Friday, May 14, 2004

I eat with a pitchfork

I eat with a pitchfork

At least that's what my new t-shirt says.


Actually, I eat with a spoon (in my right hand) and a fork (in my left). It's the Filipino way. Having spent more time in recent years dining among the Euro-Americans, I have achieved some level of ability with using the fork and knife method. I tend to use the European method (keeping the fork in my left hand), but will occasionally use the American, or zig zag, method (switching the fork between the left and the right).

In my view, though, the Filipino way is still the more sensible, and Foodgoat has come around to seeing it my way. Spoons, it's true, are not so helpful when eating pasta or salad. But anything with rice is much easier when it's scooped up in a spoon. I continue to be perplexed by the idea of trying to eat rice, non-sticky rice at that, with a fork. It's just so difficult. And a knife, to be honest, is really not necessary most of the time, and even when I have one I hardly ever use it. A well-cooked meat dish should be tender enough to be torn to pieces using the tip of the spoon and a fork to hold it down. (That same tip is also just the right shape for ripping off all the shrimp legs at once.)

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:20 PM

    Dang, I usually eat with an old carbon steel cooking fork. I even eat my ice cream wtih a fork. No spoons ... very little use of knives at the table.

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  2. Anonymous4:21 PM

    i thought pilipinos eat with their hands

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  3. Anonymous4:21 PM

    Oh we eat like you too. Fork and spoon if we are having rice with curry or stews- it is easier to mix the rice with the yummy gravy this way. The spoon does double-duty as knife to cut meats. If we have noodle-type pasta, I switch the fork to the right and the spoon to the left, so I can twirl the pasta in my spoon.

    Bowl and chopstick with side plate if we have Chinese food.

    Eating with hands is a skill. I've yet to master it.

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  4. Anonymous4:22 PM

    ooooo, my boys do very well with their hands. They've also mastered the art of disecting food and eating it piece by piece. Thank goodness for hardwood floors ...

    ReplyDelete