Etiquette coach shows ‘British way to eat rice’ with fork and knife, gets ridiculed online
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Etiquette coach William Hanson’s video purporting to show the “British way to eat rice” garnered nearly 667,000 likes on TikTok and 314,000 likes on Instagram.
PHOTOS: WILLIAMHANSON/INSTAGRAM
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A British etiquette coach has drawn ridicule online for his video purporting to show the “British way to eat rice”.
“In British dining etiquette, as you know by now, we never turn the fork upside down when using a knife,” says Mr William Hanson in the 18-second video posted on May 24.
Mr Hanson, dressed in a navy blazer, is seen seated at a table with a plate of white rice in front of him.
“So when eating rice with both a fork and a knife, just like peas, we push the rice onto the back of the fork and eat like so,” he says, lifting the fork with the rice on it to his mouth.
The video has garnered nearly 667,000 likes on TikTok and 314,000 likes on Instagram.
“Are spoons banned in UK?” asks a TikTok user in jest, with other commenters questioning if Mr Hanson had heard of the utensil before.
“Next episode ~ using chopsticks for soup,” said an Instagram user.
Another Instagram user said: “The only right way is to use a fork to efficiently shovel as much rice as possible onto my spoon.”
Undeterred, Mr Hanson posted another video a day later, now showing how one should eat a banana. “Now we don’t pick it up and peel it like a primate, instead we use a knife and fork”, he says, cutting off both ends of the fruit before cutting the skin lengthwise to uncover the flesh within.
Mr Hanson’s website describes him as “Britain’s leading etiquette coach and expert”, with his TikTok and Instagram accounts boasting a combined six million followers.
He is no stranger to being ridiculed for his etiquette videos, having previously gone viral in an April 2024 video showing the “correct” way to eat peas: to “spear them onto the tines of your fork using the back of your knife to support,” he said, describing it as a “little dining hack”.
“If you have something sticky in front of you like this mashed potato, you can take a little bit of it and use it as a glue to eat the peas elegantly and efficiently,” he said.
The video drew more than 80,000 likes on Instagram and 155,000 on TikTok.
