Jingthing Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 OK, recently presented with a plate of mashed potatoes and garden peas at a casual Pattaya western restaurant and the only thing on the table was a fork and knife. I started to eat the food with a fork but started to get really frustrated with dealing with the peas that way so asked for a spoon. Then ate the entire mess Thai style with fork and spoon, including the English meat pie on the plate. The Thai fork and spoon is so much more efficient even for lots of western food! Face it, it's better. Almost as brilliant as the bum gun on the other end. Of course for cutting up steaks, its different, you need fork and knife, but for most western food, Thai style is really better. Thinking about this, at a hiso western restaurant here I probably would cave and eat f-rang style and I have tried using Thai style fork and spoon in the US at both western and Thai restaurants. But there people REALLY STARE, I mean a lot, it is too annoying so not worth it. Even at Thai places there people eating their Thai food incorrectly with CHOPSTICKS will stare at the fork and spoon. Oh well ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onionluke Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 JT , you defo live on the dark side of the spoon . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 JT , you defo live on the dark side of the spoon . Thank you for noticing. May I have another? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onionluke Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 JT , you defo live on the dark side of the spoon . Thank you for noticing. May I have another? You can have your potatoes and eat em . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 JT , you defo live on the dark side of the spoon . Thank you for noticing. May I have another? You can have your potatoes and eat em . Idaho? No, Youdaho ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onionluke Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 JT , you defo live on the dark side of the spoon . Thank you for noticing. May I have another? You can have your potatoes and eat em . Idaho? No, Youdaho ... I'm just a spud boy looking for the real tomatoe . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardholder Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I can relate to this. After 6 years of coming to Thailand, and now being virtually permanent, I can easily see the fallacy of eating mash and peas with a knife and fork. A spoon was always regarded as being for children and retards. I make no further comment about that but it should not take an astro-physicist to work out that peas are less likely to roll off a spoon than a fork - or that a greater mass of mash (especially with gravy) can be amassed on a spoon than a fork. I will be concerned if I get to the stage of some 25 year Thai-veteran friends who use the spoon to cut up sausages and steak and kidney pies/puddings - some things just need a knife and fork. many Thai places do not possess a dinner knife and it is a bitch trying to spread butter off the back of a spoon or, worse, a fork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onionluke Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 On the topic of mashed potatoes . My partner does the mashing in the tum tum , for reasons known only to herself , and this makes the end result spicy mashed potatoes . I eat them with a spoon , sometimes in the middle of the night straight from the open fridge with my eyes shut . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DP25 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) I'm from the US and I've always used spoons for stuff like mashed potato and peas. Knife and fork is just for steaks and roasts and stuff you have to cut. Otherwise the knife is never even touched. Trying to eat peas with a knife and fork is bizarre to me Edited January 1, 2012 by DP25 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 I'm from the US and I've always used spoons for stuff like mashed potato and peas. Knife and fork is just for steaks and roasts and stuff you have to cut. Otherwise the knife is never even touched. Trying to eat peas with a knife and fork is bizarre to me Perhaps but I really am talking about full on Thai style eating. Using the back of the fork as a shovel to push into the spoon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F4UCorsair Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 It's more than obvious why some SE Asian people use spoon and fork, mostly bite sized pieces, or if not, the type of meat (fish, for example) that can easily be broken up with a spoon and fork, but less obvious is their use of woks for cooking. A wok is so much more practical for cooking almost everything, the heat is dispersed more evenly across the cooking surface, different size steamers can be used because of the tapered sides, and cooking is faster. I'm often amused by farang who ask for chopsticks in Thai restaurants. Those that serve Chinese or Chinese/Thai can usually provide them, but staff in a just Thai restaurant are usually mystified by the request. I haven't used a knife and fork at home for years but for the one western dish I eat, my very favourite, Lamb Shanks on a bed of mash or cous cous, with buckets of gravy and some greens. The mash can be pushed onto the fork with pieces of lamb, but not nearly as efficiently as with a spoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkkjames Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I tried eating a steak once with only a fork and spoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poanoi Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 It's more than obvious why some SE Asian people use spoon and fork, mostly bite sized pieces, or if not, the type of meat (fish, for example) that can easily be broken up with a spoon and fork entirely true.On another note, i wonder why i sit here and chat about using a spoon when i eat, i don't even bother bring up such trivial matter with my gf, it would be great if i could sleep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwaziBird Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Haven't you guys ever been to India ( and other such Asian places) where cuisine is mainly fed into the gob by finger tips. Absolutely no problems with choice of cutlery. Rationale: it tastes better ! Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avidflyer Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I'm in total agreement with JT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuturatica Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Oh my god, I really want mashed potatoes now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sscsamui Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Fork and Spoon all the way.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve187 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 As a child i grew up in the eastend of London, where the local dish was pie and mash,as well as stewed eels and jellied eels, the only utensils available were forks and spoons, it was in later years when the eastend became the 'in' place to live, good fun to watch newbies looking around the shop for a knife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billd766 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I have read this thread and I know what your problem is with the knife and peas. You need honey as well which makes the peas stick to the knife. You see, simple problem, simple solution. Have a good New Year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naam Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I'm from the US and I've always used spoons for stuff like mashed potato and peas. Knife and fork is just for steaks and roasts and stuff you have to cut. Otherwise the knife is never even touched. Trying to eat peas with a knife and fork is bizarre to me seeing Americans eating looks bizarre to me. bizarre² i consider cutting a steak into small pieces and then putting the knife down. but then... to each his own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) I have read this thread and I know what your problem is with the knife and peas. You need honey as well which makes the peas stick to the knife. You see, simple problem, simple solution. Have a good New Year. A spoon is even simpler except if you really like sweet peas. Edited January 2, 2012 by Jingthing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StreetCowboy Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I have read this thread and I know what your problem is with the knife and peas. You need honey as well which makes the peas stick to the knife. You see, simple problem, simple solution. Have a good New Year. The joys of a literary upbringing. "...I've done it all my life..." This thread reminds me of a joke about an Irishman in a restaurant; I'll not bore you with the whole story, I'm sure you've all heard it before - it ends "It's under your fork'n'nose" I went three months without silverware when I first moved to HK, and I'll still insist on chopsticks if I'm eating noodles. Though I suppose it shows my lack of commitment to my own standards that for spaghetti I would accept a fork. SC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Noodles? Chopsticks, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tutsiwarrior Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 with mash and peas mix together and eat with fork...when in the west I usually eat at MacDonalds so don't need no silverware...meatloaf, mash and gravy also doable with fork...for steaks, ain't that why they got special steak knives? and to stab naughty children when they misbehave at the table? bon apetit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 I'm from the US and I've always used spoons for stuff like mashed potato and peas. Knife and fork is just for steaks and roasts and stuff you have to cut. Otherwise the knife is never even touched. Trying to eat peas with a knife and fork is bizarre to me seeing Americans eating looks bizarre to me. bizarre² i consider cutting a steak into small pieces and then putting the knife down. but then... to each his own. I don't get what you are saying. For you, it is bizarre to pre-cut all the meat or to not pre-cut all the meat? I'm American and I would cut as I go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 ...with mash and peas mix together and eat with fork... I tried that. The peas, they just wouldn't behave. Maybe my f-rang method forking skills have eroded. Second thought -- definitely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mca Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I was in a Thai restarant a while back that served a few western dishes like spaghetti with a bread roll and butter on the side. They could provide a fork and spoon but no knife so I entered previously uncharted territory by trying to spread the butter on the roll with the spoon. They also offered pepper steak so I assume with the lack of knife they were expecting you to toss it in the air with the fork and catch it in your gob seal/fish style like at the zoo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingthing Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Amazing how a spoon can be used to cut steak when held down firmly with a fork ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokie36 Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Amazing how a spoon can be used to cut steak when held down firmly with a fork ... Which restaurant had to suffer this experiment JT? I like my rice an peas....mash and baked beans please.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onionluke Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Amazing how a spoon can be used to cut steak when held down firmly with a fork ... Which restaurant had to suffer this experiment JT? I like my rice an peas....mash and baked beans please.... When it comes to beer I prefer a laddle . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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