>

I can’t believe this is unpopular.
I don't find it particularly difficult to use my left hand to transfer food from a plate to my mouth hole with a fork... No need to swap, if that's a problem. >

I don’t swap either… but the rest of my family dose it so idk just don’t make a mess I guess >

Knives are sharp. I feel it makes sense to have as much control over the instrument as possible. >

Forks are pointy. The knife stays within the plate. What are you gonna cut? The other hand?
Id say the chance of hitting your eye with the fork is higher than cutting yourself. >

Nah you’re just slow and need supervision >

So are you if you cant help cutting people >

How else would I play knifey spoony? >

How do you play that? >

I feel like it takes more far more dexterity to do the cutting with the knife than stabbing with the fork. >

i disagree. if you're holding for example a steak with your fork, all you have to do is rub your knife in one dimension. however, to stab some pasta or roll it up, that requires true skill >

Why do you have a knife in your hand while twirling pasta? >

How else do you keep people from taking your pasta? >

Stabbing spoon.
In the left hand >

This is the only correct answer >

Your knife should be in whatever hand you want it to be in. If the food gets in your mouth without making a mess, you're doing it right. >

This whole thread is bizarre to me. As a left handed person I've always held the fork with my left and knife with the right, no swapping. Probably just because that's how tables are set.
I do use a chef's knife with my left hand when cooking though, I've never really thought much about it >

Why do people have to swap hands and put their knife down? >

Never understood this one. Just move fork to mouth dummy. >

The knife goes in the dominant hand so your able to stab your mother in law. >

Shit I really wasn't expecting to laugh, good one >

I thought people used whatever hand is dominant for knives >

Nope. I’m right handed but hold the knife in my left hand. My kids are the same. >

Lefty here... knife in the right, fork in the left. >

Same, went through a lot of life never knowing people were passing their cutlery back and forth between hands. Made me deeply question why place settings have forks on the left. >

I've always done this. I agree, it's easier and feels more natural to me. But I've been called weird or lefthanded a lot because of it. >

In cutlery etiquette, swapping is called American Style. OP is talking about Continental/European Style.
It’s all pretty well established etiquette, so it’s not really an opinion or unpopular. >

I’m American and I’ve never heard of swapping in my life. Until OP (who’s Australian) mentioned it >

Clearly you didn’t go to finishing school. >

all these rules related to etiquette are so dumb >

This, ever so much. If the only reason people can give for following some particular rule of etiquette is some variation of “that’s just how you’re supposed to act”, I’m certainly not going to feel any obligation to follow it. >

This is the true unpopular opinion of this post >

Why are people putting the knife down and swapping the fork back and forth between hands? That seems like such a faff and waste of time.
Fork in left hand knife in right hand, cut food, eat food and repeat until meal is finished, no need to put the knife or fork down unless you need to leave the table 🤷‍♂️ >

I thought I was going crazy. Are people really swapping hands? I've never seen that. >

They’re trying to say it’s an American thing? I’m an American and I’ve never done this nor have I seen it in my life.. >

Wait... you guys switch hands to cut? >

Ive heard Americans do this… never heard it from people in other countries >

You know how much anecdotes are worth, but, I'm an American in 40's and I've only ever met one person who did that. In fact, it was so odd that a table of 5 other Americans stopped eating and asked him what the fuck was up with cutting, stopping, and swapping the fork to the other hand. >

Okay. Ive only heard it on YouTube. Americans who moved to Germany talked about it 😂😂 >

In all fairness, the U.S. is huge, so maybe it's a regional thing? >

Yeah maybe >

Um, eat like a European. Saves times. Keep both utensils in hand at all times and shovel food into your mouth. >

Yeah, the utensil swapping thing is definitely an American thing. iirc it had something to do with the more privileged class ages ago tacitly showing how they didn’t need to rush and had all the time in the world to swap their fork between hands. >

As an immigrant to America, this is absolutely true. My American redneck family does this swapping and they look like they’re using utensils for the first time-so bizarre! If this was first done to make people look privileged, to the rest of the world it looks childish and awkward.
Edit: grandma will pull a gun and straight up murder you for having ELBOWS ON THE TABLE! Just grab a fork and STAB a steak like you’re putting a plunger in a toilet, then cut and gracefully switch hands…😂 >

So even the who-cares crowd will still choose between fork left or fork right and stick with it. Why aren't the knife and fork allowed to switch place mid-meal? Is this some superstition thing? Does it open a portal to a hostile dimension? >

It's useful to build a habit of having the tool you put in your mouth consistently placed. Less chance of absent mindedly cutting your tongue. >

Dining etiquette is for boomers. It’s one thing to be polite but proper dining etiquette is outdated, unnecessary, and pedantic. It literally does nothing to improve your motor or social skills. >

Left handed here with 30+ years of experience, using the fork with my dominant hand, no problem for cutting with the other hand, I totally agree with you ! >

Fellow lefty here. Just curious, if you’re using just a knife to, say, cut veggies or bread or something, like you’re preparing to cook… do you use the knife with your left or right hand? >

Am also a lefty, when doing prep like chopping veggies, etc. I use my left hand. But when eating, knife is in right hand, fork in left. >

My dominant hand is my left. What now? Also why would you ever put your knife down to swap hands? Just keep the cutlery on the hands they start in. My knife is in my right hand and my fork in the left just like everybody else I know >

Lefty here- they gotta just let us have this one thing 😩 after years of scissors, getting marker on our hands, rifle shells flying at our eyes, baseball gloves and other sports equipment being dominant, we at least have one thing for us which is the fork and knife combo. >

I like to tape my cutlery to my fingers and get some sense of what it must have been like to be Johnny Depp at his peak. >

honestly i prefer the knife in my right hand because my right hand is stronger and more coordinated. i just put the knife down and eat with my right. >

I feel like as kids we were taught to use the knife with our dominant hand to have more control over it, and then we just kept doing it. >

I've always been ridiculed at the dinner table for this. My reasoning was always that I have more control over the fork with the right because all the knife does is cut back and forth. Truthfully I have no idea why I do it. >

me too - exactly the same experience and rationale !! >

I was using them like do all the time. I don't think that's an unpopular opinion but a logical fact. >

I mean I do left fork right knife as a leftie and it's pretty ideal >

The way you've described is the way most Americans eat. >

With all due respect, I believe you’re mistaken. 
The “American” style is to hold the knife in the dominant hand, and use the fork in the non-dominant hand to hold the food in place while cutting. Then the knife is set on the edge of plate, and the fork is swapped to the dominant hand to eat the food.
With the “Continental” style, the knife is also held in the dominant hand for cutting, but after cutting you just continue to use your fork with the non-dominant hand to eat the food.
I’ve been an American for a pretty long time and I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anyone use their non-dominant hand for the knife. At least not anyone who I knew well enough to know if they were right or left-handed. >

If any movies or tv shows are to be believed, the American way is to cook everything in bite size pieces and just use a fork whilst picking around everything on your plate. >

Why do you swap? Just keep your knife in right hand and use your left hand to hold the fork and eat >

Only Americans do the swapping lol >

Only Americans cut everything up and then eat with a fork. Europeans employ both hands and both utensils at the same time. This is the best way. >

Um Americans do this too lol don’t know if I’ve met anyone over the age of 10 or under the age of 80 who has everything cut up before they eat it, and that’s just cause someone has cut it up for them. Im also an American who lived in France in my childhood and don’t pay attention to how others eat so I could be wrong >

You're wrong lol. Most Americans cut up a portion of food, put the knife down and then eat with the fork. >

I'm not sure why Americans swap before eating. I think it'd be easier if you guys didn't swap >

I m asian (use chopstick only) and i dont know if it s just me but I m struggling putting food to my mouth if I use left hand, so always swap. >

or just raw dog it the american way and use your incredibly dominant right hand to cut your steak with your fork and huge hand muscles and determination. >

Knife in your dominant hand, because its the tool doing the work.
And why are you putting the knife down?
What's with all this swapping?
Keep your knife in your dominant hand, so you control the most dangerous utensil, don't put it down..
You only put cutlery down to drink, or when you finish your meal. >

I don't get why they don't get it. >

OR just eat with knife and fork, there is zero reason to put the knife down and switch hands for the fork, its incredibly easy >

Wasn’t this just posted? >

You do know its just a weird american thing to be swapping your utensils hands during the meal. In the UK we just use both hands and keep each utensil in one hand, no need for "swapping"
difference shown here >

I actually do this, i don't know why - but it has always felt natural, + i'm...lucky (?) enough to have ambidexterity ( being able to use both left and right hand with the same precision ) >

Do you use your left hand to hold kitchen knives? >

My left hand is too dumb to cut anything other than mashed potatoes yo >

“it doesnt require a great deal of dexterity”
tell that to one bad steak I ate last time it was so chewy the meat is complaining in my mouth >

Lolol >

I'm American and I cut one bite at a time, so I never swap/always keep knife in right hand. I put my index finger on the back of the fork and use it to push down on whatever I'm picking up. >

I can’t remember when it happened but I switched to using my fork with my left hand (tines usually faced down) and knife with my right. When not using a knife, I use my right hand for my forking. Seems pretty easy to switch around. Don’t even know why this is an opinion, unpopular or not. >

What the fuck are these comments? I swap utensils because my right hand has better dexterity for cutting while my left hand has better strength for gripping, but it sucks for lifting shit into my mouth. Why is this so hard for people to understand? >

I think it's weird how people assert how to "eat properly" with cutlery, as long as food doesn't run off the place or fall out of your mouth.
I prefer it the same way you do, but I stopped as I had a controlling parent that meant I should do it the right way, so now I'm not used to the way that felt natural to me anymore.
All in all, I think people should be allowed to eat using utensils however way they want, as long as previously mentioned conditions are met. >

You're going to not use your dominant hand on the manipulation of a sharp object? Ok, lol >

Friendly reminder that high society "proper" dining etiquette was completely made up and to some degree ment or be unintuitive and had to be learned as the ruling class used it as one of many means to separate themselfes from peasants. >

Or... Y'know... Whatever the person is most comfortable with? Didn't realize physical ability was up to opinion now... >

I always believed you cut then swap hands so you don’t eat so fast. It’s like eating soup you slide the spoon to the back of the bowl instead shoveling it into your mouth. >

Stfu nerd i hold my fork and knife however i want >

Why would I swap my fork to my dominant hand? Just put the food in the mouth with the left dummy. >

I can't cut good with my left hand so when I have a knife i put the fork in my left >

Counterpoint, your knife should be in your left hand and your bigger knife should be in your right hand >

I have always eaten this way. I thought it was normal. Right hand dominate, hold fork in right hand. >

a fork is a dumb tool, a knife is a smart tool.  You need better fine motor skills to use a knife than you need for a fork.    
Watch young children try to cut their own meat.  a 2 year old can use a fork no problem, but cutting meat requires a lot more fine motor control than they can muster even with their dominant hand at that age. >

Or (now hear me out) I just stab my fork into whatever I'm eating and just take a giant ass bite out of it.