A Mother's Worst Nightmare

[Flicker Sweet 3,391]

Many of us know the unsaid
rules of eating, but we’ve never really seen what it’s like to go without
them.  I predicted that, because of
centuries of development of proper dining etiquette, if I were refuse to use
the proper utensils when eating, then I would face a negative sanction from the
public, mainly in the form of a verbal response.

I started out small; I decided to use chopsticks one day to
eat a cheeseburger.  Immediately I could
see a reaction from the person next to me. 
She had this look of confusion and distain on her face.  After I continued for a while, she blurted,
“What are you doing?!”

I then took the experiment home with me.  My mother had made some soup and my step dad
had made porkchops.  I grabbed my soup
bowl, held it to my face, and drank the soup. 
(Who needs spoons?)  I got a few
confused looks from my step dad and mom, but nothing really worth
mentioning.  So, I then placed my face
on my plate and began to eat the porkchop using only my mouth.  This yielded a perfect reaction from my
mother, who took away my plate, told me that we, “are not animals,” and then
sent me to my room for the rest of the night.

The next day, at lunch, I had a bit of yogurt with my
food.  I grabbed a straw and began to
suck the yogurt through it.  It was kind
of like drinking a really bad milkshake. 
I looked around, but there was nobody paying any attention to me this
time.  There was, unfortunately, no reaction.

While I did this experiment, I felt out of place.  We live our whole lives eating “properly” so
when I decided to eat, “like an animal,” I felt extremely uncomfortable and out
of place.  I have learned proper dining
etiquette from ROTC, I know exactly how to eat properly.  So, when I performed these actions, I felt a
reaction from myself as well.  I felt
like an animal, I was out of place and wrong.  I think that our rules of dining make us feel like we are on a
different level than the animal kingdom. 

I think I have found one of the reasons that we
conform: it’s much more comfortable to do what you know, rather than to venture
out and risk damnation.

Edited February 20, 2013 by Red

[Stalliongrad 982]

I think it depends mostly on where you are and what you are eating. I don't think anyone would expect you to eat a burger with chopsticks. I wouldn't see that as weird. More or less interesting. And I thought we all ate yogurt like that

[Betez 1,734]

Know how You feel. However, I feel like eating with silverware is easier an less messy. Does it make us higher than other animals? Maybe. Is it worth it? I think so.

[Lunar Follower 86]

I like your thinking. I would surely face ridicule from my parents for trying this. People are just so uptight with their idea of right. All being 'right' is, is an opinion really. One that someone just decided tlone day to say was the proper way to do things. Personaally i think people are full of crap most of the time but there are exceptions and i will not condemn all of hankind. (But i do dislike most of our species)

[Leatherbehlt 465]

I think if I tried this at school, people wouldn't give a damn because I'm not that popular. If I did this around my parents, they'd think I'm high and search my room. That, or I'd get slapped right across the face. In public, I wouldn't be ballsy enough for that.

[Gone Airbourne 21,969]

I see what you were truly trying to get out of this. But people who are uptight and put others down for liking/doing different things is sickening to me. I have had many people ridicule me because of the music I listen to, to some of the clothes I wear etc. Alot of these people are "christians" who literally think everuthing in this world is bad and will judge anyone based on their "beliefs". Its people like that who need to learn how to shut their mouths and let others be. 

 

Sometimes this world just makes me laugh... not in a haha funny way but a "don't want to live on this planet anymore" type of laugh  -_-

Edited February 21, 2013 by Gone ϟ Airbourne

[Jessper 735]

Noone eats or ever ate hamburgers with chopsticks or a meat from a plate using mouth only. Simply because neither our mouth or chopsticks are well suited to be used like that. It's not really about butchering etiquette, it's about doing something so impractical, that it gets a strong reaction.

 

If you want to butcher etiquette, eat meals with hands, throw bones on the floor, eat raw meat... But what you did is more like eating a soup with fork, just a little bit crazy, because it doesn't work.

Edited February 21, 2013 by Jessper

[Kamil 315]

I for one don't really care for etiquette. When I was in High school I usually brought a lunch, and often we had individual pudding cups but no plastic spoons. So I opened it up, shoved it against my mouth, and used my tongue to scoop out all the pudding. Screw the rules, I wanted pudding.

 

But you know what? If I had a spoon I would have used it, because spoons are way better for getting pudding out of cups. As it turns out, food is designed to be eaten with certain utensils just like utensils are designed to help eat certain food. In my experience pork chops are tough and bland, so they are best cut with a knife and covered with some kind of sauce (I prefer applesauce, but whatever you feel like); using only your mouth will cause great difficulty due to the lack of leverage for separating manageable bites (not to mention discomfort from the posture required to support that in a traditional Western-styled dining arrangement) while using your hands as well would make a mess of whatever sauce is involved and still be much more difficult than a knife. That's not to say people didn't overreact, but the reason certain things are considered appropriate is because they're actually useful for the task that is being accomplished.

[moduz94 78]

It's more like getting out of the lines, while it's a good idea, it's not quite applicable on eating manners, after all we do move only with our legs so the arms are pretty much there to help with everything else.

 

 

To this very day I still refuse to eat chicken with a fork, it's totally stupid in my opinion ( plus I want to look like a pirate ), I still eat pizza with my hands and I still "suck" ice cream no matter what looks people give me.

 

 

personally I don't really care for others opinions, I'm good with what I do and I know I don't eat like a pig when I eat so if they have a problem well Beats me!

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

I am going to use a pen to eat an ice cream cone. That aughta' show the status quo who's boss.

 

But I think a much better evidence for us being different from animals is the fact that you are able to deduce those thoughts at all, rather than the actions which come from them.