Finger Foods

In some cultures its rude not to lick your fingers!! 

All cultures are different. I am only talking about the culture I was raised in and the culture I live in.

All cultures are different. I am only talking about the culture I was raised in and the culture I live in.

Yeap. No worries 

I think this is a cultural thing.  There are few traditional English dishes that are supposed to be eaten with fingers...in fact, I can only think of sandwiches!

Don't forget asparagus! I think it's funny to be allowed to eat asparagus with your hands and not green beans or other long veg, but I'm not complaining. I love to eat with my fingers!

I suppose, but I feel weird eating asparagus with my fingers in a restaurant, especially if covered in hollondaise.

Vicky

I eat asparagus with a knife and fork.  Never, ever seen anyone eat it any other way!

I eat it with a knife and fork in restaurants too. Because who wants to feel silly or messy when you're out to eat? But it's nice to know that I could eat it with my fingers if I wanted to.

I never thought of eating asparagus with my fingers.

Today, when we were eating dinner, I ate most of my salad without using my knife. When it got down to the end, I picked up my knife to get the last bits of bell peppers and lettuce on my fork. DB made a joke about me finally giving in to using it. I told him it was better than using my fingers. He told me "Salad is NOT a finger food." I meant using my finger to push the food onto my fork. 

He got a bit of payback on me today at the grocery store as well. We were checking out and I mentioned the time I left work was "quarter of 5" and he started his "rant" of "It's not quarter of, it's quarter to. Quarter of the hour would be 15 minutes past." The cashier had a good laugh at our banter.

If you spend a lot of time around small children, elderly people, or severely disabled people, you come to realize that almost any food can be a finger food.  And almost any way of eating can be good manners when it's done with grace (or effort) and good intentions.

I once spoonfed an eighty-year-old woman soup in a cafeteria.  I asked her if she remembered the rhyme "As little ships sail out to sea..." and she finished it for me "I dip my spoon away from me."  She had advanced Alzheimer's but she hadn't forgotten that.

Tin, was that in the US or the UK? I grew up on that rhyme, but my British half had never heard it. It surprised me, because I had assumed it was British.

My grandmother went with that ugly disease. When she was at the point that she was more or less in an unresponsive semi-coma, my aunt whispered in her ear, "will you ever forgive So-and-so?" (her very wicked stepmother of eighty years before) and my grandmother's eyes snapped open and she said "never!" It's always wise to assume there's a spark still in there somewhere.

Eh. Sorry for threadjack. I was eating white meat of chicken with my fingers last night, but I couldn't help it...my biscuit fell apart. I roasted a lovely plump chicken yesterday, cut into it -- and there was no meat on it at all! I hit bone straightaway. Eventually, it dawned on me I'd cooked the poor thing upside down and I was trying to cut meat off its back. Duh.

Um. I'm babbling, aren't I? I'll just go away now...

If you spend a lot of time around small children, elderly people, or severely disabled people, you come to realize that almost any food can be a finger food. And almost any way of eating can be good manners when it's done with grace (or effort) and good intentions.

Very well put. 

I've eaten asparagus with my fingers - I don't think it's that uncommon!  Mmmmm - lovely spears of asparagus & just dipping it (using your fingers!) right into the hollandaise or a soft boiled egg. 

http://www.cookthink.com/blog/?p=363  (I have no shame!  )

At a posh restaurant I worked for in the states, they prided themselves on ribs so tender you could eat them with a fork and knife and never miss a bit.  They fell right off the bone!  yummy!
I can see why it would make someone uncomfortable to eat with their hands if they are used to eating with a knife and fork.  On the other hand, I can't get used to the whole proper knife and fork thing.  DH has pretty much had to teach me how to eat properly, as he says I wield the "caveman fork"!
But while DH and the rest of his family carefully slice each little bit with their knife and fork, me and my FIL usually just eat our chips and other finger foods with our hands.  So at least I'm not alone!  I admit, in a nice place, I usually eat pizza or ribs, etc., with a knife and fork. Especially ribs, because you get sauce all over your face!  DH used a knife and fork when I took him out for ribs but I didn't tease him about it...
I do sometimes give him a funny look when we are having burgers and fries and he hands me a knife and fork! 

Ribs are definitely finger food, and they are supposed to get sauce all over your hands, fingers and your face! 

I think I probably wield the "caveman fork" too!  Lol!  And you know what?  I don't care!    To me, using the knife and fork the 'proper' way just seems so awkward, and to me - unnatural.  So I eat the way I've always eaten - mostly with a fork in my right hand, picking up the knife only when I need to cut something.  Steve & his family eat the 'proper' way, but nobody thinks anything of that I eat differently - more than anything, we might have discussed it's a way one might spot an American vs a British person etc (and yes I know some Americans 'eat proper' too...heheheh).  Funnily enough, DH and his family have almost always hoovered up their food before I have, because I seem to eat a lot more slowly than they do.  Lol! 

In my own home it seems a bit formal to worry about "proper" ways of knife and fork holding, etc.  I'll eat anything and everything (except soup) with my fingers, but my hubby says I do it very daintily. 

At a restaurant I'll try my best to do things the proper way, but like Mrs. Robinson, I do the knife / fork thing the US way.

Tin, was that in the US or the UK? I grew up on that rhyme, but my British half had never heard it. It surprised me, because I had assumed it was British.

It was in the US. 

Ribs are definitely finger food, and they are supposed to get sauce all over your hands, fingers and your face! 

I think I probably wield the "caveman fork" too!  Lol!  And you know what?  I don't care!    To me, using the knife and fork the 'proper' way just seems so awkward, and to me - unnatural.  So I eat the way I've always eaten - mostly with a fork in my right hand, picking up the knife only when I need to cut something.  Steve & his family eat the 'proper' way, but nobody thinks anything of that I eat differently - more than anything, we might have discussed it's a way one might spot an American vs a British person etc (and yes I know some Americans 'eat proper' too...heheheh).  Funnily enough, DH and his family have almost always hoovered up their food before I have, because I seem to eat a lot more slowly than they do.  Lol! 

Oh man, I know what you mean!  I am always the last one finished... I think I might be losing weight, though, because I just stop eating when everyone else is finished, even though my plate still seems to be full!  It's weird because in America I always thought I was a pretty fast eater, but here I am much slower than everyone else.  I thought it was just me... so even though the Brits eat "properly" with the fork and knife, they are really shoveling it in at record speeds!  LOL...  But, one thing I can say is that I can use chopsticks very well but DH can't and he says no one here ever uses them...