Is eating technique consider a “technique”? Italian food?

[CharlieD]

Or should I post this in ethnic food?

Okay here is the question. When you eat, spaghetti should you or should you not use the spoon to help swirl the spaghetti on the fork?

 

[jpmcgrew]

I was born in Naples though not italian my mother is german but she twirls with spoon but I dont really think italians do that as a rule.We will hafto get RDG to answer that one.

 

[ironchef]

According to the Italian chef I worked under as well as other Italians, the spoon method is more of an Italian-American thing. The chef also would say that it is considered rude in some places in Italy to use your spoon when eating pasta.

 

[Andy M.]

No need to use a spoon. Just place the tips of the tines on a few strands of pasta at the edge of the plate and twirl.

 

[buckytom]

i agree that using a spoon is an italian-american thing. if you really wanna go goombah, you use a piece of buttered italian bread to help twist the pasta onto the fork.
in a related kinda thing, i've heard that the piece of lemon rind served with a cup of espresso is a no-no in italy. it expresses your displeasure with the coffee, so you need to flavor it with lemon.
along the lines of asking for ketchup with a steak in france.

 

[Ishbel]

The only people in Italy that I've seen eating spaghetti or other long pasta with a spoon/fork combination are other foreigners! I just use a fork and bread to sop up any extra sauce, but my husband still uses the spoon/fork combo

 

[urmaniac13]

Indeed... for the past 3 years I have been here I have seen no one eating their spaghetti with an assistance of a spoon.
Well, don't worry... not everyone is such an expert at eating spaghetti neatly... I have seen lots of people attacking their plate like this...

(this guy is Alberto Sordi, one of the classic comedy actors in Italy... in a film called "An american in Rome")

 

[GB]

I think I was probably in my late 20's before I ever even heard of using a spoon to help eat pasketti.

 

[Claire]

My mom taught us to eat it with the spoon to help twirl, and I think she picked it up in Europe some place. Then we heard "no Italian would do it", then saw a TV food show where a man went back to his Italian roots and his family WAS doing it. Maybe it is regional?

 

[SizzlininIN]

I didn't start using the spoon to twirl the pasta till about 10 years ago when I was watching a show that dealt with etiquette. They said the proper way was to eat it was with a spoon. Well I started and I'm hooked. I guess if I was in Italy I'd conform to the way they eat it there but here I'll use my fork . However, if I were to go to China I'd refuse to slurp my soup.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I have read in some old "etiquette" book that one should use a spoon to twirl spaghetti to be "proper" - but my ex-wife (Brooklyn NY born first generation off the boat Italian-American) never did. I figure she learned the proper way to eat pasta from her "born in Italy" Dad and 3 uncles ... so I do as she did and never use a spoon.

I think the only place I ever heard that I should use a spoon and fork for eating pasta was when I was very young and living in New Orleans, LA. I could twirl my "sketti" on my fork against my plate with no problem ... but trying to coordinate fork and spoon ... you might just as well have given me chopsticks!

 

[Phantom of the Kitchen]

I really have nothing to add about how you should or shouldn't, but I hate doing it. I just found out about this a few weeks ago when my room mates and I decided we were going to go to a different restaurant every week. We went to our first restaurant and I ordered a pasta dish and got a spoon with it. It seems like such a waste and makes the eating process unecessarily complicated.

brad

 

[middie]

My bf's aunt is Italian and I've never seen her use a spoon to eat spaghetti.

 

[BreezyCooking]

You know what? I think you should do whatever method is most comfortable for you. I've seen folks use both methods & I haven't felt that any of them have been incorrect.

 

[skilletlicker]

Don't know how I missed this thread 'til now. Here's my confession. I use a spoon when I'm alone but not in public.

 

[Robo410]

My research says it is not only regional, but relates to type and size of pasta being eaten, as well as the event.

There are some very long pastas eaten with thin sauces and these one may use a spoon if it is set at the place, but one wouldn't ask the hostess or waiter if it were not set.

Standard foot long pastas, be they angel hair or linguini would not be thought to need a spoon. Nor would one need a spoon at grandma's UNLESS she thought you did and gave you one...because she wanted you to get all her sauce, because you were a sloppy eater, because she was raised that way and thought you should be too.

Now very elegant settings with people eating in fine dining clothes may provide you with a spoon or a bib or both.

If you want another argument, ask a New Englander what kind of crackers go in their chowda.

 

[urmaniac13]

If you want another argument, ask a New Englander what kind of crackers go in their chowda.

Or ask a Roman whether pancetta or guanciale should go into their spaghetti alla carbonara...

 

[Andy M.]

...If you want another argument, ask a New Englander what kind of crackers go in their chowda.

Most places serve oyster crackers but I prefer Saltines.

 

[Robo410]

Crown Pilot crackahs...the crackah that Maine saved from extinction!

 

[Claire]

My folks (NH) always ate saltines or the little oyster crackers. Usually saltines, though. Actually, Daddy eats saltines with most seafood. Crab and lobster get dipped in butter and plopped on a saltine.