Some foods don't sit still for a fork and knife. With the fork and knife in hand, a few small techniques make them easy.
Key idea
Spoon soup away from you and sip from the side of the spoon. Twirl long pasta against the plate or a spoon. Eat finger foods with fingers. Remove a pit or bone the way it went in, and set it on the edge of your plate.
Why it works
Each technique keeps the food on your plate and off your neighbor, your clothes and the cloth. Spooning away from you means any drip falls back in the bowl, not in your lap. Taking a pit out the way it went in, quietly onto a fork or fingertips, means nobody has to watch it happen.
| Food | How |
|---|---|
| Soup | Spoon away from you; sip from the side; tip the bowl away for the last spoonfuls |
| Long pasta | Twirl a few strands against the plate or a spoon; don't slurp |
| Bread | One bite-size piece at a time |
| Corn on the cob, ribs, fried chicken at a picnic | Fingers |
| Olives, cherries | Pit back onto the spoon or fingertips, then to the plate's edge |
| Cherry tomatoes | Whole in one bite, or pierce gently first |
| Shrimp with tails | Hold the tail with fingers; leave it on the plate |
Worked example: An olive pit
Mia bites into an olive with a pit at a dinner party. What does she do with the pit?
- It went in by fingers, so it can come out onto her fingertips (or onto a spoon, if she used one).
- She sets it quietly on the edge of her plate.
- She does not spit it into her napkin, where someone must find it later.
Answer: Quietly onto her fingertips, then the edge of the plate.
Worked example: Picnic chicken
At a backyard barbecue, Sam is served fried chicken on a paper plate. He tries to saw it with a plastic knife. What would most people suggest?
- At a casual picnic, fried chicken is a finger food.
- Using fingers is neater here than chasing it around a paper plate.
- At a formal dinner, he would follow the host and use a fork and knife.
Answer: Pick it up and eat it with his fingers.
Common mistake
Spitting a pit into the napkin, or sawing at food that should be eaten by hand. A pit or bone goes onto the fork or fingers and then to the plate's edge, quietly. When you aren't sure whether a food is a finger food, watch the host.