An actual pasta spoon

Pasta spoon by churl

Just thought I'd showcase the pasta spoon, for which this blog is named. Can can see here that the pasta was served correctly, in a shallow bowl, but a pasta spoon (entirely unnecessary) was also supplied.

You use the basin of the spoon to twirl the noodles. There is much dispute over whether you can actually pick up the spoon and use it to usher the stray noodles with the fork. I just leave the spoon in the dish and never pick it up.

I'm sure someone will have some opinion on whether this is correct, but it is generally agreed that the pasta spoon is superfluous.

EDIT - 6/23/07 - An ethnic Italian friend of mine from Argentina was recently visiting Italy, and he confirmed for me that indeed, the pasta spoon is Italian, and people do use it, but it is not ubiquitous. Just goes to show.

Dining pet peeves

The cutting of the cake by gwen

(I don't know who these people are. I just liked the picture!)

So this week, I saw the capital offense: the licking of a knife!

Every now and then, I cheat a lot on dining etiquette. When no one's looking, I eat pastries with a knife only, cutting and stabbing pieces. Shame on me. I can't help myself sometimes. In company though, I'd never dream of it. But I saw someone lick their knife right in front of me. I was appalled. In med school, someone did this in front of me, and I stopped eating for a moment, my brain reeling from this act of incivility.

The inevitable question is why, WHY is it rude to lick your knife. I guess that the idea behind not licking your knife was that you could cut yourself on it (which is still a legitimate concern). But I imagine that when the fork came to be, its dominance of the dining table had to be complete, and this guiltiest of guilty pleasures had to be sacrificed.

How to hold your fork

FORK!! uploaded by ehavir

This cute little guy has an excuse. It's his first fork meal. And we are often quite forgiving of the table manners of children. However, if you're reading this, you have no excuse. A fork should never be held in a clenched fist.

I've seen a lot of people, especially when cutting with a knife, who stab their meat with the fork and a clenched fist while cutting. This is never appropriate.

The fork should always be held with the thumb and first few fingers, using the minimum amount of force needed. This is one of my dining pet peeves, but on the list of egregious dining habits, there's worse.