I haven't mastered chicken (except chicken breasts) to this very day. Whenever I tried tackling something awkward with knife & fork, I ended up covered with shame and sauce.

As I grew older and wiser, I decided to do as I please and to be pleased with what I do. I started using my hands (what are they for, anyway?). Result: some fellow diners just quit THEIR knife & fork and do the same, becaue they always wanted to but didn't dare.

If you're in a restaurant - with a knife and fork?

For a lettuce wrap, choose only the largest leaves and don't over-fill it. Just roll it up like an enchilada and start at eiither end. If they serve small useless lettuce leaves, ask for better ones.

For tacos, well, you won't be in a white-tablecoth restaurant, I presume. So just pick it up and eat. Anything goes at Taco Bell, right? The best tacos should be made with soft tortillas, and poor restaurants will have hard pre-made shells.

It's sort of a guide to better restaurants, even the low cost ones. The good ones will have large pieces of lettuce for wraps and no pre-made taco shells.

I'm confused. You are eating food designed and always eaten with fingers and hands. With a knife and fork? I understand being young and eating out with a date and trying to be 'lady-like' but a nice restaurant does not serve finger/hand food expecting knife and fork eating.

Do not order crawfish! : )

I realize snails are served often with tiny forks to remove the meat, but the serving dish is meant to hold them upright for cooking in juices. Once eating, the shell is lifted out and slurped and sucked! delish. That can be done gently, not with great noise like a frat dude.

A nice restaurant does not serve finger food without a warm towel and a wedge of lemon to cleanse your hands so you don't need to run to the washroom....

Or just ask. "i'd rather not eat with my hands tonight. What do you recommend that is not finger/hand food". "how is that served?"...
"is that a whole lobster in it's shell that i need to break apart with my hands? or is it served split and open and eaten with a knife and fork?".

Don't order messy food if you are wearing nice clothing and just don't like the hand/finger eating experience. Especially if it makes you uncomfortable. A roasted small half chicken on the bone can be eaten easily with a knife and fork. Some might enjoy picking it up and taking it a bit further but not necessary. One example that is the diners choice.

I worked in many restaurants in high school through college and always helped selecting if i thought someone may not appreciate a whole Dover Sole with head and tail, bone it, that needed a bit of work and a messy experience. Or a whole lobster that needed tools or blue crabs that needed newspaper and lots of paper towels. A crab cake might be a better choice.

Artichokes! And asparagus is acceptable to eat by the hand.

I prefer a knife and fork in a restaurant and will savor and enjoy the beginning of a meal even if it is hand food. But will eventually resort to hands toward the end if needed. A 'napkin only' just does not do so well if that is all that is provided. I just don't like sticky food on my hands during a meal for very long.

If you don't like corn on the cob like a backyard bbq, just lift it on your plate, holding it with your napkin, with the fat side down, and slice the corn off starting at the middle. Spin and slice. Turn upside down and do the same. No one will care. It is your choice. I've done that when a sauce or salsa would be nice with the corn rather than eating it off the cob alone.

I've traveled all over the planet and even in NYC where i have lived for 30 yrs, i often order something unfamiliar and just laugh and look around. How do i eat THIS!? One of my favorite Vietnamese restaurants serves a lettuce wrap but all ingredients are served separate and you 'build it' yourself with bowls of herbs, meats, and big lettuce leaves, then dip in a sauce...all with your hands. No English spoken so no asking, just fun discovery.

So..., long winded post, but really no rules. Just be brave and enjoy any way you want.

If what you are asking is how do you avoid ending up with food stains down your front, the answer is reduce the amount of filling and sauce per wrap. That way there is less to squish out the end or over the edge when you bite through. Or make mini wraps that are bite size so you can pop the whole wrap into your mouth--so no drip.

It's different food cultures, isn't it? Here, shellfish, you obviously eat with your hands. Hard to get a prawn out of its shell with a knife and fork. But, if someone picked up their chicken people would find that extremely bad mannered - I've NEVER seen that in either England or France.
Food from further away like Mexican food, then we have to learn from the restaurants how to eat it.
Here, for snails (escargots) you are given a special tool to pick up the shell. You could dip some bread in the garlic butter, but you wouldn't shlurp on the shell!