eating utensils

[cheerypeabrain]

Came home from the pub 3 sheets to the wind (more than one pint and I'm anybody's) and turned on the tablet...it was on Anyport and son glanced over my shoulder..."Who eats utensils?"

I laughed like a drain
My head hurts.

[kerouac2]

I guess he is from the McDonald's generation. Not many utensils there!

[questa]

Without my glasses, my blurry eyes just read,..."Who eats tonsils?"

[kerouac2]

Obviously I have snail forks - after all, I live in France - but I have never owned or used those shell grippers that seem to be obligatory in restaurants. I also have crab picks, at least that's what I call them, but I'm sure they must have some other uses. I think I also have some fondue forks, but I have no idea where they are.

Are there any other unusual utensils out there?

[lagatta]

Fondue forks are useful for fishing all sorts of things out of hot oil or jars and bottles. I never make either European or Asian fondues at home, but I use the forks all the time. I have little forks and would love to find more. I like to eat with them. I went to a nearby restaurant supply place and they now only sell plastic tiny forks that look like metal; they said no restaurants want to buy the real ones as guests steal them.

[kerouac2]

Most of my little forks were stolen on airlines back when they still used metal cutlery.

[lagatta]

Oh, I have some of those too. I love little forks.

[questa]

How about "Splayds"? Invented by a Sydney man, an acquaintance of my father. Dad was given a complimentary case of them, I still have the utensils. They were like a spoon, fork and knife conjoined, and were supposed to enable the user to hold a plate with one hand and use the splayd to cut, spear or scoop food when eating at BBQs They were like a dessert spoon with tines cut into the bowl and one edge sharper than the rest.

Well...The sharp side was too blunt to cut anything tougher than potato salad but when the blokes tried hard, the rebound from the tool slipping usually sprayed the people with mixed salads.
The spoon was OK, but as most of the bowl was tines, you got your spag sauce in very small doses -very frustrating.
The fork was triangular, curved and had 2 tiny points to impale a chunk of chop. That bit was OK but the tines were at a loss if it was spag or noodles on the menu.

Anyone else know them?

[kerouac2]

I've seen such things in camping stores.

[patricklondon]

Feb 11, 2019 14:08:36 GMT kerouac2 said:

Are there any other unusual utensils out there?

Somewhere I acquired not so much forks as sharp short prongs on a handle that you use to hold the ends of a corn cob. They're much sharper and straighter than table forks, so they get a secure purchase on the tough core.

[kerouac2]

Yes, we used to have those, but I forgot because I haven't eaten corn on the cob in about 40 years.

[questa]

Do we count the silver-plated set of butter knife, square sugar spoon and round jam spoon.? It was always a moot point what one should serve Vegemite with. We decided that it is socially acceptable to use a bread-and-butter knife that had been set aside for that purpose only.

Breakfast, however, had everyone for himself.The test of hand-eye co-ordination was 'can you have 3 slices of toast and not get the Vegemite in the butter?'

[mossie]

One of the most useful items is the 'pusher' which all babies sets of irons include.

[questa]

Cross over from Aussie Slang thread...your eating utensils are called your "Tucker Tackle".

[mickthecactus]

Feb 12, 2019 11:10:52 GMT questa said:

Cross over from Aussie Slang thread...your eating utensils are called your "Tucker Tackle".

Not to be confused with your wedding tackle.

[mickthecactus]

Feb 12, 2019 8:21:43 GMT questa said:

Do we count the silver-plated set of butter knife, square sugar spoon and round jam spoon.? It was always a moot point what one should serve Vegemite with. We decided that it is socially acceptable to use a bread-and-butter knife that had been set aside for that purpose only.

Breakfast, however, had everyone for himself.The test of hand-eye co-ordination was 'can you have 3 slices of toast and not get the Vegemite in the butter?'

That’s easy. Butter the toast first, throw the Vegemite in the bin and use Marmite instead.

[amboseli]

I use a fork and a knife, as I learned at school. We would get a slap on the wrist if we didn't do it right.
I can't eat with my hands. I hate the feeling of having fat on them. But I'm very handy with fork & knife, even to peel shrimps.

[amboseli]

Feb 12, 2019 9:17:57 GMT mossie said:

One of the most useful items is the 'pusher' which all babies sets of irons include.

I recently bought a baby set for our grandson. I was surprised that the pusher was no longer there. Instead it contains an unsharp knife.

[patricklondon]

I've just thought. You don't see fish knives any more (or do you?). I know the really posh rather sneered at them (they just use two forks to flake fish, I believe), but once upon a time, they were the wedding present for the upwardly mobile. My grand mother had a very fancy set that we never used.


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[questa]

Nut crackers...We had some in the form of a brass crocodile with wide open jaws. Totally useless in cracking hard nuts, but this was achieved by banging the nut with the tool shed hammer on the doorstep. So much for the gracious living.

[kerouac2]

Feb 13, 2019 12:10:37 GMT patricklondon said:

You don't see fish knives any more (or do you?).

In a "full" set of silverware, I think you still do. I recall using such things at my grandparents' house and also during the fish course on ocean liners.

I still have a grapefruit knife which I think I used for the first time in ten years this week.

[mickthecactus]

I still have and use my grandparents carving set. Over 100 years old.

[breeze]

In our family the coveted utensil was the jelly spoon. It had a long handle. Any time spoons were handed out, four little children would say "I want the jelly spoon!" I'm surprised we didn't fight over it when my mother died.

There was also a Howdy Doody spoon we kids loved. I may have to explain Howdy Doody to some of you young'uns.

[amboseli]

Feb 13, 2019 12:10:37 GMT patricklondon said:

I've just thought. You don't see fish knives any more (or do you?).

Check! I have them in the silverware we got for our wedding 43 yrs ago. I haven't used my silverware in years ... too much work to polish.

[lagatta]

I checked and my two favourite small forks are marked Iberia so someone must have stolen them from a plane. I've never happened to fly Iberia. I just want to know where the hell I can buy some. Stainless, not silver.

[cheerypeabrain]

I cannot eat soup with anything other than a soup spoon. To my husband soup spoons are an unnecessary utensil and he uses a desert spoon (for most things).

We do have a load of ancient bone handled butter knives..most belonged to my parents but I picked up a few at car boot sales years ago...(in the 90s we seemed to be at boot sales most weekends if I wasnt working)

Over the years weve had several cutlery sets but about 10 years ago I got a good, solid stainless steel set...nothing fancy...but my son and myself still use the cheap knives and forks that I bought in the 80s...unless we have guests and I set the table. Jeff and I usually eat our evening meal on trays in front of the telly...common as muck.