How do you eat?

[Dukeofyork]

I've often wondered about others' idiosyncrasies in their choice of consumptive hardware...

E.g. I always eat my soup with a teaspoon, so it lasts longer. But how many people always use an Asian soup-spoon, regardless of the style?

Stirfry always with chopsticks - short, wooden Japanese style, no other. I also toss dressed salads with chopsticks so that I don't lose as much dressing...

If I weren't a vegetarian, I suspect I would have a favourite knife for steaks; I remember my father, however, being of proper British stock, refusing to use a steakknife no matter how cheap the meat was.

I knew some people that spread peanut butter with a spoon, because it was easier to get out of the jar. Is this insane?

So elaborate on your own preferences and quirks in this regard!

[Anna N]

I've often wondered about others' idiosyncrasies in their choice of consumptive hardware...

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Soup - always with a round-bowled, shallow soup spoon. Never have mastered the porcelain spoons.

Asian-inspired dishes - try to use chopsticks (awkwardly). I have both the Chinese and the Japanese style.

Use chopsticks a great deal in the kitchen for beating stuff, for testing the heat of oil for frying etc.

Always use a spoon to transfer jam/peanut butter, Marmite, Vegemite, etc. from container to toast - mostly to prevent those gross contaminations of toast crumbs etc. Will sometimes spread with back of spoon but usually reach for butter spatula.

Steak knives for steak.

Fingers for salad if no one is around! In fact, fingers for lots of things when alone! My Gran approved saying that they were invented long before knives and forks and work better.

Bread sometimes as a utensil.

Always use spatula to spread butter on sandwiches never a knife - weird idosyncracy no doubt. Become jittery and dangerous if all spatulas are in the dishwasher!

I know there are more obsessive-compulsive manners but can't think of them right now.

[miladyinsanity]

Chopsticks for all noodles, including pasta.

I use a Chinese porcelain spoon for soup and noodle soup.

I have to eat cake with a small fork. I won't use a spoon.

[jsolomon]

Fingers for salad if no one is around!  In fact, fingers for lots of things when alone!  My Gran approved saying that they were invented long  before knives and forks and work better. 

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Your Gran was an intelligent and insightful lady, indeed! When dining informally, my fingers become nearly every tool.

[moosnsqrl]

I, too, will eat almost anything but soup with my fingers if I'm not likely to offend anyone by doing so. I've always been envious of cultures where this is the norm.

I once worked with an engineer who had worked extensively abroad and fancied himself worldly. He insisted on eating those ramens-in-a-cup during working lunches and always used chopsticks. As you might imagine, it was not a pretty sight.

I have special bowls, spoons, etc that I like to use for certain foods and they just don't taste right when presented in something else. The s.o. made fun of this for years but has finally realized that putting something in the "wrong" vessel will result in my returning to the kitchen to re-plate and an extra dirty dish. And our friends said he couldn't be trained.

[andiesenji]

I, too, will eat almost anything but soup with my fingers if I'm not likely to offend anyone by doing so.  I've always been envious of cultures where this is the norm.

I once worked with an engineer who had worked extensively abroad and fancied himself worldly.  He insisted on eating those ramens-in-a-cup during working lunches and always used chopsticks.  As you might imagine, it was not a pretty sight.

I have special bowls, spoons, etc that I like to use for certain foods and they just don't taste right when presented in something else.  The s.o. made fun of this for years but has finally realized that putting something in the "wrong" vessel will result in my returning to the kitchen to re-plate and an extra dirty dish.  And our friends said he couldn't be trained. 

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I feel the only way to eat couscous is with the fingers and when I serve it I also set out finger bowls and provide large, cloth napkins (more of a towel than a true napkin).

Long, skinny pasta requires a fork with longer tines and depending on the gravy (or sauce, if you will) a spoon for the really slippery varities of fresh pasta.

And the pasta is served in a wider shallower bowl that has greater volume than a regular soup bowl.

I have special bowls for chili because it simply doesn't taste the same in just any old bowl and there is room for "additions".

I have different mugs and cups for tea and coffee or other hot drinks.

I have special plates for breakfast when I have certain foods. These are the old-fashioned "chop" plates that are divided into three sections. There are certain times I do not want flavors mixed on the plate and these are ideal to keep syrup away from my potatoes, eggs, etc.

[Kent Wang]

Chopsticks for all noodles, including pasta.

I use a Chinese porcelain spoon for soup and noodle soup.

I have to eat cake with a small fork. I won't use a spoon.

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Ditto to all of the above.

Chopsticks while prepping, cooking and serving too.

[Anna N]

...

I have special plates for breakfast when I have certain foods.  These are the old-fashioned "chop" plates that are divided into three sections.  There are certain times I do not want flavors mixed on the plate and these are ideal to keep syrup away from my potatoes, eggs, etc.

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I just LOVE these plates! First, because I grew up with the Blue Willow pattern and secondly, because I often wish I had such divided plates so I could do as you do, serve saucy things that I don't want to bleed into other things on the plate. Thanks for sharing.

[andiesenji]

For a while, a few years back, Corelle produced divided plates like this. I have a set I used to have in my motorhome, somewhere in the storeroom. This discussion has reminded me about them and I think I will get them out. They are great for kids - you know the kind - absolutely nothing on the plate must touch anything else!!!!

Some friends who come to visit faily often have one child with this trait. I have at times resorted to serving her in separate small dishes, rather than have her sit, staring at her plate because the peas rolled against the potatoes.

These plates may save the problem. I don't want to use my very old plates!

[Peter the eater]

I had a professor from Singapore who ate everything with one wooden chopstick and one brass spoon. He told me this was common back in his homeland.

Can anyone substantiate his claim?

[miladyinsanity]

I had a professor from Singapore who ate everything with one wooden chopstick and one brass spoon. He told me this was common back in his homeland.

Can anyone substantiate his claim?

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Can you clarify "one wooden chopstick?" Don't you mean one pair of chopsticks?

I do know people who prefer not to use the Chinese porcelain spoon and use a regular metal Western-style spoon instead, even when eating with chopsticks. Not brass though.

And I've lived here all my rather short life, and never met a person who was like that.

[Kim Shook]

Ice cream requires sterling. To me, ice cream tastes 'funny' on stainless.

[Peter the eater]

I had a professor from Singapore who ate everything with one wooden chopstick and one brass spoon. He told me this was common back in his homeland.

Can anyone substantiate his claim?

←

Can you clarify "one wooden chopstick?" Don't you mean one pair of chopsticks?

I do know people who prefer not to use the Chinese porcelain spoon and use a regular metal Western-style spoon instead, even when eating with chopsticks. Not brass though.

And I've lived here all my rather short life, and never met a person who was like that.

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Thanks for the reply - I did mean a lone chopstick but I guess that would be pretty dumb, unless you stuck it in a pencil sharpener. I am sure of the brass spoon part though, and I have seen them set on tables in a restaurant, though I cannot recall where.

[Peter the eater]

I've often wondered about others' idiosyncrasies in their choice of consumptive hardware...

E.g. I always eat my soup with a teaspoon, so it lasts longer.  But how many people always use an Asian soup-spoon, regardless of the style?

Stirfry always with chopsticks - short, wooden Japanese style, no other.  I also toss dressed salads with chopsticks so that I don't lose as much dressing...

If I weren't a vegetarian, I suspect I would have a favourite knife for steaks;  I remember my father, however, being of proper British stock, refusing to use a steakknife no matter how cheap the meat was.

I knew some people that spread peanut butter with a spoon, because it was easier to get out of the jar.  Is this insane? 

So elaborate on your own preferences and quirks in this regard!

←

When I go on a canoe trip I take an old stainless steel Runcible Spoon (a.k.a. Spork) which has one sharped side. I can spoon the soup, fork the fish, and cut the cheese (so to speak) If you could only have one utensil in your life, it may be this one.

[miladyinsanity]

I had a professor from Singapore who ate everything with one wooden chopstick and one brass spoon. He told me this was common back in his homeland.

Can anyone substantiate his claim?

←

Can you clarify "one wooden chopstick?" Don't you mean one pair of chopsticks?

I do know people who prefer not to use the Chinese porcelain spoon and use a regular metal Western-style spoon instead, even when eating with chopsticks. Not brass though.

And I've lived here all my rather short life, and never met a person who was like that.

←

Thanks for the reply - I did mean a lone chopstick but I guess that would be pretty dumb, unless you stuck it in a pencil sharpener. I am sure of the brass spoon part though, and I have seen them set on tables in a restaurant, though I cannot recall where.

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Brass spoons, yeah, I've seen those.

And I can tell you I've never ever seen anybody eat with just one chopstick.

Well, I have, but those were kids playing with their food.

[rockhopper]

If the food is good enough I'll use the technique employed by Ralphie's little brother Randy.

Goes over well at 5 star restaurants.

[rooftop1000]

If the food is good enough I'll use the technique employed by Ralphie's little brother Randy.

Goes over well at 5 star restaurants.

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truffled mashed potatoes and pate of course, right?

tracey

[R.E. Turner]

As others have noted, eating with one's fingers is the best! Salads and green beans eaten at home are always eaten by hand, and I really prefer to eat steaks, roasts, etc., out of hand as well. (Although, when I'm out in public, I eat Continental style, and display manners that would fit right in at the Emily Post Institute, of course!)

And certain foods definitely do taste better out of specific vessels: I prefer most soups and cold cereals out of a specific large coffee mug, and noodles definitely taste better out of the deep green bowls. (The bowls are deep and narrow, so pasta stays warmer and tastier in the "right" bowl. I'm a slow eater!)

Finally, my kids are also among the brigade of munchkins who don't want their foods to touch. Therefore, I have a couple of sets of chop plates for them, plus a set of melamine lunchroom trays for larger groupings of "foods that must not come into contact with one another."

[ellencho]

Sometimes salad greens are so delicate and thin that jabbing with a fork does nothing and I end up scooping leaves of salad onto my fork (when out in public). However, at home I use chopsticks for salad.

Also, when eating snacks like popcorn, chips, etc I use chopsticks because I don't like oily leftover residue on my fingers.

[hjshorter]

I eat with my fingers whenever possible at home. I have to watch myself when dining at friend's houses so I don't forget and absentmindedly pick things up with my hands.

Ice cream with a teaspoon, cereal with a soup spoon. Not sure why.

[Hest88]

I use chopsticks whenever I can (well, in private and at home). I use it for pasta and salad and cake and any other solid foods for which I don't need a knife. I find chopsticks more maneuverable and it makes it less likely I'll smear food on the sides of my mouth.

With soup I like large Asian porcelain or plastic soup spoons. Western metal spoons burn my mouth and they don't hold enough soup!

[chow guy]

I eat one thing at a time on the plate (ever since I was a kid).

Use a large pocelain spoon for almost all soups.

I use oversized bowls for soups and salads.

Do not like salad forks for eating salad, or anything else for that matter.

I require thin lipped mugs, cups and very thin glassware.

I often mix and match dishes at the same meal using depression glass, family heirlooms and modern china.

After reading this thread, I miss my grandmother"s Blue Willow pattern.

[BarbaraY]

I like chopsticks when I'm eating Chinese or Japanese food. I use my cooking chopsticks often, especially nice for picking things out of hot oil although I usually use a Chinese skimmer for that.

Ice cream with a teaspoon but I prefer one with a pointed rather than rounded bowl and we serve it in a lotus bowl.

Soup in one of those cheapo Oriental bowls that you buy in the grocery store for under a dollar. That is unless we are having minestrone or some other main dish soup for dinner, then we use the soup plates.

Soup and cereal is eaten with a soup spoon, salad with a dinner fork.

Asparagus is finger food.

In my family, we used to eat pork chops with our fingers but the first time my ex saw me do it he freaked so bad I haven't done that since but I do pick up and gnaw on the bone.

[gini]

Also, when eating snacks like popcorn, chips, etc I use chopsticks because I don't like oily leftover residue on my fingers.

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Brilliant!!! I had always wondered what utensil I should be using to avoid this conundrum and now I know. Thanks

[bjones9942]

And yet more proof that everything is available on eBay.

I eat asian food with chopsticks, and most everything else with a sole fork. Rarely do I use a knife or spoon, other than to measure or spread. I'm also one of those strange people who use their good china daily. What's the point of having it if you don't use it? (and ok, I will admit to having 'really good' china that I use only on holidays or special occasions).

Edited February 2, 2006 by bjones9942 (log)