What do you prefer to eat with? Sometimes I just want to rip in their with my hands. Take a shrimp/prawn. Am I really going to piss around peeling it with a knife and fork? Aren’t I going to rip that rustic sour dough and dip it in the olive oil? Tiny lamp chops make me lose control. Cut out the middleman and shove it straight in your gob.
I mentioned a few entries ago about the ludicrous guest nights at university when we peeled fruit with the best silver. Now I rail against this.
In contrast J revels in tableware (and my bête noir coasters, but that’s another story) perhaps as a reaction to being brought up in the antithesis of civilisation, Surfers Paradise. Our draws are packed with the utility spoons/knifes and forks in stainless steel. Then we have a mix of silver and plated soup spoons, desert spoons, knives and forks. There’s the fish set. Then there are my grandfather’s monogrammed servers.
Let’s not forget the chopsticks – disposable and plastic. What do you choose to eat with? I suppose it depends on the company you are with at that time.
Two hours out of town at Bendigo in the goldfields we find ourselves eating Yum Cha set with a cheap knife and a spoon. A table of Chinese shovel in their lunch with chopsticks. Not far from us there are piles of chopsticks. But something stops us are we being pretentious. Apart from picking up what we are given at restaurant tables, neither J nor I have any cultural precedent for using chopsticks.
At home, alone, we’ll use chopsticks for Asian dishes. Are we being pretentious? I don’t know.
It just feels right to use them with Asian or Chinese food.
And using the spoon and fork in Bendigo feels odd.
Food fascist
1. If you need steak knifes you’ve no idea how to cook steak.
2. Avoid Laguiole steak knives at all costs. They are overpriced (especially in Australia) and pretentious.
3. I am tempted to carry my own personal soup spoon. They really are designed for the purpose of moving liquid from A to B. Ditto the Chinese ones but it would be pretentious for me to carry around.
4. Hmm…I’m not sure about fish knives/forks anymore.
5. Don’t allow silver and steel to touch in the draw or dishwasher – the silver will tarnish. I always being accused of being a fascist on this and I am with good reason. Bastards!
6. When in Chinatown…
Become a Facebook fan. Follow me on Twitter. 
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
one word….. Splade (or should that be Splayd)
Gotta love the one-size-fits-all plastic take away ones.
Wooden chopsticks (never plastic – ewwwww!) and spoon for Asian food. Hands and spoon for Indian food. Knife and fork and spoon for western food – except when hands are easier.
-Elizabeth
P.S. Those silver knives are stunningly beautiful.
P.P.S. Steak knives are fun. And a lagiole has such a nice weight. (Alas, we only have one with a lovely amourette handle.)
M. A splade/ye – and I could use one of those plates with the wineglass holder and never have to sit at the table again!
ejm – Laguiole are great – I have a bone handled corkscrew (with a bent screw and buggered sprinf ;-() but over the top. As for wooden chopsticks haven’t you read about the campagn to use plastic ones in china because of massive deforestation.
I like the Laguiole knives too but you’re right about how exxy they are.
wooden chopsitcks for me too – really dislike plastic ones. Chopsticks are great for just about everything, Asian and not (apart from maybe steak?), both cooking and eating wise. Very versatile.
Have you tried the knives they have at taxi – almost surgical. You’re right about the chopsticks they are practical and there is something aesthetic about them.
I have a friend who used to take his own plastic chopsticks to eat in Indian restaurants in Oxford when he was on sabbatical there in the late 1970’s. I always thought it was one of the most eccentric acts I’ve ever heard of, but I kind of admired him for doing it.
Nothing pretentious about chopsticks, they make more sense for most noodle dishes and there’s something just so *wrong* about spearing a delicate piece of dim sum with a fork.
Much of Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.) uses fork and spoon for rice and dry (not soup) noodle dishes. Makes sense — spoon to eat, fork to push food onto spoon. Once you get used to it you wonder why westerners insist on the whole fork thing and no utensil for shovelling thing (my mother would’ve had a fit if I’d used my knife to shovel food onto fork).
Robyn, it’s great shovelling isn’t it. I like to slurp too and wish I had the courage to do it in front of polite company. To tell the truth J claims that I do.
My grandfather used to carry his own silver and glass canister of mustard with him. *Roll eyes*
Those monogrammed servers are incredibly beautiful! Hey, I wanted to thank you for the wattle seeds! I finally got them … after some drama … let’s just say daft housemate, unhelpful post office, pissed off MM …
Now I am all excited and looking around for recipes! My friend from Australia looked at me as if I was daft when I danced around the package and found out it was wattle seeds inside …
MM, roll eyes again I’m thinking of attaching a proper soup spoon to my key ring so I don’t have to suffer soup with a shallow desert spoon. And I must admit to giving a friend a wonderful pocket pepper grinder once (although it was really because he camps a lot). Glad the wattle seed arrived and look forward to what you cook with it.