Photo by: Thomas Ott
Okay, maybe you’re not an American at all. But that doesn’t mean you know the local manners all around the world either. Try this quick quiz to see if you could do a world tour without offending the locals.
Let me know down in the comments how you did. No cheating! You’re on the honor system. (I got 7 out of 11.)
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
Subscribe to comments on this post
33 Comments
9 out of 11! My fiance is British, and I’ll have to ask him about the fried chicken thing. I do know they *love* KFC!! (Which I can honestly say I have never had.)
4 out of 11….yeah….not going anywhere outside of the country until I read up on the other country first.
8 out of 11 The one about throwing your trash on the floor in a Spanish snack bar got me
Awesome quiz! I only got six right – I need to study up!
7 out of 11 – There were some odd customs there. The “left handed fork” also got me…
Got 9 out of 11 – missed the one on Poland and another I can’t recall.
Got 7 out of 11
9 of 11! I missed the English fried chicken question and the German potato-cutting question.
8 out of 11. I missed the Spanish one, the Polish one, and I don’t remember which other one.
8 out of 11! Better than I thought!
5 out of 11….but really, I’d just follow what everybody else was doing at the time, so eh. I may be an ugly American, but I can say with honestly that I have never sat on my front porch shirtless while sipping a beer.
(and I actually read What The World Eats. Boo, me.)
9 out of 11! I feel so… worldly.
It said I was ‘impressive’ at 10 out of 11.
Although I have to wonder which British they asked about that question. It’s not something I’ve ever heard anyone say.
Oh my, oh my, I feel I should not post it, but decided before I started that I would post it. I got 11 out of 11. thanks that was fun!!…still cant believe it!!
I got 9 out of 11…I have never heard the one about flipping the fish over!
8 out of 11, but i think the one about chinese mothers is wrong. my chinese mother told me to finish everything, or my wife’s face would have as spots on it as my plate did. maybe if you’re eating at someone’s house, you don’t clean your plate, but at home, your mother definitely tells you to.
6/11. I went to quite a few snack bars in Spain and I never once saw someone throw their scraps on the ground. I guess I better study up for next time I venture out of Australia!
The Chinese one is wrong. I’m Chinese and you are not expected to leave food on the plate.
Hey Drew, got 8 out of 11.
I got 8 out of 11. But I should’ve done better! I’m a geography major!..so shameful
The links don’t work for me! Boo!
Wendy, does the quiz come up but it doesn’t play? If so, I’m kind of stuck for ideas, because that’s someone else’s site.
If you can’t even get to the quiz, try copying this into your browser’s address bar:
http://www.fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf
I only got six correct I really thought I’d do better.
4/11 I really thought I would do better but some of those questions were a little tricky. I definitely have some learning to do.
I don’t know, Marlena… the one with the left handed fork had no correct answer… So, like me, you knew the answer but couldn’t give a correct answer because the quiz cheated!
8 correct, but many were just lucky guesses
I got 6, but that’s only from watching the travel channel. I’ve only been to about 6 states and one Canadian province, so I feel like I did pretty well.
The left handed one was totally messed up, I should know. I am left handed and yes, we know there is no difference in the forks, but the first answer should still be correct, it was the only one with the option to use the left hand. It is almost impossible for me to use a fork with my right hand. I would be very ill-mannered if I dropped food all over by trying to use my right hand at dinner.
Annoying quiz with those choices.
Dee, that was actually the point of that question. It is considered very rude to eat with your left hand in some cultures. So from their point of view, “no option to use the left hand” is exactly right.
I got a 6 which disappointed me a bit … I thought I was a little more savvy than that
. Fun questions!
9 out of 11. My Polish grandmother would be proud. I have never heard about the fish flipping old wives tale, however, there are others very similar to it. For example, it is said that if a person sings while seated at the dinner table, seven churches will then crumble. yikes!
No singing at the table? I’ll have to tell my two girl scouts, and my troop-leader wife.
I received a 7 of 11. A few of my answers were guesses based on common sense, though.