When tucking into our favourite foods, we rarely stop to think about whether we're doing it 'correctly' – after all, old habits are tough to break. But that could be a mistake. Sometimes there really are better ways to maximise flavour, avoid making a mess, save time or even save yourself from embarrassment. From eating bananas upside down to incorrectly dunking your Oreos, we look at the food faux pas you never realised you were making (and what you should be doing instead).
Click or scroll through our gallery to discover 25 foods you've been eating wrong your entire life, from apples to Toblerone.
Most people eat apples from the sides inwards, then throw away the core – but this isn't actually the best way to consume the fruit, as it wastes some of the edible flesh. If you eat your apples from top to bottom (or bottom to top), you'll find that you hardly notice the core. When you get to the seeds, you can simply pluck them out.
Bananas grow upwards from the stem – so if, like the vast majority of people, you tend to prise this yellow fruit open from the stem end (as pictured), you're doing it the wrong way round. The easier way to eat a banana is from the opposite end, which is actually the tip. Give it a squeeze, then peel it open as usual, using the stem to grip.
We usually eat burgers with the thickest part of the bun at the top – but often it's better to eat them upside down. The extra bread soaks up the juices and flavours, and prevents the bottom side, which is usually thinner, from becoming soggy.
Cherries are delicious, but the pits – the stones at the centre of every fruit – can be annoying to spit out. An easy solution? Find a bottle with a narrow opening, then balance a cherry on top. Next, take a chopstick and poke it downwards through the cherry. The pit should fall neatly into the bottle.
It's hard to get to all the tender, delicious meat a chicken wing has to offer if you simply nibble around the bones. Happily, there's a much easier way to rid yourself of the inedible parts of a 'flat' (the middle part of a wing): first, pull off the cartilage at the wide end of the wing. Next, squeeze and twist the large bone at the other end, pulling on it until it comes out. Finally, pull out the second, smaller bone. There you have it – a meaty mouthful you can eat in its entirety.
Cupcakes are so irresistible, it's no wonder most of us dive straight in and take a bite – regardless of where the toppings end up. However, there is a way to avoid covering the tip of your nose in frosting. Simply cut your cupcake in half widthways, then turn the top piece over and sandwich the icing between the two sponge pieces.
If you solely use chopsticks to eat dumplings that contain soup or broth (like xiao long bao), the hot liquid and filling can easily end up scalding the inside of your mouth. Instead, scoop the dumplings onto a spoon, then take a small bite out of the side, or nip off the top – this will release the steam.
Slicing off a kiwi's hairy skin means you'll lose a lot of the flesh. The more efficient way to do it? Slice the fruit widthways into coin shapes, then pick off the skin – it'll come away easily. Alternatively, cut a kiwi in half, and you’ve got two little bowls to tuck into using a spoon.
This one might be controversial – but if you like to slather or squirt ketchup onto your French fries before you get stuck in, you're technically ruining them. Any sauce turns crisp, crunchy fries into a soggy mess, so it's always best to keep your condiments on the side, ready for dipping.
There are lots of different ways you can go about peeling and slicing a mango – but we think this one's the quickest and easiest. Make sure your mango is nice and ripe, slice it in half lengthways, then push the rim of a glass into the flesh, making a scooping motion. This way, you'll end up with big, juicy, ready-to-eat mango chunks in next to no time.
Did you know that there's a much easier way to prise mussels from their shells than by using a fork? Here's the secret: after you've eaten your first mussel, use its shell as a pair of tongs to remove the next one. It's a tool built for the job!
Peeling oranges can be fiddly, time-consuming and, for those of us whose fingernails are on the shorter side, incredibly frustrating. Fortunately, there's a better way: simply take a knife, cut off the top and bottom of your orange, then make a small slit on the side. Roll out the orange, and there you go: a satisfying strip of perfect segments.
Looking for a more sophisticated way to dunk your Oreos into a glass of milk? Simple. Avoid getting your fingers wet by sticking a fork into the creme filling and use it to lower your cookie into the glass. Forget twisting and dipping – this is the most refined dunking style around.
Many people say you should swallow oysters whole, without chewing them first. However, Dublin-based oyster chef Simon Lamont says people who gulp oysters down in one are missing out; he recommends chewing to experience the full umami taste experience.
There’s more science than you might expect behind the perfect pasta and sauce pairings – so if you regularly throw any old shapes into your homemade sauces, take note. Fettuccine needs an oily or buttery sauce to prevent it from sticking together, whereas weighty pappardelle ribbons do better with rich meat sauces. Meanwhile, tortellini should actually be served in a broth.
Using a fork to unsteadily shovel peas into your mouth may be the quickest way to eat these little green veggies, but you might want to ditch this habit when you're in polite company – it’s regarded as bad table manners. Instead, spear your peas with the prongs of your fork, and eat fewer at a time. It’s also acceptable to balance the peas on top of other foods on your fork.
Pizza aficionados know the real secret to eating those mozzarella-covered slices correctly. According to Italian pizza experts, the right way to eat a Neapolitan-style pizza is by folding it into a wallet shape (as pictured). It's a move that makes sense; if you were to hold it by the crust, the slice would sag, and all the cheese and tomato toppings would start to slide off.
If you've ever got your arm stuck halfway down a Pringles tube, this is a tip for you. To access those delicious potato snacks further down the packet, fold a sheet of paper in half, then slide it into the can. That way, when you tilt the can sideways, the Pringles will slide neatly onto the paper, sparing your floor or countertop from crumbs and mess.
No self-respecting Italian would ever use a knife when eating pasta – particularly when tucking into long noodles and ribbons like spaghetti and tagliatelle. Instead, dip your fork in, rotate, bring a spoon underneath to force the pasta onto to the fork, and there you have it: a nice, tidy mouthful. What could be easier than that?
Stop slicing the tops off your strawberries – it wastes a perfectly edible part of the berry. Instead, press a straw into the base of each strawberry, and push it all the way through. This will remove the hull in one smooth motion, leaving you free to enjoy the rest of the juicy berry.
If you're dipping your sushi rice-side down in soy sauce, you're making things harder for yourself; the rice absorbs the soy sauce and often falls apart, making it impossible to eat. Instead, rotate the sushi and dip the fish or vegetable topping into the sauce. The wasabi should then be added to the top of the fish, not mixed with the soy sauce. As for those slivers of ginger, they're intended to be eaten in between bites as a palate cleanser.
Drinks often taste better through a straw – and using a straw to sip on sugary drinks helps to protect your teeth from erosion, too. But did you know there's a correct way to position your straw when drinking from a can? Simply turn the tab around so it partially covers the opening, et voilà: a perfect straw holder.
If you’re making a stock or tucking into a bowl of soup, here's a clever way to avoid tongue burn: take advantage of the laws of physics, and taste from the side of the pan or bowl. The liquid is cooler on the edges than it is in the centre, so eat from the outside in.
Have you been swallowing handfuls of Tic Tacs at a time? There's a simpler (and less messy) way to get your fix. Next time you buy a packet, check out the tiny Tic Tac–shaped crater on the inside of the lid. When you tilt the container just so, one Tic Tac will tumble neatly into the slot.
It's already divided up into triangular pieces, so who would've thought a Toblerone could be so frustrating to eat? Turns out that most of us have just been doing it the wrong way – that is, by grabbing the top of a triangle and pulling it outwards to break if off. Instead, press the tip of each section inwards. You'll find it'll break off much more easily.
Now discover 15 foods you've been cooking wrong all this time