[Exodus (OP)]

Just something i was thinking about today... do left handed people hold their knives and forks in opposite hands than right handed people?

[neilep]

Rich....it's funny you should say that...My sister is left handed and eats right handed.....I am right handed but eat left handed.....this was also brought up in a thread about ambidextrousticity (if there is such a word !!!...if there isn't ...there is now !!)

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[neilep]

oops...sorry...couldn't be bothered to edit my last post.....to answer your question though I believe the answer is YES....cos every time I go to a restaurant and change the knives and forks around they always say...'ahh...you must be left handed'....

'Men are the same as women...just inside out !'

[bezoar]

I would guess that depends how strong their hand dominance is.  I eat basically with whatever hand is closest to the food.  Cutting meat is done mostly done with the right hand, but the rest of the meal, could use either one equally as comfortably.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

Just something i was thinking about today... do left handed people hold their knives and forks in opposite hands than right handed people?

Well, I am right-handed, hold my knife in my left hand and my fork in my right hand. Don't know if it's reversed since people in my country use spoon and fork to eat instead of fork and knife.

[evan_au]

I recall that many people in the USA hold knife and fork in the same hand (but not usually at the same time).
Many in the UK hold knife and fork in different hands.
...and Koreans think it is rude to have knives at the dinner table...

[chris]

Koreans think it is rude to have knives at the dinner table

What are you supposed to cut up your roast dog with then?

[evan_au]

What are you supposed to cut up your roast dog with then?

They use knives in the kitchen, but tend to use scissors with guests.

They often eat with chopsticks, so food is generally already cut into bite-sized pieces.

I have asked Koreans if there was some historical dinner-table massacre that led to use a more-complex (but possibly safer) tool? But my Korean friends don't know the origin of this practice.

[evan_au]

Here are some examples where Korean restaurants use scissors: http://www.luckyturtles.com/?p=438

Some other considerations given on the web include:
-The use on shared meals (1 pair of scissors per table), rather than individual meals (a knife each)
- You don't need a chopping board, like a knife (I guess chopping boards are a source of food contamination...)

[alancalverd]

Far Eastern dining habits actually derive from Confucius, who decreed that "Great Man does not enter the slaughterhouse": food should come to the table ready to eat  - no knives (slaughterhouse) or seasonings (insult to the cook) on a formal banquet table*. When the waiter presents Peking duck at the table, he shreds it with two spoons, never a knife, but even that may be a decadent Western adaptation.

Colonisation has had an effect, however. When I struggled to handle an oversized pancake roll with chopsticks, the waiter said "In Hong Kong we eat those with a knife and fork".



*perfectly logical. If you attend a concert, you don't expect to edit the score or tell the brass to play louder - you go to hear what he composer wrote and how the conductor presents it!

[RD]

... scissors ...

They may be on to something  ...