Proper cutlery usage beyond most Japanese
I’ve always found Japanese saying “You’re good with chopsticks” such an empty compliment as a lot of them seem pretty poor themselves, and if they ever get loose on a knife and fork it’s often a total disaster. Perhaps what they are saying is that they themselves are no good with a knife and fork, a situation that this survey from iShare seems to back up.
Demographics
Between the 15th and 21st of July 2009 574 members of the free email forwarding service CLUB BBQ completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.3% of the sample were male, 32.6% in their twenties, 31.0% in their thirties, and 36.2% in their forties.
Just thinking about it, one problem my wife has is pressing the knife down when cutting things; most Westerners (I hope! Or at least most Europeans do…) hold knives like we hold our pens, with the index finger straight out, but Japanese tend to hold pens in their fists, so perhaps the correct position is unfamiliar and uncomfortable to them.
I’d also have loved to have seen them asked if they can eat spaghetti without slurping or without holding their face a few centimetres above the place and shovelling the pasta in with both fork and spoon together.
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