How Fried Chicken Etiquette Changed

Etiquette for eating fried chicken has changed since the advent of the first “fast food” chicken offerings. Founded in Illinois in 1952, Chicken Delight came on the scene first. It grew rapidly with home delivery service and a memorable jingle, “Don’t cook tonight, Call Chicken Delight.” Due to Kentucky Fried Chicken also entering the take-out fried chicken market that same year, but with far fewer stores, and its subsequent widespread franchising of fast food restaurants across the nation, KFC overtook Chicken Delight in popularity by the 1970’s. KFC has since become a global phenomenon.

Hands off pieces of chicken! Unless of course, they are “nuggets.”

From the 1930’s: 

DEAR Mrs. Post: Is it incorrect, according to etiquette, to eat even the slightest bit of chicken in the fingers? I don't mean whether it is correct to take up what can be cut off the bone easily enough, but I am referring to the very small bones from which it is impossible to cut meat loose with knife and fork. Aren't good table manners to-day more lenient about these foods, especially if finger bowls are provided?

Answer: No, people are less lenient than they used to be. That is, if we go back to the descriptions given us by the writers of long ago, and as copied for instance in the moving picture of Henry the Eighth, who picked up a whole chicken in his hands and tore it apart, our table manners have become positively finicking. The only thing that could soil the fingers and is not tabooed by the meticulous are lobster claws. And when such lobster is served, finger bowls of hot soapy water should be provided at once. Perhaps, if this practice were followed when serving chicken, there would be no objection to taking the wings in the fingers. – by Emily Post, in Good Taste Today, 1937

 

From the 1970’s: 

According to Amy Vanderbilt, “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.”

From Today: 

According to Maura J. Graber, Etiquipedia© Site Editor and Director of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, chicken in the form of chicken “nuggets,” “tenders,”“Dino bites,” and the like, are all finger foods. Fried chicken which is designed for enjoying as a finger food looks positively silly when eaten with a knife and fork. That being said, one still has to follow basic table manners, however. There is no finger licking, lip smacking or stuffing one’s mouth to the limit allowed.

 

 🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia