Left Handers Club Newsletter – December 2013
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Using cutlery for eating is an area that causes a lot of confusion and inconsistency for both left- and right-handers: Right-handers- traditionally eat with a knife and fork using the knife in their right and fork in the left, so they actually feed themselves with their left hand. (in America, some people change fork hand as they go along, cutting with their right then switching the fork into the right to lift the food to their mouth). Left-handers – we know from our own surveys that 74% of left-handers eat with a knife and fork in the “right-handed” way – with the fork in their left hand and feeding themselves with the left hand. How does this happen?
It makes sense to use your dominant hand, the one that gives you most control, for delicate and complicated tasks, like cutting something with a knife. When the knife is used on its own, like cutting bread, this all works as expected with left-handers using the bread knife ion their dominant left and right-handers using the right. But when we complicate it by using a second tool, like a fork, it all gets inconsistent! Right-handers think the knife is the most important tool and keep it in their right hand, while left-handers switch the knife to their right and think that the feeding tool, the fork, is the more important and deserves the use of their dominant hand. How do we choose which way round to eat?Is there some inbuilt preference for eating, like writing, or do we learn it from our parents? is the high percentage of left-handers who eat “right-handed” because they just copy their parents? (around 75% of left-handers have two right-handed parents and only 2% have two left-handed parents).
So we really don't know the cause of eating choices and it does seem to be completely inconsistent overall, though very strongly embedded in each individual, seemingly just as much as writing. We have had some email correspondence recently with LHC member Catherine that makes this very clear: Catherine originally posted a comment on our website saying: Keith replied: and we recently received a wonderful follow-up from Catherine: We would be very interested in your experience of changing eating hands and any effect it had so please use this link to add your comments to the online version of this article here. |
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I had also posted a comment on this issue not too long back where I said that since the level of dexterity required is more for finer skills like cutting, it’s important to hold the knife in your dominant hand because it makes more sense that way. Especially if you’re eating a steak or a thick cut of meat, a clean and effortless cut is critical. There is NO WAY you would be able to use your non-dominant hand to cut something effortlessly. In contrast, sticking a fork into a morsel of food and taking it to your mouth or using it to scoop food into your mouth doesn’t require that much effort.
It goes without saying that if my child or children were left-handed, I would encourage them to eat with the fork in their right hand in order to ensure that their stronger hand will be in control of the knife. Simple as that.
Are you aware of any research and results on what is the difference among three groups consisting of all lefthanders, all right handers and mixed on process and outcomes in the same task completion?
Your feature on eating has really bought back some memories, like you I eat right handed when using a knife and fork but left handed with a spoon. It gets a little tricky when presented with a spoon and fork to eat your dessert, something the headmaster at my secondary school tried to enforce to teach us a supposedly higher standard of dining etiquette. Being forced to use a spoon and fork when you are used to holding both in your left hand was mighty confusing for someone at my tender age!