4 Ways British and American Meal Etiquette is Very Different!

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🇬🇧Lauren

🇺🇸Cameron

[samuelfish]

I am American and if I am eating something that needs to consistently cut, like steak, I never put my knife down until I'm done eating it. Also, he should've mentioned how for most American meals people don't even use a knife, they will cut with the side of the fork

[henri]

The videos with Cameron and Lauren are getting better, funnier and enjoyable and i'm learning a lot about United Kindom and United States

[sherrij]

56 yr old American and never seen anyone switching hands during a meal. I'm a leftie so fork in left and knife in right when I'm cutting, otherwise I don't use the knife. Most Americans tend to use the side of the fork to cut if the food is tender. I think like everything else depends on region where you were raised but more importantly HOW you were raised. Some of us in the 60's and 70's had Home Economics classes and were taught meal etiquette there, otherwise your parents taught you.

[anonnnymousthegreat]

As an American, i never use my non-dominant hand to hold the fork while cutting with my dominant hand and then switch hands to take a bite. I just use my dominant hand to use the fork to eat and cut with my non-dominant hand. Because eating the way he described takes too much effort and time just to put a piece of food in my mouth.

[robertgronewold]

Okay, I will say this. I am a LEFT HANDED AMERICAN. The fork stays in my left hand and never leaves it. My knife is used exclusively by my right hand. I am always holding my fork, but my right hand will put down the knife to drink something. My dad and nephew are both also lefties and we eat the same way. But I have a brother who get positively LIVID that I don't do the stupid knife and fork switch thing. I don't need to. My dominant hand already is holding the fork. My food won't fall off on the way to my face when I eat it, unlike if I switched to my clumsier right hand. Trust me, I know the pain of eating right handed, because a few years ago I broke my left hand and was stuck eating like a child for two months while it mended. lol

[catatonicbug]

The official American signal for "I'm done eating" is to put the silverware together, pointing at the center of the plate, with the handles hanging off at about 4-5 o'clock (lower right). Never separated or on the table. One big rule is that once a utensil is used, it never touches the table again. It stays in your hand or on the plate.

[sweeperboy]

I was brought up in a very classical British school, so I very much recognise Lauren's way of eating as being the "taught" method. That being said, I deviate from it in one respect: I hold my knife like a pen, or like a surgeon holds a scalpel. The reason being, of course, that my mother was a surgeon and originally came from a country where they don't really use knives to eat with. So when she came to the UK, she held a knife how she would normally hold a scalpel and taught me that way too. It's - to me - so much more precise and fast that way and surprisingly gives more targeted cutting power when tackling tough meat.

[AlexandraStubbs]

So much fun! 🇺🇸 An American viewer, I agree with Cameron and also switch hands around when cutting things with a knife. But just depending, I don’t usually use knifes most times. I will just use my fork to eat simple things.

[Kikidy]

I've always eaten the way the British cut their food. I was always told by my mother and grandmother that I eat very European, and I never knew what that meant until I saw videos like this.

[Portablerootbeerfloat]

I’ve literally never thought about how I eat in the US. I never had a class on etiquette or anything. My family never really cared, since we barely ever ate at the same time. The idea of a quiet restaurant is insane to me. If I don’t hear four people screaming at the game, and slurring curses. I consider it a more fancy restaurant. I learned all kinds of cussing as a child just by being at a Rocknes, Texas Roadhouse, and Grinders.

[zmast]

Why would you load food on the back of the fork? Feels like using it literally the opposite way it was designed for.

[elizabethfinlay]

From the UK here, and I was always taught that to signal you are finished to a waiter or waitress, they look to see that the knife and fork are together, usually resting towards the centre of the plate. I don't know if it matters too much whether they are on the edge like Lauren's, but I think I always try to make it easier for whoever is going to collect my plate, and on the edge just seems like a disaster waiting to happen when they pick it up😅!! But totally agree with Lauren on how to use the knife and fork for eating - you can mix flavours together on the fork as well, but the other way just seems a bit of a long process!

[deanmcmanis]

It's a nice series, and it leaves me wanting to see the next one. In the U.S. I think that a lot depends on the family, or the venue. And even the type of restaurant. In an upscale restaurant the conversation is going to generally be polite and normal volume, but the more public, outdoor, or casual, the louder conversations can become.

[rachelw]

I’m from the US and when I studied abroad in Denmark, my host family roasted the way I eat at almost every meal. (Not because I have bad manners but because I eat so differently) But they also eat tacos, pizza, and hamburgers with forks and knives soooo

[urquizabr]

As a Brazilian I would enjoy much to see a Brit try eat rice and beans with prongs down. Why, Britain, why?! So adorable to make life harder. 🤣

[JamesGarcia]

In Mexico we eat with Tortillas and our hands 😳😂

[ADPeguero]

Cameron, you rock dude! I always grab the fork with my right and knife with my left. I actually switch fork and knife sides as soon as I sit down. I've always held the utensils this way. My wife hates it but, I mean, I'm eating after all and eating shouldn't be stressful.

[brianhartling]

The fork down thing is crazy. And I'd love to hear the logic behind how having a fork up is rude? Using a fork down is almost like trying to eat soup with the spoon facing down. There is a reason there is a curve to it. To hold the food.

Sometimes true with some people on how Americans cut things and eat it. Some just are used to doing things with their dominant hand. I do it like her but I'm pretty ambidextrous so sometimes I switch what hand cuts and what hand has the fork.

[kanwarpal]

Cameron's laugh is gold! Absolute winner

[apeiceofmoldedclay]

My grandmother taught me the American way and expected me to do that. I forgot about it entirely until watching this. Truth be told American grandparents were very regimented and had a lot of pride. The baby boomers were like "we don't care about any of that!" So at home verses my grandparents home were two different worlds. I saw benefit in them both.

But anyhow.... in America people just don't like open mouth chewing, burping, and slurping. So as long as you eating quietly no one really cares what position your fork is in.