Knife fork and spoon

[Sundae]

Wow. Even though I knew eating habits differed in the States it never occurred to me that my eating habits might be the ones that appeared ill-mannered!

Logically, of course they would.

Like the Aussies (as proved by the link) I was brought up to believe the trickiest form of eating was the most polite. Keep your fork in your left hand and any food not speared should be pushed up and balanced on the back of the fork. To scoop food up using the fork as you would a spoon was considered infantile and shovelly. I may have just made that word up.

I'm not suggesting that either is really right or wrong, but it is deeply ingrained in me for formal eating. I suppose it's because eating with cutlery is the first form of "manners" we are taught - to do something that isn't natural or logical in order to be polite.