Which implements do you use when you eat?

[Kerala]

In Kerala we use our fingers. Yoghurt, rasam and sambar are mixed with rice and eaten by hand. Payasam is eaten off the leaf by hand, but in recent decades may be served in small bowls and eaten with a spoon.

I sustained a gory injury to my right arm when I was a house officer 35 years ago and the median nerve didn't grow back quite right. Not only do I lack the fine dexterity to eat rice elegantly with my fingers, but I also suffer sensitivity to hot food on my fingertips. Sadly I now eat Indian food in the English manner.

Chopsticks are impossible for me to grasp properly since the accident, so I use them cack-handedly. I just endure the ignominy.

Worst of all, I sometimes eat Indian food with my left hand. I'm sure people think I lost my culture growing up in the UK!

 

[liuzhou]

I'm not usually ambidextrous but can use chopsticks in either hand. My party trick is to use two pairs of chopsticks simultaneously.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

6 hours ago, Kerala said:

Not only do I lack the fine dexterity to eat rice elegantly with my fingers, but I also suffer sensitivity to hot food on my fingertips. Sadly I now eat Indian food in the English manner.

I have no good excuse for my inability to eat rice elegantly with my fingers except that it’s a skill I never learned. I mastered chopsticks as an adult and there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to do the same with my own fingers! I need to use the surfaces of my fingertips with greater precision and may need to ask my Indian friends to correct me like a child! 

[liuzhou]

I am inordinately fond of these spoons.

 

 

They're a bit bigger than teaspoons size and sold as watermelon spoons. I use them for ice cream. 

 

 

 

[chromedome]

33 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I am inordinately fond of these spoons.

 

 

They're a bit bigger than teaspoons size and sold as watermelon spoons. I use them for ice cream. 

 

 

 

I'm tempted to get them for my GF, for the same purpose, but she might interpret that as an editorial comment on how much ice cream she engulfs at a sitting. 

[gulfporter]

I don't think we use knives while eating more than once a month at home. 

 

Our protein of choice is seafood, usually salmon and shrimp.   I sear tuna steaks for soft tacos, but I slice the steak and prepare the tacos in the kitchen.  

 

We love grilled racks of lamb, but I carve into chops in the kitchen and plate.  We gnaw on the grilled chops out of hand (how gauche!).  

 

I grill pork tenderloin but these days they are so skinny, after I rest them, I slice and serve the slices on our plate that are just a one bite deal. 

 

We love chicken.  I often buy rotis chicken and debone and make into a recipe (if you need a knife for a rotis chicken you're buying it at the wrong place ☺️).  I have BBQ chicken and also wings delivered, both of which we eat of of hand (with lots of napkins!).

 

We have pizza at least once a week either delivered, carryout or I bake a Costco frozen Detroit pizza.  No knives needed other than to slice the Detroit pizza before eating.  

 

Other meals at home are pasta, omelets, hashes, soups and stews.  

 

I grill burgers (beef, lamb, Italian sausage) a lot in summer, too.  

 

Our table/steak knives come out for chicken sheet pan dinners and an occasional meal of arrachera (marinated skirt steak).  

Edited 4 hours ago by gulfporter
grammar (log)

[liuzhou]

Here is a typical set for a Chnese place setting. We have a cup, a rice bowl, chopsticks and a spoon. The small plate is mainly used for discarded bones* etc.

 

 

Incidentally, this set is made from bio-degradable rice husks and is used for food deliveries (although most still use plastic). The chopsticks are bamboo.

 

In restaurants, you are more likely to be given porcelain spoons and plates etc. The chopsticks will be wooden. Restaurants tend to 'rent' their tableware from a service whitch takes them away each night, and cleans and stabilises them, wraps each set in plastic and redelivers in the morning.

 

* Most foods come on the bone in China.  

 

 

Edited 53 minutes ago by liuzhou (log)

[blue_dolphin]

51 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Restaurants tend to 'rent' their tableware from a service witch takes them away each night….

I really need a service witch like that to take away my dirty dishes - I hope she arrives on a broom to sweep up in the kitchen, too!  😉

[liuzhou]

39 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I really need a service witch like that to take away my dirty dishes - I hope she arrives on a broom to sweep up in the kitchen, too!  😉

 

 

Oops. Edited. I definitely need a witch, too. Not only for dirty dishes;  for typing.