Do you eat Continental or American style?

I have always been fascinated by the Continental style of eating. A few weekends ago, we had a guest who ate Continental or European style. She looked so gracious. For the past few days I have been using my fork and knife the Continental way and I must say I find it much more efficient not having the switch hands constantly. At my ripe old age I am wondering if I can master this well enough to eat this way in public. What do you do and do you attract attention by eating the Continental way? I am still unclear about the total method. Being a right handed person, would I still use my fork in the right hand for eating peas, mashed or baked potatoes? Or would I keep the fork in the left hand, tines down and push the potatoes onto the back of the fork? Can't do that with peas.
Since I was talking so much and enjoying our company, I did not observe our Italian guest totaly, only noticed her cutting her meat.

I have tried cutting food with the knife in my left hand, and it was not a pretty picture! I'll continue the American style in the future, thank you.

Continental style - fork is in the left hand, tines down, stabbing the meat. You cut meat with right hand, push it onto the back of the fork and into the mouth. No zig-zag of hands!

Continental here. But that's because I'm left handed, it comes naturally. I don't think I could eat in what you're calling the American Style.

So, how do you eat your peas?

I am left-handed, so 'Continental' is easy for me. But, although it is probably best not to seek too much logic in manners, switching hands just seems silly to me.

I can see the argument for keeping one hand off the table and in one's lap. And, this is often used in certain more formal 'Continental' settings. But, it can be very inefficient for regular meals.

Well, I'm English so I keep the fork in my left hand.

The only occasion I can think for putting the fork in my right hand is when eating spaghetti. Peas? Spear them or squash them on the tines. I was brought up that using the fork like a shovel is bad manners

As far as I am away, no one has paid the slightest attention to my use of cutlery when I've eaten in US restaurants.

Continental here as well, but like some of the others, I am also left handed, so it is much easier.

I didn't grow up eating that way though, I only stopped switching hands once I met and married my British husband. I found that, for me, Continental was much easier and seemed much more polite (plus, that's how his family eats and I didn't want to come across as a rude American..LOL!).

As for the peas, we rarely eat them on their own, but if we do, I usually mash them onto the fork with the knife or use mashed potatoes or a sauce as a sort of "glue" to stick them to the fork.

The only time I don't eat Continental style is when I eat spaghetti. In fact, I kinda drives me crazy when my husband and his family cuts up their spaghetti before eating it. I can easily pick up a few strands, wrap them around the fork gently, and then get the whole scoop in my mouth without slurping or any mess. But maybe that's because I've had a lot of practice . Something about cutting up spaghetti and pushing it onto the back of the fork, or even worse, using a spoon to twirl, that just seems so wrong to me .

The Continental approach to dining has nothing to do with grace or manners. Rather, the royals/nobility had a nasty habit of killing each other off during meals and banquets, so it made a lot of sense to have your right hand ready to grab the knife/dagger.

[Robin Garr]

I eat Continental-style, mostly, for a fairly silly reason: When I was high-school age, I read about it and thought it sounded cool, so I gave it a try at home. My parents were irritated by this, which made it seem even more cool, so I kept on doing it. It really did seem more efficient, and they didn't mind too much, so I got in the habit, and traveling to Europe reasonably often only cemented the habit.

Karen: with rice.

[Robin Garr]

So, how do you eat your peas?

I don't do this, but I've always loved this little piece of doggerel ...

"I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
but it keeps them on my knife."

or even worse, using a spoon to twirl, that just seems so wrong to me .

Is this not the traditional Italian way? I always assumed it was based on the soup spoon provided with the pasta course...?

In answer to Karen's questions, I almost always eat American style. That "left hand in the lap" thing is pretty hard to break free from. Rarely, I do eat European style and it tends to be when I'm eating steak in a restaurant, cutting small "polite" bites. I agree it looks much more sophisticated and efficient to eat that way.

I switch back and forth, depending on what seems convenient to me at the time. Formal table manners don't seem to matter much these days, aside from some of the really gross lapses, e.g., eating with mouth open, picking nose, slurping mashed potatoes & gravy and such.

Yet another leftie here. I grew up wondering why in the world people kept switching hands when eating with a fork and knife.

or even worse, using a spoon to twirl, that just seems so wrong to me .

Is this not the traditional Italian way? I always assumed it was based on the soup spoon provided with the pasta course...?

In answer to Karen's questions, I almost always eat American style. That "left hand in the lap" thing is pretty hard to break free from. Rarely, I do eat European style and it tends to be when I'm eating steak in a restaurant, cutting small "polite" bites. I agree it looks much more sophisticated and efficient to eat that way.

I thought I'd read somewhere that it's not. This isn't the same article I'd read, but seems to sum it up pretty succinctly. And not that these are the final arbiters, by any means, but...

The owners of three of the best-known Italian restaurants in Manhattan recently convened to feast on pasta and discuss just how and with what it should be eaten. The diners were Adi Giovanetti, proprietor of Il Nido, and his wife, Rosanna; Sirio Maccioni, owner of Le Cirque, and his wife, Egi, and Luigi Nanni, proprietor and chef of both Nanni's and Il Valetto.

As to the use of a fork plus a spoon for eating pasta, all those at the table were adamant. Spoons are for children, amateurs and people with bad table manners in general.

Egi Maccioni recalled her childhood days of eating pasta. ''My grandparents spent hours teaching me how to eat pasta without using a spoon, how to twirl my fork so that not a strand of spaghetti would be hanging down as I lifted that fork to my mouth.''

''At home,'' she added, ''if I couldn't master the technique, they'd punish me by taking all the food away.'' Is it improper to allow a few strands of pasta to hang down as it is transported to the mouth? ''If the pasta is cooked al dente,'' Mr. Nanni said, ''you are bound to have a few strands hanging.'' If the pasta fits that neatly around the fork, Mr. Giovanetti added, it is overcooked.

Mr. Nanni volunteered one exception to the no-spoon argument: ''If your sauce is very liquid - a juicy primavera, a clam sauce - you might use a spoon to prevent splattering.''

The first bowls of pasta, served with military sauce, were placed before each guest. Mr. Giovanetti forked his way into his bowl and demonstrated that the pasta, perfectly cooked, would not cling wraparound fashion to the fork. He ate with great relish.

It was generally agreed, however, that it is correct to place a spoon at each place setting. ''In Italy it is customary to first place the pasta in a bowl or on a plate,'' Mr. Giovanetti said. ''You then spoon the sauce on top and finally cheese, if you use it at all. You use your fork and spoon to toss the pasta with sauce and cheese, and you then eat it with your fork alone.''

Actually, in digging around a bit, there seems to be some inconsistencies even within the "home country". Maybe we've uncovered another one of those do what feels/tastes/seems right to you situations.


Oh, pretty much stick to American style. I occasionally venture into Continental (but only at home), but it usually doesn't last the entire meal.

[Robin Garr]

Is this not the traditional Italian way? I always assumed it was based on the soup spoon provided with the pasta course...?

I've traveled in Italy fairly often (although mostly in the North and Central regions where you're as likely to encounter polenta or rice as pasta) and have never seen anyone using a spoon with pasta over there.

Interesting how many lefties are here. I am left hand dominate but was forced to use my right hand. My brother is left handed and so is my youngest son. It is said that left handed people are of superior intelligence. I read this somewhere.

[Robin Garr]

Interesting how many lefties are here. I am left hand dominate but was forced to use my right hand. My brother is left handed and so is my youngest son. It is said that left handed people are of superior intelligence. I read this somewhere.

I'm right-handed, and I am quite stupid ...

It is said that left handed people are of superior intelligence. I read this somewhere.

That is, of course, absolutely true.

I've never thought about the way that I or other people eat. That is, until I went to my first Chinese restaurant and received a meal with only a pair of chopsticks. I knew then that I was going to need to find another way to eat. So, on the spot I learend to eat with chopsticks. Other than that, I eat with whatever utensils are on the table, and do so just to get the food into my mouth without making a mess. Most of the time I succeed.

Jo Ann, that brings up a personal sore point- apparently it is a MAJOR faux pas to use chopsticks in the left hand. I cannot use them in my right hand. This caused some consternation amongst Chinese when I was there, but what else am I supposed to do? Drop all my food in my lap? (my hosts said, "Yes, that's better.")

Jo Ann, that brings up a personal sore point- apparently it is a MAJOR faux pas to use chopsticks in the left hand. I cannot use them in my right hand. This caused some consternation amongst Chinese when I was there, but what else am I supposed to do? Drop all my food in my lap? (my hosts said, "Yes, that's better.")

Oh great.

Should I ever get to China, I've at least been warned.

Scott -

My Italian grandparents had arguments over the spoon-with-pasta issue that were never resolved. My grandmother, who was older when she came over to this country, would never use a spoon with spaghetti and maintained that to do so showed very poor manners. My grandfather, who was more influenced by Italian-American culture, always thought that there was nothing wrong with using a spoon to twirl spaghetti.

In the end, I went with my grandma's point of view.