figmo: Baby Grace and Lynn (Default)
figmo ([personal profile] figmo) wrote2006-10-14 03:11 pm
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Utensil question

When you're eating pie or cake, do you eat it with a fork or with a spoon?

[identity profile] ex-serenejo.livejournal.com 2006-10-14 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
Usually a fork, but a spoon is fine.

[identity profile] kennita.livejournal.com 2006-10-14 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I prefer fork, unless I'm eating it with ice cream, in which case it's a spoon unless the ice cream is hard. But if there are no forks left, hey, any port in a storm :-)

[identity profile] dd-b.livejournal.com 2006-10-14 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
For me a fork is canonical. If there's a shortage of implements I'll use whatever I can lay hands on, though.

[identity profile] bikergeek.livejournal.com 2006-10-14 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Generally a fork, unless it's pie a la mode or the filling tends more toward liquid than solid.
cellio: (chocolate)

[personal profile] cellio 2006-10-14 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Fork unless with ice cream. A spoon isn't wrong; it's just not what I reach for (or offer guests).

[identity profile] tigertoy.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
One more vote for a fork. I could eat pie or cake with a spoon, but I wouldn't choose it any more than I'd choose a spoon for mashed potatoes or pasta salad.

[identity profile] daisy-knotwise.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
Fruit pies, to my mind need a fork. Cream pies can take a spoon. Ice cream wants a spoon too. it really depends on the pie.

GHR

[identity profile] sweetmusic-27.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
Pie for fruit pies. Spoon for cake or more liquidy pies or cheesecake -- but I'm also wont to pick up any given dessert and eat it with my hands.

[identity profile] chriso.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 01:44 am (UTC)(link)
As several others have said, I'd use a fork unless its cake and ice cream or pie a la mode. Can't get up all the ice cream with a fork.

[identity profile] allisona.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
Fork :).

[identity profile] merlinpole.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
It depends upon several factors:
1. What type of pie/cake is it?
2. Where am I
3. What time it is
4. Who is around?

If I'm by myself in the car or in the house, Social Correctitude is not a necessary consideration!
kayshapero: (Default)

[personal profile] kayshapero 2006-10-15 07:50 am (UTC)(link)
If those are the choices, a fork. Tried chopsticks once - bad idea. Have used fingers on occasion.

Straight from the Book

[identity profile] hvideo.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 09:15 am (UTC)(link)
Anyone who has read Heinlein's SPACE CADET knows "I will always eat my pie with a fork" (500 times). And that is my default choice.

Oh, someone was thinking of a different book, blue in color? As I recall it allows either.

Re: Straight from the Book

[identity profile] keristor.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
He went on to say that "pie with a fork" is North American etiquette (and adopted by that particular organisation as standard), and that in other cultures you do what your hostess (or host) does. It is impolite to demand a fork in a culture which only uses spoons (or fingers). He had other examples of different cultures, for example the Jockaira in "Methuselah's Children" where it was a communal dish and politeness was to scoop up the stuff with your fingers and feed it to your host or partner.

The point in Space Cadet was to break the attitude that "the way I was taught is always right", and to set a standard which would be regarded as "not impolite" by most of the people they were likely to encounter (although some would find it strange and possibly inefficient).

[identity profile] pbristow.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 10:56 am (UTC)(link)
I generally eat cake with fingers, unless it's a really gooey one - in which case, probably a spoon, as it's easy to lick all every last trace of the gooey stuff off of.

Pie? Spoon I guess.

[identity profile] hitchhiker.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 12:00 pm (UTC)(link)
preferably fork, but otherwise, whatever's handy

[identity profile] keristor.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 12:58 pm (UTC)(link)
When eating out, whatever the local social system is. It is correct in Cornwall, for instance, to hold a Cornish Pasty in your fist and eat it from the other end (unless it's too hot to hold; a proper pasty shouldn't be too crumbly or soft). Meat pies will normally be with knife and fork (fork held in the left hand, knife in the right; optionally the other way round for sinister people). Fruit pie is usually with a spoon, optionally with a fork. Cake served as dessert is usually with a fork, but served for "afternoon tea" is often eaten using fingers even at 'posh' places.

At home (includes family meals) it depends on the type of pie or cake. Solid cakes (sponge, fruit cake, the things called 'muffins' in the US, etc.) I use fingers. Some cold pies I use fingers (particularly the solid meat pies). Savoury pies served with vegetables and/or gravy I us a knife and fork (as for other meat & veg type savoury dishes). Fruit pies with cream, ice cream, or custard, or ones which are too soft to pick up, I use a spoon and sometimes a fork as well.

Pizza (regarded by some as a form of open pie or savoury tart) is eaten with fingers unless too hot or too floppy.

I regard this as British 'normal' etiquette, not necessarily that of those who think themselves "upper class" (who have things like fish knives and special spoons and forks for each type of food).

[identity profile] ravan.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Fork for the pie/cake, spoon for the ice cream in the ala mode.

The only pies I'll eat with my fingers are those cheap enclosed "pies". I'll sometimes eat sheet cake with my fingers, if there's no frosting and/or it's an outdoor event sans silverware.

Now for the real question

[identity profile] capplor.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Why do you ask? Someone give you a hard time, or did something look strange to you?
ext_12246: (Default)

[identity profile] thnidu.livejournal.com 2006-10-15 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"When you're eating pie or cake, do you eat it with a fork or with a spoon?"

Yes, happily.

Oh, you mean "which one?". Fork in general, spoon if w/ ice cream: I second kennita.

SPORK!

[identity profile] the-ogre.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
Ok, not really - I jus' wanted to say that. I use a spoon.

[identity profile] silverstorm2013.livejournal.com 2006-10-16 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Fork here, Even if it is with Ice cream.

But I'd use a spoon if thats all I had. But I'd be thinking of the fork :-)

[identity profile] hillarysherwood.livejournal.com 2006-10-17 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
Fork, unless it's something like ice cream or very soft. Then I'd use a spoon.
filkferengi: (Default)

[personal profile] filkferengi 2006-10-19 08:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Spoon is first choice, if available. Otherwise, I can make do with a fork.