kerouac - What does only eating pizza twice a year have to do with eating it with a knife and fork? Does eating it with your hands take practice?

I've rarely seen any Europeans eat pizza with their hands. I use a knife and fork, too, at least when I'm in Europe.

<i>But I don't, of course.</i>

But your body language might say otherwise.

French eat or tear literally bread with their hands but are aloof to eat pizza with their hands?

Bread is not greasy, pizza is.

American pizza tends to be thick, with gloppy toppings that hold together. French and Italian pizza, IME, tend to be much thinner-crusted, plus they frequently squirt olive oil, sometimes, flavored, over the top. If you eat it with your hands, you've got a big mess.

Sure, there are takeout pizza places - I've been to some in Rome, e.g. - where you order a square or triangle of pizza and they hand it to you in a paper napkin or other holder, and you just munch on it while walking down the street, but the pizza sold in places like that seems less greasy.

When Americans eat pizza with their right hands, do they still place their left hands in their lap?

It always looks so ungainly, and I wonder why it is the custom. Are they holding on to their weapon?

Most European pizza will droop if you pick it up, due to its thin crust. Be my guest if you don't mind the topping dropping into your lap.

When my daughter's high school French class hosted exchange students from Normandy for a week, they had a great time going to Johnny Rocket's. One of the American kids told the server to bring no utensil to their table. My daugheter still talks about how difficult it was to get the kids from Normandy to eat without a fork :)And how they evetually did eat with their fingers --even the cheese fries.

And so they felt superior?

chartley, interestingly Ms. Manners just did a column on European vs. American dining and apparently the way Americans eat is the older custom. In the late 18th/ early 19th century Europeans switched hands and stopped putting the knife down between bites, while the Americans kept the old way of switching (I think because she said there used to only be the knife and not the fork). It looks strange to us Americans the way Europeans eat, like they are starving and can't take their time to put the silverware down between bites (ironic really when you consider that Americans probably tend to eat faster than Europeans).

And kerouac, you wouldn't think it would be more fun to follow the custom of the country you're traveling in if you can? If only for one meal? Ever eaten Moroccan or Ethiopean food, mushy stuff and no utensils at all? It's kind of fun to shake things up.

Kerouac, thanks - it was very interesting to read your link on Donna,

Monica, I've eaten doro wat and mechoui with the best of them -- in Ethiopia and Morocco -- according to local custom. Not a problem. I do not have the slightest idea what is served at Johnny Rocket's but I do know that the United States is country where utensils are always available, even if they are plastic. Would it have been just as fun to tell the waiter to bring no utensils if the group members had been 70 or 80 years old?

(thanks nz101 and others who mentioned the Donna story)

I don't understand why anyone would have to ask the waiter in Johnny Rocket NOT to bring utensils. I've only eaten there once or twice, but I think no utensils is the norm. Or at least flimsy plastic ones. It wouldn't matter what the ages of the clients - Johhny Rocket's serves nothing but hamburgers and fries and onion rings and other "finger food." I'm sure they have plastic utensils, but asking the waiter not to bring them sounds strange. In fact, I think the utensils and condiments there are usually self-serve, so it makes even less sense. You don't want them, you don't pick them up.

Oh, kerouac, I must have translated "Johnny Rockets" into hamburgers and fries because I know that's what they sell. We would never eat those with utensils here (well, maybe a knife to cut a hamburger in half if it's too big but that's it) so eating without utensils would be the cultural norm, not just a ploy to make someone feel silly.

Just can't consider french fries a finger food any more than any other fried food. Just take a breakfast plate for example, toast is ok but would you eat the sausages or fried potatoes with your fingers? Probably not. Then why would it be considered acceptable to eat (greasy) french fries or onion rings with fingers? Sandwiches and tacos yes, pizza is debatable, french fries never.

Even in Normandy, people know how to eat hamburgers and fries, when they are not overly greasy. Considering the huge quantity of napkins that Americans seem to use in such place (you don't just take one -- you take at least six), I'm not sure if they truly enjoy getting all greasy, since they keep wiping themselves non stop, or if they are just hoping that all of their forests get pulped and turned into napkins.

That is an interesting observation Kerouac! I tend to use more than one myself and never thought much of it. If it's linen, just one though.

"Considering the huge quantity of napkins that Americans seem to use in such place (you don't just take one -- you take at least six)"
Depends on the quality of the napkin and the ground beef.