up but I can’t bear to hear someone chewing with their mouth open, it’s the worst!

Yes and also.... cutting your dinner into many pieces before starting to eat totally destroys the presentation of the food.... you trash it before you can eat it. Might as well just put it through the mincer and dollop it into a bowl.

My mother liked to squash peas on the back of the fork, but my father and I inverted the fork to eat peas. She was more correct, but we were practical!

Don’t you use your soup-knife?

Reminds me of the old rhyme...... I eat my peas with honey, I've done it all my life, It makes the peas taste funny, but it keeps them on the knife, 😜😜😜🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Hats! Done get me started there. A gentleman removes his hat the moment he enters a house, or similar. This comes from the ancient custom of removing your headdress when meeting your lord to show your deference and that he had “the option” to cut your head off if he desired. Nowadays I see “celebrities “ and the rest of the male population thinking it is quite acceptable to come into somewhere, sit down, or even eat a meal, with their hat still on their head. But nearly every type of thing that was custom has now disappeared; standing up when a lady comes into the room, taking off your hat when you meet someone, removing sunglasses when greeting someone, when sitting down a gentleman would pull up his trouser knees to avoid the material become slightly baggy, having clean shoes ie polished and cleaned, including if they are not man made soles the under arch of the shoes being polished. Then a gentleman should always walk on the outside of the lady when walking down the street. This comes from the times when he might need to draw his sword to protect her from ruffians; just work it through in your mind as to how that would work. Yes, so many things have changed but so has the world. I’m out of touch with it as I still practice all these things today.

😱😖🤨

@@anthonya7169 No, you are not out of touch - just a gentleman!

@@anthonya7169 The lady walks on the left hand side, so that her escort can give her his left arm for support, leaving his strong right hand to defend her honour, with,or without his sword. On the street is correct for him to walk closest to the road, so as to shield her from mud splashes and other road hazards. Ahh those were the days😉

My husband still insists on walking on the roadside of the pavement. It's nice to see that Australians and New Zealanders maintain the same standards of etiquette and also use the term cutlery. Silverware is something completely different

Our Teachers and dinner ladys would show us kids from the youngest ages (I'm a 90s kid) how to use a knife and fork in school, paired alongside your parents showing you the same way, it just becomes second nature imo (PS. School dinners in the 80/90s were the best! I can still taste the chocolate concrete with pink custard!)

All the kids I know have been taught good table manners. I know a three-year-old who handles a knife and fork much better than the average American adult.

It's about comfort. I also don't understand why you'd want to use your non-dominant hand for the fork

@@default3252 I don't understand why right-handed people use their non-dominant hand to do all the difficult stuff when playing a guitar, but they do. So do I.

@@default3252 If you can't find your mouth with your non-dominant hand then you shouldn't be let out in public.

@@peterholmes3011 You clearly need to work on your reading comprehension, Peter

@@default3252 My comprehension is excellent. If you're more comfortable doing it then continue and I'll continue pouring scorn on you.

Five sets I'm guessing!

That's right. More knives and forks, forks and spoons for sweet or dessert.

I have witnessed the look of horror on Americans' faces when faced with the array of cutlery at a formal dinner - it's hilarious!

I was taught at an early age back then that you started with the cutlery on the outside first working you way inwards and as someone who wasn't from an affluent family dining etiquette was still taught and even though I am left handed I was still taught to use a spoon and fork for a dessert/sweet. All be it a bit awkward as both fork and spoon for me would normally be held in left hand but I managed it somehow by putting the fork in the right hand.

@@susanashcroft2674 Same here. I am left handed but was taught the right handed way to hold my knife and fork. I do cheat at hoe by holding my spoon in my left hand to eat dessert🤣

lol

I have a theory that the less interesting the conversation, the louder the volume. "No-one is paying me the attention I want so I'll speak up so that they can only hear me". A really interesting conversation will get everyone listening intently, there's no need to raise your voice. And a whispered conversation is usually the most interesting one of all. Volume is inversely proportional to the quality of the message.