Notes From A Burning House

Miss Manners, the reliable and witty arbiter of etiquette and fine manners, was asked in her column last week to elucidate our rules on the use of a fork versus a spoon.  Surprisingly, the fork has achieved its prominence at the table by way of its own charisma rather than any established rule, so says the divine Miss M.:

Are you sure you are up to hearing the truth about flatware? Miss Manners must warn you that there is some vicious competition going on in the most ordinary and innocent-looking place setting.

The fork is the latecomer here, having been in widespread Western use for only a few centuries. But it quickly bullied its way to the top of the hierarchy and established the rule that everything that can be eaten with the fork alone should be. (And even some things that can’t be, such as peas; your mother’s acquaintance was sadly mistaken.)

The knife and the spoon had to settle for the leftovers. Well, not the leftovers you eat straight from the refrigerator while Miss Manners averts her eyes, but the foods that the fork had to admit it can’t manage.

The knife kept the meat (but not fish) although now in partnership with the fork. The spoon still had the soup to itself, but for informal service, got only the mushy stuff, while the fork got solids, such as cake. In formal service, the fork and spoon are both presented for dessert, whatever its solidity, and can be used together. But it is easy to see which is the ranking instrument.

I don’t know when it happened, but over time I have moved away from the fork and have approached my meals armed with a pair of chopsticks and a Korean-style spoon.  Korean spoons are excellent for their long handles and slightly wider heads, at less of an angle from the handle, making them much better for soup and rice.  Together, the spoon and chopsticks handle just about anything I want to eat – other than sandwiches, which I pick up and eat with my hands.  At a Korean table, this would be alien behavior. 

The one exception, I suppose, would be for carving into a nice, juicy steak or a slice of turkey.  For these, spoon and chopsticks would not do, and I would have to stab the meat with a fork and cut into it with a serrated knife.   I don’t eat much meat these days – I lost the habit when I learned how to cook and discovered beans, vegetables, tempeh, and other foods rich in protein and/or iron.  As a child, though, I would open the fridge, remove cold slices of roast beef from Tupperware containers, flick on some pepper, and eat straight from my hands.  Again, alien.  Both Miss Manners and the Koreans turn and avert their eyes at this memory.

Back to my beloved spoon and chopsticks.  I also have a long sock designed to hold them.  While I do not often carry the spoon around with me, I have two pairs of chopsticks in my briefcase, and I make no bones about using them in an Asian restaurant.  I much prefer to use my own than to consume a pair of disposable chopsticks, the ones you break apart to use for a single meal before they are thrown away. 

The worldwide demand for disposable chopsticks has led to frightening deforestation.  Literally, forests are cleared just to produce these things.  China alone consumes 25 million trees per year just for chopsticks. In British Columbia, whole aspen forests were cleared in just a few years by one single manufacturer of chopsticks. 

In China, the government has actually encouraged the use of disposable chopsticks for health purposes.  Still, many people in China have petitioned their government to reduce this practice.  In March, China instituted a disposable chopstick tax.  Korea also took measures to reduce disposable chopsticks at their restaurants.  In Japan, where plastic reusable chopsticks are not popular, the sanitary objections to reusable wood chopsticks have led to renewed interest in a natural lacquer finish so the sticks can be safely washed and re-used.   For those of us over here, David Strauch has some additional suggestions.  Me, I tough out the strange looks and break out my chopsticks, or hit myself over the head if I’ve forgotten them. 

To my knowledge, Miss Manners has never offered any suggestions for how to encourage others to bring and use their own chopsticks, but I am sure she would do it – as she does all things – with grace and wit. 

This entry was posted on Monday, July 24th, 2006 at 4:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.