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

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?

old hippy

fussyonion wrote: »

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

I picked up the habit of slurping noodles when in Japan and now I do it all the time to the consternation of work colleagues

Ruu

Smitherington, I'll be having my snack box in the drawing room today. Please prepare the cutlery!

old hippy

Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »

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.

Not what I saw when in Seoul. Especially those late night street tents where you can get beer and snacks... it's the Korean chopsticks I could never get the hang of. Flat and heavy.

April O Neill

Saadyst wrote: »

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

You don't have to, but in restaurants the burgers tend to be so massive, it's more practical to deconstruct them and eat with cutlery.

Daveysil15

I don't know how the Chinese eat rice with chopsticks. It would take me all day.

kowloon

The Victorians have a lot to answer for.

cakemaker6000

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

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

I eat soup with my hands

My girlfriend stuck her fingers into a pot of soup to see how hot it was the other day.

Burned the crap out of herself.

Feckin idiot.

pickarooney

I find a woman who knows when and how to eat with her hands strangely erotic

123 LC

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

Because eating food with a knife and fork is so much more hygienic....however clean you think your hands are, they're probably filthy...even turning a door handle into a restaurant means loads of germs on your hand-eating with these germy hands will mean you'll be more likely to catch some illness

Legs.Eleven

Americans use their hands a lot and only a fork for the rest. We all guffaw heartily when we watch my brother-in-law (yanky-doodle) try to eat with a knife as he's recently been trying to "civilise" himself a bit living in Ireland so he's a good example to my niece.

I personally prefer to use a knife and fork whenever possible, even for pizza and burgers and stuff. I find it less messy and easier.