Thursday, May 21, 2009

Implements Optional

People have been eating with their fingers long before they started using cutlery. Many things are acceptable to eat without a utensil: sandwiches, ribs, pizza, fried chicken, chips, asparagus, artichokes, cookies, ice cream cones, and breads. However, good manners dictate that most other foods require some type of tableware. I'm sure I shocked the etiquette police today when I ate all my food with my fingers.

For breakfast, I defrosted some chocolate-strawberry muffins and peeled a banana. Nothing wrong with eating either of these without silverware. While I ate, I read the cartoons and advice columns in the POST-DISPATCH. It was an advantage to have one hand free to hold the paper.

When I was running errands mid-morning, an Almond Joy bar just happened to jump out of the rack and onto the counter with my other purchases. (Don't you just hate it when that happens?) I paid for it and made it to the car before I opening the wrapper. Although the warm weather made the chocolate a bit messy, I managed to eat it without getting too much on my fingers.

At lunchtime I wanted to read the rest of the newspaper. I heated up some leftover Ravioli Casserole--cheese ravioli baked with broccoli, tomato sauce, and canned tomatoes. The mixture was a bit dry; yesterday's plentiful liquid had been absorbed into the pasta. As I was carrying the bowl to the table I absentmindedly stuck one of the ravioli into my mouth. It tasted great and wasn't sloppy. I decided I could concentrate on my reading better if I left the fork laying on the table, so one at a time I transferred the ravioli from the bowl to my mouth with my fingers. When the pasta was all gone, there were a couple of spoonfuls of broccoli and tomato chunks that I scooped up and ate with my digits. I completed the meal with some dried apricots, which are a perfect finger food.

In the middle of the afternoon I had some frozen watermelon chunks, which were so hard they couldn't have been speared with a fork even if I wanted to!

Dinner was pizza, the ultimate finger food. I cut some carrot and celery sticks for a bit more color on the plate, and happily picked everything up and transferred it directly to my mouth without the benefit of any silverware.

There you go. A whole day's worth of food with no silverware needed. However, I did use a napkin. I'm not a complete slob!

15 comments:

  1. LOL! Why waste the dishwasher?

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  2. I hate using cutlery. As a vegetarian I rarely use a knife, but when I have to I'm a complete disaster. I'm so messy with food that I really don't need little weapons to make things worse. It bugs the beejeesus out of me when people eat pizza with a knife and fork.

    Also, I had pizza for dinner last night too.

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  3. I don't always use a fork either. I don't think its necessary to get a fork if I am having a bowl of broccoli florets. And I wanna say I've probably done ravioli too. I do me finger eating in private though so I'll a good example for the boy ;-) TALU

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    1. I agree--it's hard ENOUGH for kids to be civilized, and even harder if their parents don't set a good example :-)

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  4. What I think is kinda funny is that we're one of the few cultures that shake hands - most bow, nod, etc., to avoid germs, yet how many cultures eat with their hands?? That's something else I've noticed as well - when I was a kid and would go to a Japanese restaurant, you had to drink your soup from the bowl, but nowadays, you always get those spoons that are mostly used for serving desserts or an amuse-bouche now. That's one more "unnecessary" utensil. Knock yourself out ... just wash your hands first. ;) [#TALU]

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    1. And then there's the tradition in many Muslim countries of using only your right hand to eat.

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  5. I'm the opposite, I can't stand getting my hands dirty. When I was a kid, my mom was always washing my hands. Must be my OCD. :D

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    1. It's funny. I don't mind playing with food or messing in the garden soil, but if my hands get sweaty I HAVE to clean them.

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  6. I pack a lot of meals for the kids and I to eat at the soccer field. Forks are just too much of a bother, so we only pack them when necessary. However, I do feel a bit "born in a barnish" when I have a group of kids circling a huge bowl of cut up food, eating with their hands.
    I laugh at the squeezable applesauce containers they sell very expensively now. My kids have been "drinking" their applesauce for years!
    TALU

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    1. Feeding kids on the run--been there, done that. I started making individual servings in deli carryout containers, which seemed to work. At least I didn't have one kid complaining his brother had eaten more than his share!

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  7. I figure it's one of those reasons we have thumbs. Silverware is so overrated anyway. Unless you are eating spaghetti. Then I would have to compromise. (talu)

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    1. Don't tell anyone, but I've found even spaghetti can be finger food if you cut it in small enough pieces ;-)

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  8. So funny! And yes, I completely hate when those pesky candy bars jump off the shelf and into my cart. I'm really impressed that you made it all the way to the car without opening it. I also feel like food I eat standing up in the kitchen without using utensils saves calories. So there's that.
    TALU

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    1. You know that trick where you teach your dog willpower by balancing a treat on its nose? I practice my willpower by not immediately tearing into candy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

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  9. Kathy just stopped back cause I thought about you when I ate a pancake dripping with syrup with my fingers. Apparently I do that more often than I thought.

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