Knife and fork. I eat many things with my fingers, but mushrooms aren't one of them.

For me it depends on the setting. Casual bar and small to medium size finger food. Larger size and more upscale bar knife and fork. It will also depend on how they are prepared. If the minute you try to cut one and the mushroom and coating separate it is finger food. I am making an assumption that these are batter fried and not whole sauted in oil or butter.

They are normally finger food but when you share you could use a fork. They are usually button mushrooms but if they were large for some reason?

Whichever way you enjoy them. :-)))

If battered, with my fingers.

If sauteed, with a fork.

If sharing with friends/family, I'd use my fingers to pick up the mushrooms from the serving plate as I ate them (sort of like sharing fries). If I was with acquaintances or business associates, I'd use a clean utensil to transfer a few of the mushrooms to my plate (assuming a plate had been provided by the restaurant) and proceed to eat them as finger food.

If they are too big to be a bite then I use knife and fork. The smaller ones I sometimes eat as finger food. They are often too hot for fingers! I love them. I especially like the mushrooms stuffed with big lumps of crab meat those are usually not fried though. Honestly I like them just about any way. I do eat them raw in a salad but not my favorite.

Anything that can be speared with a fork is eaten with a fork, and knife if necessary. I don't think there is anything wrong with eating fried mushrooms with your fingers, though. It's just not for me.

At home with my fingers. I haven't eaten them anywhere but home in many years, but I would probably use a fork in a restaurant. Or maybe not. I really don't know.

I would do just as DawninCal said. It sounds like if your lunch partner used a knife, they may have been larger than one bite sized in which case I'd have used a knife to cut them too.

Cannot remember the last time I had breaded mushrooms though. Always sauteed and so buttery, a fork required.

You are not a manner-less heathen ;0) I hope you enjoyed the new restaurant.

I'd be more concerned about using a fork tines down or tines up. :))))))

with a fork.

i say with a fork just because of the greasy factor and most times i would think they would be too big for one bite.

love mushrooms, but not fried ones....

Knife and fork. And....if they are batter fried, VERY juicy. Cutting them releases the juice onto your plate, since they are too big to eat in one bite.

They fry them in butter for breakfast in Australia.

If they are on a serving plate I would use a fork to remove a few to my own plate. I would then use a knife and fork if they were large but smaller ones I might eat with my fingers.

For me, the deciding factor is if a food item is hot, saucy, greasy (which I try to avoid anyway) or otherwise so as to leave a mess on your fingers. If so, I use a knife and fork. If sitting at a table with others and sharing what's on a plate, I ALWAYS will err toward using a knife and fork to be polite. You shouldn't have to wash your hands after eating.

Once a person is past age 8 or so, I don't think much remains to be finger food except fruit and raw veggies.

What you do at home when alone doesn't matter, although I do the same thing whether alone or with others.

Geeze, I never gave it a thought. I always use my fingers. Trying to think what the heck I and others do when the big battered mushrooms are in a basket as an appetizer and I say, "Anyone else want some?" I honestly think I just grab one with my fingers! and dip them in the dipping sauce. When someone else accepts my offer, do they use fingers or fork? I don't recall, but I know they don't use my container of sauce!

nicole, butter sauteed mushrooms and also tomatoes are typical items served for an "English breakfast". Maybe by extension it's British too but it's likely that's where the Aussies got the idea.

We need finger bowls (and cloth napkins). You could rinse your fingers after popping anything served 'bite size' into your mouth. I would make the case for keeping juices encased until an item is in your mouth; better than squirting juice all over if you pierce the item.

I watched a Youtube video on how to make them (with a breaded coating), and then the cook ate them with a dipping sauce with her fingers. She sliced them before breading them, and so they were bite size. I've never had those, but I eat fried okra with a fork but generally eat hush puppies with my fingers. I've never had breaded and fried mushrooms, but the recipe looked like tempura, and I often eat that with my fingers, but with a knife and fork if the pieces are too big. My favorite tempura is turnips.

I make them at home. Cut into half before battering and frying. Spear them with a toothpick for dipping into ranch dressing.

If I use Tempura batter, dipping sauce is Tempura sauce.

Thanks, everyone! I should have clarified, yes, they were battered and deep fried. Not huge, but what I call '2-bite' size. Not greasy at all. And I honestly think they were the best I've ever eaten! Our friend was carefully cutting each one into four very tiny pieces.

I did use my clean fork, as did everyone else, to remove a couple at a time to my plate. Then wait a bit for them to cool enough to bite into. As I said before, it is a new restaurant, locally owned, not a 'chain'. Very VERY nice! Not formal by any means, I guess I would call it upscale casual. No bar that I noticed, but there may be one in an area that was not visible from where we were seated. It was their first weekend to be open and it was very crowded. If yesterday's meal was an honest 'promise' of meals to come, I sure hope they stay! A number of locally owned, individual places have opened over the years, they start out with generous servings of delicious food and great service, but as time goes on, their portions shrink, as does the quality of them, service becomes mediocre at best, and they close. Hopefully this one will last!

Rusty

"they were battered and deep fried. ...Not greasy at all."

If you picked up a piece, ate it, and then rubbed your fingers together, they were dry? I can't imagine that.

To me, anything deep fried is greasy.

You would probably also like the fried artichoke heart at the Giant Artichoke Restaurant in Castroville. I've only had them in restaurants and have not made them myself, but I always get them when I go through Castroville on my way to San Francisco.

To me, when anything is deep fried and crispy, and greasy, my first thought would be the person who did the frying doesn't know how to do it.

Lars, don't you find that to be a hideous, greasy place? I'm not sure fried artichoke hearts is something I can't live without but there are surely better places serving that to be found in Monterey.

A comment about deep fried and greasy is that I consider greasy if you can see a sheen of oil on the surface or droplets on the plate. While not used by many restaurants because the equipment is currently very expensive and large there are commercial air fryers that some restaurants are starting to use. To brown to a nice "fried" color the batter needs to have a certain amount of oil in it so just be aware of it.

Mmmmmmmm - fried artichokes, onion rings, french fries, jalapeno poppers, battered veggies, fried chicken, fish and chips...love that kind of stuff! I don't eat it very often, but when I do, I thoroughly enjoy all of it and consider all of it to be finger food.

I also think of sandwiches, burgers and pizza as foods to be picked up and held in the hands when eating. It's a rare thing to see someone eating a sandwich with a knife and fork; at least in my world it is. An exception would be open faced sandwiches covered in some type of sauce or gravy - those need a knife and fork.

There's a place in Eureka that makes their jalapeno poppers by hand. First they seed the fresh peppers, stuff with cheese, dip in their house made batter and into the deep fryer it goes. They are delicious.

Maybe she was cutting them for a reason. I have CREST syndrome and dont swallow good some days. Plus I have a hiatel hernia and things dont always go down easy. I dont always like to talk about those things with others so I just do what I have to do to get food down.

Wasn't there an episode on some sitcom where a person ate their candy bar with a knife and fork, thus everyone else started to do that? Seinfeld?

I think if they were deep fried and served in a basket like french fries, I'd use my fingers. If they were served in a serving bowl, then I'd definitely use a fork, but maybe not a knife.

I eat them with my fingers, try hard not to eat at fancy restaurants.

knife and fork until they cool down. Then finger food

"To me, when anything is deep fried and crispy, and greasy, my first thought would be the person who did the frying doesn't know how to do it."

Thank you, Marilyn_c, I was thinking exactly the same thing!

I hadn't thought about the possibilities of a medical issue, but thanks to jkayd, I can understand how that could be a problem. But I know this person well enough to be quite sure she doesn't have any such issue. Mainly I was just wondering if there is a 'proper' way to eat such foods. And I've come to the conclusion that 'proper' depends on the person mainly, also the location and maybe the occasion, too. As for me, I will continue to eat them with my fingers. as long as they are not greasy, overly large, or dripping juices.

Lars, knowing you are originally from Texas, I thought for a minute that you were talking about Castroville, Texas. That would be kind of an out of the way route to Monterey for you. LOL. I've never had fried artichokes, but I'd surely try them if I ever saw them offered anywhere. Not likely around here, though.

:^)

Rusty

Lars, don't you find that to be a hideous, greasy place? I'm not sure
fried artichoke hearts is something I can't live without but there are
surely better places serving that to be found in Monterey.

Monterey is a fantastic place. And those artichokes are divine! Glad I'm not "above" either one.

I think in general fried food can be finger foods. Thanksgiving fried turkey I eat with a fork and knife, it is usually served on a plate with the rest of the traditional Thanksgiving stuff. The occasional Mexican restaurant will serve fried avocado, I would also eat that with a fork and knife. I have heard that at the Houston rodeo some vendors make fried ice cream, I'm not sure how one eats that.