"Spoon and Fork." In Italy would get you a police escort to the next plane leaving for Cleveland! Just not, just not, just not done!

Now it's true that not all Italians are very good with eating pasta today (or at times in the past), but wrapping your spaghetti against a spoon - well Italian Neanderthals would not do that!

That is strictly a feature of the despised "Italian American" - a cuisine seriously degraded and decomposed from its origins in the gutters of Naples.

Of course, I'd already figured that people not capable of handling chopsticks could use a salad fork - but with a spoon? no way!!!!

I do recommend everyone become proficient with chopsticks, even if they never intend ever to eat a Japanese or Chinese dish. They are absolutely the best tool for eating green leafy salads, and for disassembling fish on your plate. I would never use a fork for either of those things.

In Thailand, chopsticks are never used, except for noodle dishes, since noodle dishes are all considered to be "Chinese", even if it is a dish no real Chinaman has ever tasted. As the only culture in the region never conquered by Europeans, the use the European spoon and fork was declared by the King - but they would NEVER use a spoon to help wind noodles!

Chopsticks are used for a lot of things in Vietnam, because Vietnamese culture is more closely related to Chinese, even though the Viet handed Genghis Khan his asshole on a banana leaf.