Using Your Knife and Fork: The American Way vs. the European Way (2024)

FAQs

Using Your Knife and Fork: The American Way vs. the European Way? ›

You hold the fork in your left hand and cut with the knife in your right. The knife does not leave the right hand, meaning all the pauses required by switching hands in the American dining style do not exist in European dining. In Europe, the fork is typically faced down, and you curve it up to your mouth.

When used in conjunction with a knife to cut and consume food in Western social settings, two forms of fork etiquette are common. In the European style, which is not uniform across Europe, the diner keeps the fork in the left hand, in the American style, the fork is shifted between the left and right hands.

In the American Style of dining, the fork is held in the left hand and the knife in the right when cutting food. To cut food, make a gliding motion with the knife positioned behind the fork. Change the fork from your left hand to your right to bring the food to your mouth, fork prongs facing upwards.

European style is a more efficient way of dining compared to the American style. The fork is in the left hand and the knife in the right. Place index fingers when holding them the same way instructed in the American style. Cut one piece at a time.

The reason for it is during the time that the US was still a colony the style in Europe was to cut your food with the fork in your left and the knife in your right. Then place the knife down, move the fork to your right hand and then bring it to your mouth.

In Europe, eating with a fork and knife looks a little different. Though the process starts out the same, with a fork in the left hand and a knife in the right, there's no switching after cutting. The fork stays in the left hand while you eat.

When dining with Germans, be especially mindful of proper manners. They eat continentally—with the fork in the left hand (tines down) and knife in the right hand throughout.

Do not switch knives and forks. The British, in the European style, never switch their knives and forks like Americans might, preferring instead to keep knives on the right and forks on the left.

The fork is held in the left hand with the tines facing down. The knife is held in the right hand with the index finger along the back edge of the knife with the blade facing the plate. The food is cut and speared or pushed onto the back of the fork with the knife. The knife remains in the right hand while eating.

What Brits call cutlery, Americans call silverware. Eating implements not made of pure silver — or at the very least silver-plated — are cutlery in Britain. Cutlery is also used in the U.S., as is flatware, but silverware is more common.

Why do Americans use fork instead of spoon? ›

A number of traditional American meals use whole cuts of meat and potatoes, rather than it being cut into chunks or bite-sized pieces. As a result, the tendency of dining etiquette leans more toward the fork being preferred over the spoon.

A typical dinner fork in Euro sizing is 8 1/4″ long as compared to a dinner fork in American sizing which is 7 1/4” long. It is also wider through the tines.

With the fork in your left hand and knife in your right hand, cut your food. The left index finger is placed on the back of the fork with the handle end in the middle of your palm. The index finger of your right hand is placed on the top edge of the knife at the juncture between the blade and the handle.

After finishing a meal, you can place it on the left side of a plate. Remember the way of putting cutlery after meal is a certain information for a waiter. A knife and fork which are crossed on a plate means that we have not yet finished eating – you want to make a break for drinking or talking.

The type of steel and the thickness of the blade determine how thin the cutting edge can be sharpened. Japanese knives often have a small cutting angle of approximately 15 degrees while a European knife has one of 20 degrees.

Some styles of knife are forbidden. They include butterfly knives, push knives, or disguised knives. Since they cannot be owned, they cannot be carried.

European (German) Knife Specs

The blade is thicker, more robust especially towards the bolster which they often have. The hardness of the steel can vary but typically they are softer than Japanese knives at around 55 to 60 HrC Rockwell.