Why is eating food with your hands generally frowned upon in the Western World?

Vito Corleone

I don't really understand the taboo in modern society about eating food with your hands. Logically, it's easier to eat with your hands and saves time cleaning up. If your hands are clean (which they should be), it's more hygienic than eating with a knife and fork. Yet if you go to a restaurant or someone's house and avoid using this table etiquette the reaction you will get is quite hostile.

I would be very interested in hearing your opinions on this issue.

jimgoose

I don't know what to do anymore. Last week I got fierce funny looks in a caff for eating a breakfast roll with a knife-and-fork.

Mr. CooL ICE

Nothing worse than the rare situation where eating spicy chicken wings with a knife and fork is mandatory. That sh1t needs to be shoveled into your mouth with bare hands.

Worse than waterboarding tbh

Guill

Because for a long time we wiped our arses with them hands.

SEPT 23 1989

I eat soup with my hands

I am pie

Depends what food we are talking about here.

Soup - bad.

Sandwich - fair enough.

FanadMan

Who said it's taboo? I've eaten with my hands for years.......obviously not stuff like soup or spagetti but if I can eat it with my hands, I do.

I generally don't worry about the etiquette.. If someone gives me chicken wings, don't expect me to knife and fork them.

uch

Try eating a portion of chow mein from the Chinese with your hands after 9 pint and you'll have your answer

KeithM89

People who eat Pizza with a fork and knife should be shot in the face.

April O Neill

Vito Corleone wrote: »

I don't really understand the taboo in modern society about eating food with your hands. Logically, it's easier to eat with your hands and saves time cleaning up. If your hands are clean (which they should be), it's more hygienic than eating with a knife and fork. Yet if you go to a restaurant or someone's house and avoid using this table etiquette the reaction you will get is quite hostile.

I would be very interested in hearing your opinions on this issue.

It's not frowned upon everywhere in the West - hence finger bowls.

LordChessington wrote: »

Nothing worse than the rare situation where eating spicy chicken wings with a knife and fork is mandatory. That sh1t needs to be shoveled into your mouth with bare hands.

Gawd, do some places make you do that? Whenever I've had wings or spare ribs in this country, a finger bowl or wipes have been provided. Should be that way for lamb chops and rack of lamb too.

iDave

We're not savages like the third world

Shenshen

People should do as they please and eat with their hands when they feel the need to

I've never had strange looks for eating a sandwich without cutlery, or fruit?

Some food is prepared to be eaten by hand, some food isn't.

seb65

Actually, in medieval times it was considered rude to eat with utensils. The upper classes saw food as coming from God and to distance yourself from the food with a fork or spoon was considered an affront to God's graces.

I don't know how it changed.

Vito Corleone

Scylla wrote: »

People who eat Pizza with a fork and knife should be shot in the face.

I saw someone eating a sandwich with a knife and fork before. I don't know what's wrong with some people.

I am pie

I went to a friends wedding in Sheffield a good few years ago, most of the family were English but of Pakistani origin.

Only the whiteys table got knives and forks. Everyone else shovelled in the grub using chapatis , I tried but it got a bit messy. The tie had to go in the bin! The bigger faux pas for them would have been eating with the left hand as thats the one used for cleaning your hole....traditionally. I dare say most use bog roll these days but it's not a conversation I wanted to have at a wedding after having the had the right hand only etiquette explained to me in advance.

Best curry I have ever tasted I should add. I had to be carried away from the table in a wheelbarrow in a spicy stupor.

fussyonion

SuperNoodles are God damn messy to eat with your hands...just lobbing great big fistfuls in your gob-not an attractive look.

I am pie

iDave wrote: »

We're not savages like the third world

You sure?

Vito Corleone

Shenshen wrote: »

I've never had strange looks for eating a sandwich without cutlery, or fruit?

Some food is prepared to be eaten by hand, some food isn't.

I'm talking about food that is traditionally eaten with a knife and fork. Unless it's for convenience purposes then I don't see why it's expected that one should use them.

Shenshen

People should do as they please and eat with their hands when they feel the need to

Vito Corleone wrote: »

I'm talking about food that is traditionally eaten with a knife and fork. Unless it's for convenience purposes then I don't see why it's expected that one should use them.

I find that what the food needs to be eaten with depends on how it's prepared.
Indian food is usually prepared in a way that makes it easy to scoop it onto chapatis or roti, thereby not requiring any additional instruments.

Chinese and Japanese food is prepared in a way that makes it easy to lift one mouthful at a time using chopsticks.

European food (if we're talking about roast dinners and the like) is prepared to be eaten using knife and fork.

I honestly can't see how you'd want to carve a bit of roast beef without using a knife - tear chunks out of it with your teeth and spit them onto people's plates?

Morag

http://www.housenotsobeautiful.com/Articles/cutlery.html


http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-history-fork-729.html

The modern table setting is attributed to Charles I of England who in 1633 declared, "It is decent to use a fork," a statement that heralded the beginning of civilized table manners. But it wasn't until almost a century later that the fork gained acceptance among the lower class. In England, the acceptance of the fork encouraged preparation of continental recipes, such as 'olios' from Spain, a dish made with stewed meat taken with a fork as opposed to mashed food eaten from the blade of a knife. Because the average family owned a limited number of forks, historians suggest that the service of sherbet midway through a meal gave the servants time to wash the forks used earlier on.

jamaamaj

iDave wrote: »

We're not savages like the third world

Not sure what to make of this.
Are you saying all humans from third world countries are savages.?

Vito Corleone

Shenshen wrote: »

I honestly can't see how you'd want to carve a bit of roast beef without using a knife - tear chunks out of it with your teeth and spit them onto people's plates?

That's just silly. Carve the beef with a knife and then let people eat it how they like- either with their hands or knife/fork. :cool:

Sergeant

Nothing worse than seeing some hairy mucksavage in Supermacs shovel heaps of chips dripping with curry sauce into his drooling gob using his paws.

For Forks Sake

I defy anyone to eat a plate of steaming hot stew with their hands....

hardCopy

For Forks Sake wrote: »

I defy anyone to eat a plate of steaming hot stew with their hands....

Lift bowl, drink like mug

For Forks Sake

hardCopy wrote: »

Lift bowl, drink like mug

That's cheating, I clearly meant lifting the food from the plate with ones hands.

Vicar in a tutu

iDave wrote: »

We're not savages like the third world

What a disgusting, ignorant thing to say.

Shenshen

People should do as they please and eat with their hands when they feel the need to

For Forks Sake wrote: »

That's cheating, I clearly meant lifting the food from the plate with ones hands.

Why would we even use plates?
Surely we can just all eat from the one big platter in the middle of the table, the way other cultures do?

puddinboxxx

pizza,chips,chicken gourjons = hands
steak,soup,omelettes = knife and fork

fussyonion

For Forks Sake wrote: »

I defy anyone to eat a plate of steaming hot stew with their hands....

You have such an apt name for this thread!

Nodin

Shenshen wrote: »

Why would we even use plates?
Surely we can just all eat from the one big platter in the middle of the table, the way other cultures do?

....would end in killings.

Vito Corleone

puddinboxxx wrote: »

pizza,chips,chicken gourjons = hands
steak,soup,omelettes = knife and fork

You eat soup with a knife and fork?! :pac:

premierstone

Is this a follow on from the incest thread?

Ye durty basta*ds

jester77

Vito Corleone wrote: »

I don't really understand the taboo in modern society about eating food with your hands. Logically, it's easier to eat with your hands and saves time cleaning up. If your hands are clean (which they should be), it's more hygienic than eating with a knife and fork. Yet if you go to a restaurant or someone's house and avoid using this table etiquette the reaction you will get is quite hostile.

I would be very interested in hearing your opinions on this issue.

Have you walked into a Burger King, McDonalds, KFC, Abrakebabra, Supermacs, Subway or Pizza Hut recently? Most people are using their hands and no one is frowning... well maybe in Abrakebabra

Duckworth_Luas

iDave wrote: »

We're not savages like the third world

I'm a savage ....


... for bacon and cabbage!

Which I eat out of a cup with a spoon.

jimgoose

Duckworth_Luas wrote: »

I'm a savage ....


... for bacon and cabbage!

Which I eat out of a cup with a spoon.

Get HAAAAAAAAARRRRDDDD!!!

April O Neill

I am pie wrote: »

Only the whiteys table got knives and forks. Everyone else shovelled in the grub using chapatis , I tried but it got a bit messy.

Yeah, that's a bit mank. IMO, anything with a sauce shouldn't be eaten with hands.

jimgoose

Ah, for those long, hot Summer days in the bog. The snipe, the curlew, the gentle breezes. Contentedly slurping our hot-water-bottles of turnip soup through a straw, kneeling on our turf tatami mats. Heaven. :cool:

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

You should see what its like in Korea. People won't touch anything they are eating- If eating a chocolate bar they go to ridiculous lengths to avoid touching the bar with their hands and only touch the wrapper. Same with burgers in McDonalds.

Shenshen

People should do as they please and eat with their hands when they feel the need to

April O Neill wrote: »

Yeah, that's a bit mank. IMO, anything with a sauce shouldn't be eaten with hands.

What, you never mopped up the last beans on your breakfast plate with some leftover toast?

jimgoose

Shenshen wrote: »

What, you never mopped up the last beans on your breakfast plate with some leftover toast?

Oh Hell yeah. I do it with the last of the sausage wrapped in the toast, but I'm a bit of an animal really. :cool:

smileyj1987

Some food you eat with your hands and other food needs to be eaten with a knife and fork .

suicide_circus

eat with your hands? i eat with my mouth but then I'm a traditionalist

Corvo Attano

Its for handiness sake really.

I'd give a strange look to anyone chowing down on mashed spuds, roast beef and gravy with their hands. It would be all over the shop and your hands would be destroyed after along with the table and clothes and most of the dinner would end up on your fac, table or clothes.

Likewise I'd give a strange look to anyone eating a sandwich with a knife and fork because the sandwich is very handy and practical for use with your hands. All quite clean.

suicide_circus wrote: »

eat with your hands? i eat with my mouth but then I'm a traditionalist

Thats horribly awkward. Just stick your face into a boiling bowl of soup or diner. Sandwiches would fall after you took a bite.

MurdyWurdy

My husbands's family all eat with their hands - his family are of Indian descent so it's normal to them when eating curry and things like that. His grandmother is lovely but watching her eat is enough to turn the hardest of stomachs

April O Neill

Shenshen wrote: »

What, you never mopped up the last beans on your breakfast plate with some leftover toast?

Yes, but that's only a small amount of sauce. A large amount, no.

Lenin Skynard

People should do as they please and eat with their hands when they feel the need to

A member of my family often eats things with her hands while everyone else uses knives and forks. She picks up chips off the plate and then licks her fingers making loads of disgusting sounds. It's very off-putting. I think people should always use cutlery unless it's something difficult to manage like chicken on the bone.

Auldloon

Leg of pig in one hand head of cabbage in the other and a few spuds tucked under my arm sorted.

Saadyst

What about burgers? I find that if you go into a fast food place, OK, you eat the burger with your hands.

But if you go into a pub / restaurant and order a burger, all of a sudden you've to use a fork and knife?

simply simple

Vito Corleone wrote: »

I saw someone eating a sandwich with a knife and fork before. I don't know what's wrong with some people.

I am sure people are doing it out of fear of loosing face, we dont have much info about the audience, do we?