Etiquette for Fried Chicken

When dining as a guest in someone else’s home and you are served fried chicken, the etiquette rule is that you should use a knife and fork to eat the chicken if a knife and fork are provided. If they aren’t provided, your host or hostess considers the chicken a finger food. What if your hostess has provided knives and forks at each place setting, but she is eating her chicken with her hands?  Should you follow suit? Only if you are comfortable eating the chicken in your hands. Remember, regardless of the old notion that some chicken is “finger licking good,” one should never lick their fingers while a guest dining in public or private. — Shown above: Rare Antique Fried Chicken Tongs. Tongs for fried chicken are quite large. They are almost the size of salad tongs and larger than ice tongs. 

Amy Vanderbilt on the Etiquette for Eating Chicken Which is Broiled or Fried: 

Chicken must be eaten with fork and knife except at picnics. Bones are not put into the mouth but are stripped with the knife while being held firmly by the fork. Joints are cut if one's knife is sharp enough and it can be done without lifting the elbows from the normal eating position. Chicken croquettes should be cut with the fork only, as are all croquettes and fish cakes, then conveyed to the mouth in manageable pieces.

 🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia