The Cutlery Etiquette Difference Between Europeans And Americans You May Never Have Noticed

If you're an American who has never spent time in Europe or been around Europeans, you may be unaware there are some distinct differences in how they use their cutlery when digging into a meal. We're not talking about some old-school dining etiquette, like keeping your elbows off the table, but a fundamental difference in how Europeans retrieve food from their plate compared to Americans. In the United States, common practice is the knife in your right hand and fork in your left (or the reverse if you're left-handed) for cutting your food and then switching the fork to your dominant hand with the tines facing up — after setting the knife down — to eat the food. This is sometimes known as the cut-and-switch or zig-zag method.

The European method, also called continental, requires the knife in the dominant hand and the fork in the other while cutting food and eating it, keeping the fork tines face down. Typically, across South America and in Canada, the continental style of utensil use dominates. So why do Americans use their knife and fork so differently from so many other countries? Blame it on the French.

While the French rightly deserve to be celebrated for their cooking, which can take your food to the next level, when it comes to table manners, they may have led Americans astray. In the 1800s, Americans began emulating the French, specifically their cutlery etiquette, which began in the 18th century. But not long after Americans adopted the method, it became passé in France and was replaced by the continental method. Meanwhile, in the United States the habit stuck around to this very day.

Like some American dishes that seem to strange to everyone else (hello, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), the cut-and-switch eating method comes off as odd and inefficient to non-Americans. Recently in Scotland, I was very aware of the cutlery etiquette differences, although no one seemed to look askance at my American eating style. Still, in the U.S. we will likely continue to use the cut-and-switch method since it's become as American as apple pie, even if it was originally French.