Impolite eating?

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I never knew such a thing existed; after all, eating is just about getting food into your stomahc on the surface.

Apparently though my version of eating is impolite according to my grandmother. Instead of bringing the food to my mouth and eating it I bring my mouth to the food and eqt it from there. I think it is because my mother told me to always eat with my mouth above my plate.

Is this really that big a deal? Nobody has brought it up besides her and my father once.

I find it very distressing to eat with someone who is a messy or noisy eater, or doesn't use their cutlery efficiently. I accept that I am extremely picky and quite rigid about such things and so some of my distress is self-inflicted in a way, but many people do not enjoy sharing a meal with someone who has poor table manners, talking with their mouth full or just shovelling food in. If you're on your own it doesn't matter, but in company it usually does.

Is it impolite to eat like 3-4x more than everyone else is when you're eating in public? Like at a church dinner get like 3-4 plates stuffed with food when other people are mostly getting like 1-2 plates moderately filled with food? I must be a pig.

A few years ago, I knew a guy who had the worst eating habits anyone could possibly imagine. His favourite food, for some reason, was brown bread with sausage slices and syrup. And he had a problem - whenever he talked to someone, he would stand within 20-30 centimetres of them. He'd then talk to them while eating with his mouth wide open, occasionally spraying them with crumbs of bread and drops of syrup. At times, I had to ask him to go away or stop eating because I was about to throw up just from the view of him chewing that mess within half an arm's reach of my eyes.

I last spoke to him early this year, and he seems to have improved now.

I sometimes have a bad habit of eating with my mouth slightly open, I usually do my best to make sure my mouth is closed however. I think I know now how bad some of my dates may have been as a result. Also, cutting my meat looks awkward in the eyes of other people as well because of how I hold my fork.

When I'm in a Chinese restaurant I just pick up my egg drop soup and drink it. I'm not even sure if this is a big deal.

I wonder because often the little soup bowls look like bigger versions of the cups for hot tea but they do give you a soup spoon.

I guess I figure you could go either way but I really enjoy drinking down the hot soup instead of tediously spoon it.

Actually even if I'm told it's wrong I'll probably keep doing it.

There is a technique for holding silverware that most people use and that, for some reason I don't know, it bothers me intensely. Its where people hold a fork or spoon with their palm facing more up. I hold my silverware the way I did since I was a toddler, with the back of my hand facing up. When I try the normal way, it feels "disgusting" and I am embarrassed for myself, and when I see other people using the normal way, it also looks disgusting and I can't look at their hands.

Also, for some reason, I have a really hard time handling salad and spaghetti, so with both these foods I chop everything up into much smaller pieces than normal people do so that I can "scoop" rather than what other people do with their special maneuvers.

Noodles are tricky. I tend to cut them up to just so they are more manageable.

Even if using the fork over the spoon to twirl them sometimes you just get a noodle ball that is to big and awkward to deal with.

My daughter has this aspect about her, that has food on her face. I just dont see how she can get food on her face. Half the bottom of her face is orange from spag bol, and chocolate, OMG.
She thinks I'm making a big deal when I ask her to clean it up, she thinks this not important, but is getting the idea, especially in public

It seems like people have different standards and rules for eating or table manners. My friend is Chinese and whenever I've eaten with her she's made jokes (after the meal) about my atrocious manners. In Chinese culture meal manners are quite important, but as my friend points out to me my manners are poor for Canadian standards. Apparently I eat too quickly, eat too much, take the last of a dish on the table (without asking if it's okay) etc. My friend isn't mean to me about this, we just make jokes. Eating over your plate isn't bad per-say, but it may be one of those things where you shouldn't over or under do it, like eye contact (you shouldn't make constant eye contact and you shouldn't make too little). You're probably not supposed to bend too low over your food, just enough to be aligned with your plate so if something falls it goes on to the plate , not the table. This is just a guess. I hate these kind of social rules.

I went to visit somebody's house a long time ago and they said to me that you can't put your elbows on the table as it was bad manners and i thought what the hell as i like to rest my elbows on the table so that i feel nice and comfortable. I don't particularly like people eating with their mouth opened including slurping and being noisy as well.

resting your elbows on the table while in company with other people is a more "closed" body position and is "defensive" even if you don't feel defensive toward other people at the table, it indicates some kind of defensiveness, even if its just "i feel more comfortable like this so I'm going to protect my comfort".

I'm starting to find that a lot of those old ridiculous classic politeness and etiquette rules actually make sense when you consider enough details and the goals of the environment for which they are intended.

Get a book on manners.

I don't go to extremes, but I do find it annoying when people chew with their mouth open.