I have forsaken the fork.

You read that right–No more forks for Nyco. As of the beginning of this month, it’s a spoon or chopsticks. The knife comes out during food preparation only, or to spread condiments on sandwiches. And I can still use my fingers for appropriate fare. Just no stabbing, shredding, or twisting. No cheating with sporks, either, awesome though they are.

Eating is too easy when a fork is involved–Just load that puppy up and shove the food in. When using chopsticks I consume more slowly, take smaller bites, and get to know the textures and aromas of the food as I’m choosing the pieces to separate and grasp. Also, I’m more likely to converse with the people at the table because I’m not constantly chewing and swallowing and stuffing forkfuls in. While I manipulate the morsels on the plate I talk, and because the bits that go in are smaller I can chew them more thoroughly in a shorter span of time. That way, the momentum of the conversation isn’t broken. With chopsticks, a meal is truly a meal; not simply eating.

There are health benefits worth mentioning: Increasing the time between bites means giving your body an opportunity to gauge fullness more accurately. The risk of becoming overfull is reduced, and eating less means potential for weight loss (or at least stabilization). Smaller bites mean more thorough chewing, which aides digestion. And, personally, I’m more likely to sip fluids, which helps me meet my hydration goals. Aside from looking a bit strange sometimes, there are absolutely no downfalls to using chopsticks, in my opinion.

I’m going to see if I can make it all the way through 2009 fork free. So far, December has been a piece of cake (as long as I remember to bring my own set of chopsticks with me). Chunky stew, mac ‘n’ cheese, fish fillets, mashed potatoes–all normally forkable foods haven’t been any trouble at all. Mostly, the challenge lies in my manual dexterity and hand strength, which is naturally improving. And I have to admit that figuring out how to eat the halved potatoes in Jed’s stew was an exercise in creativity. How often do you celebrate actually getting a bite of food up to your lips without dropping it? Yeah.