Should you stop throwing away your food?
In Thailand, most people eat with a spoon in their right hand and a fork in their left hand, but only use the fork to cut and move food onto the spoon, and never to bring food to your mouth.
The Chinese soup spoon has a short, thick handle and a deep, flat bowl, allowing for a full-flavored bite. It is a regular utensil in Chinese cuisine, used for liquids or loose solid food, and can be found throughout Asia.
While forks and spoons function similarly here to Thailand, at a traditional "Kamayan" feast, a wide array of Filipino dishes sit atop banana leaves and everyone around the table gathers bites of food and rice with their hands.
Forks, knives, and spoons reign as the most common cutlery in North America, with varying numbers of them depending on how many courses are being served—and how fancy the restaurant is.
Pho is a popular Vietnamese noodle soup, eaten with chopsticks in your right hand and a flat-bottomed spoon in your left.
The fork is held in the left while the knife cuts food with the right, but you're supposed to switch the fork to the right hand to eat. This reportedly follows a pioneering tradition when knives were in short supply so everyone would cut their food then pass it on to the next person, before eating with the fork.
The fondue dish has its variations, from using cheese to oil to chocolate, but they all involve spearing a piece of food, swirling it in the pot, and putting it either on your plate or in your mouth.
North Americans also love hand-held foods, like burgers, tacos, hot dogs, corn on the cob, pizza, etc.
Brazil (and many other countries) differs from North America in that people do not switch knives and forks as they eat. The knife remains in the right hand, and the fork remains in the left. Brazilians reportedly rarely use their hands.
Italians never use spoons for pasta, but rather use the plate to twist the noodles onto the fork.
These countries are similar in their use of forks and spoons, as well as in their notable lack of knives at a table.
Wooden skewers are typically associated with shish kebab, a popular meal made of grilled cubes of meat. Many countries have their own versions of this skewered dish.
Also different from North America, pizza is not a hand-held dish but rather enjoyed with knife and fork.
Traditional Ethiopian cuisine is served with a large, spongy flatbread called injera, which is made from the ancient grain teff.
The thin flat bread tears easily to scoop up bites, it soaks up sauce, and it also doubles as the plate! Usually the meal only ends when the last piece of injera is eaten.
Invented in China, chopsticks are popular in countries across East Asia, such as Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Not all chopsticks are the same, however.
Though dining customs in India vary regionally, eating is traditionally done with the right hand, as the left hand is seen as dirty. The fingers mix the bites together, then pick up and scoop the food into the mouth.
Flat breads like roti and naan are also used as vessels to hold bites of food.
In Yemeni cuisine, two types of flat breads, malooga and lahoh, are the most commonly used utensils. Malooga often pairs with hearty savory dishes, while the spongier sourdough lahoh (pictured) complements soups and curries.
Traditional Japanese chopsticks also have thick, round ends that taper. Bone, metal, or ivory chopsticks are used for special occasions.
Chopsticks should never be left standing up in a bowl of rice, as they resemble a burial custom where you symbolically feed the dead.
In some parts of the country, people use tortillas (a flat bread made from maize or wheat flour) as a shovel for rice, beans, and meat.
It’s all about fingers! But it’s a very sanitary process that makes hand-washing part of the dining culture. You typically eat only with your fingertips, and you don’t let the food touch your palms or put your fingers into your mouth.
Chinese chopsticks are typically made of wood, and are long and thick for the traditional communal dining around the table.
Japanese chopsticks tend to be shorter and sharper to make it easier to pick up sushi and fish. Since Japanese cuisine is usually served in individual portions instead of shared dishes, their chopsticks don't need to be long.
As South Koreans are big on barbecue, their chopsticks are flat and typically made of metal because it won't burn when diners are grilling their meat.
Single-use eating utensils contribute to the environmental crisis, so in order to reduce waste, companies have started developing biodegradable and edible cutlery, some of which can be eaten at the end of the meal.
See also: Etiquette rules you should always follow
Sujeo is the Korean word for the set of eating utensils commonly used to eat Korean cuisine. It includes a pair of rounded metal chopsticks, and a long handled shallow spoon of the same material.
Long-stemmed forks are used to dip bread into the famed Swiss fondue, which is a melted cheese dish served in a pot over a portable stove.
Just like the food itself, the means by which people deliver food to their mouths comes from a great well of culture and history. Some of us have grown accustomed to using one form of utensils, but traveling is a quick way to find out that you've got a lot to learn. Knowing the correct etiquette for dining in different countries gives you a leg up with locals, prevents you from doing anything offensive, and, who knows, you might just prefer the slowed pace of metal chopsticks for barbecue, or the no-dishes-necessary breads used in place of forks.
Click through to get a peek at what eating utensils look like around the world.
Utensils and eating etiquette around the world
Here's how to not embarrass yourself while traveling
FOOD Culture
Just like the food itself, the means by which people deliver food to their mouths comes from a great well of culture and history. Some of us have grown accustomed to using one form of utensils, but traveling is a quick way to find out that you've got a lot to learn. Knowing the correct etiquette for dining in different countries gives you a leg up with locals, prevents you from doing anything offensive, and, who knows, you might just prefer the slowed pace of metal chopsticks for barbecue, or the no-dishes-necessary breads used in place of forks.
Click through to get a peek at what eating utensils look like around the world.