You're welcome. I am glad some people are getting something from the information here.

Most definetly. I know that there are some weird things that i have seen people to in Latin American restaurants that i have been to (asking for ketchup for their burrito...asking for syrup for their pupusas...etc.) & there should be a guideline for restaurant etiquette in all types of cuisines...for restaurants & as a guest at a home.

You're grossly over-rating yourself there. I don't.

Since I believe reading your posts is detrimental to my mental health, I'm putting your name in my Ignore Bin. I'll also inform the other Japanese members of you so that they won't have to feel disgusted like I have by accidentally reading one of them.

missed, point, the,

looks you silly now, (oxymoron on purpose)

also what does that have to do with the OP?

or Food, or even the slightly off topic cultural sensitivity?

As the OP I request you do the same.

you want me to miss the point and look silly?

you know what,

I think i may just have the skill set to do that. :p

Thank you, Tenchu, for summing up the whole point of the thread as far as I am concerned.

How one eats in private is a private matter, how one eats in public should include consideration for the public.
Yes, I eat rice with a spoon - when I am alone, not feeling well, and its something closer to porridge than steamed dish.

If I am eating it as a side dish to chicken fried steak (in a restaurant or a family dinner) I will eat with a fork, AS IS THE CUSTOM and how the COOK INTENDED it to be eaten.

If I am eating rice with any Asian food it will be with chopsticks, AS IS THE CUSTOM and how the COOK INTENDED it to be eaten.

Essentially, I will usually eat any food the way the person who provided it intends for it to be eaten. This, for me, is the bottom line. Even if I am in a clearly western group of diners, all eating with a knife and fork, but the cook and/or restaurant owner is Asian and preparing me a side bowl of rice I am going to be eating it with chopsticks. Its is a matter of respecting the cook/chef and his skills.

erm,

i was actually trying to foster a debate about wether or not there is such a thing as a "proper" way to eat something.

as it would be quite hard to have a universal custom/culture or a universal understanding of customs/cultures,

and that something that you see as improper with your view and/or lack of understanding/knowledge, may infact be considered the proper way to do things in another culture (which you have limited or no understanding of)

and that as it is not ones place to judge other cultures/customs.
and that a culture can be defined even to the point of 1 persons individual culture (in extreme/hypothetical cases)

one should not judge, especially in a negative way.

I think you will find Tenchu was making a particular specific point, and having a little dig by calling me a bogan (i won't deny it :p ) and pointing out quite correctly that one really shouldn't use a dessert spoon for mains [correct me if im wrong there T]

hmmm it almost hurts cos you try so hard

Tenchu aside, I was raised to set a proper, over-pompous, British 12 piece place setting and how to use (or not use) each component, even to the inane American practice of shifting the fork back and forth when using a knife to cut the food.

But my point is that rather than focus on my own customs when eating, I adhere to those of the person providing the food out of respect for their talent and/or generosity.

In some ways that could fly in the face of some Emily Post Ettiquette Maven, but I have yet to have the practice offend my host.

All the tools, knife, fork, tea spoon, desert spoon, soup spoon, Chinese spoup spoon, table spoon, chop sticks, piece of coconut shell, have a very specific way to be used.

If you go to Japan and expect you can use your fork to eat everything; you're not in Italy anymore and the dish is not pasta. Cleaving a piece of sushi in half with a fork is a bogan thing to do; you've no understanding of culture.

As is the same, any Japanese trying to eat pasta with chop sticks instead of a fork is equally as bogan.

It's messy. It's less than childish. It's like trying to dig a hole with a pick instead of a spade; it's just the wrong tool, it's just dumb.

When you go to a different country, you're presented with different food. Different tasks. You require different tools to do the job.