Start at the outside and work inwards

Apparently in preparation for her life as a royal, Thingy is being taught how to handle cutlery correctly at table.  Heaven help her!  But it did make me wonder why it is that Americans tend to cut their food up first and then put their knife down and swap their fork to their right hand to eat it.  And the answer seems to be - nobody knows!  It's been suggested that it came from France, who at the time were considered the arbiters of good taste, but it's also being suggested that it's simply a matter of making best use of your dominant hand.  Most of us are right-handed and so when cutting food up you use your right hand to wield the knife, whereas when transferring food to your mouth when the fork becomes the instrument of choice, you use your right hand for that.  Indeed it has been suggested that this is the "natural" way of doing things, and if we were starting again from scratch, with no pre-conceptions, this is how we would all do it.  It has also been suggested that this is simply Americans wanting to be seen as different!