Factoid of the day

from Belmont Club

why do Americans switch their forks to the other hand when eating?

In order to reduce the mayhem at dinner times when men armed with daggers fed at trenchers, often animated by strong waters, King Louis XIV of France ordered all eating knife points ground down. The proscription of points made it hard to spear food and created a market for forks which was acutely felt in the American colonies.

At the beginning of the 18thCentury, very few forks were being imported to America. … Because Americans had very few forks and no longer had sharp-tipped knives, they had to use spoons in lieu of forks. They would use the spoon to steady food as they cut and then switch the spoon to the opposite hand in order to scoop up food to eat. This distinctly American style of eating continued even after forks became commonplace in the United States.

here in the Philippines, we have no knives: The food is cooked (usually boiled in a stew/soup/"Ulam") and then spooned over rice, and eaten with a spoon. We have a fork but rarely use it. and often I end up using my fingers (e.g. with fish, to make sure there are no bones in what I'm eating).