When eating does your left hand stay in your lap unless cutting meat?

Answer 1

Depends on local customs. Europeans tend to use both hands and both utensils throughout the meal. If eating meat, the fork is held in the left, the knife in the right, and as soon as one piece is cut off it is brought to the mouth, by the fork, held in the left hand. The knife may be used to "herd" vegetables on to the fork(if the fork is held like a spoon) or simply to prevent morsels from sliding around when being speared by the fork.

It also depends on personal customs as well. As in, which hand is your dominant hand.

Some people use their eating utensils with their right hands (this goes for the majority of people in the United States), while others use their left hands.

It's kind of like playing sports or writing. One of your hands will be the dominant hand when performing certain tasks.

For instance, as well as an example: I, personally, am ambidextrous (able to use both hands equally). Actually, I'm quasi- or semi-amibidextrous because I write left handed and play sports (mostly Golf and Baseball) right handed. I am fully ambidextrous only when eating or using a pair of scissors. When using firearms, I am left-handed because my left eye is dominant as well as my left hand.