Eating Implements

It occurred to me this morning that there are different ways of consuming food.  For me it does not matter as long as I am fed.  I do think if it is the custom to use a knife and fork and it is the expectation then that is the way for me to go.  It would look pretty gross and in some setting offensive if I used my hands to eat when knives and forks were the custom.
In my mind covid changes things though.  Whatever method is employed it is important to me I am not a spreader, or I don’t spread it.
I did make the mistake of looking up the way food is consumed.  The site that got my attention was one that listed the first point as “have food.”  I did hear someone say once “never assume.”  I did fail in this case.  I thought to consume food you “have food.”
I thought of three ways food is consumed.  Knives and forks, chop sticks and hands.  In our society knives and forks are the custom.  Wherever I go in this land knives and forks are provided to eat with.  Single use plastic knives and forks are now a thing of the past, but the accepted standard is now reusable knives and forks.
But I did see another way of eating food.  Some in Mexico use the food as an implement to eat.  Like the tortilla being used as a shovel (I mean fork).  That sort of thing may seem foreign to me (pun intended) but when I think about it that is how I eat dip.
But if I lived in many places in Asia that have no tourist element chop sticks would be the standard.  I must confess there are some that have mastered the use of chop sticks but not me.  When ever I visit a Chinese restaurant and I am presented with a choice of knife and fork or chop sticks I always choose the knife and fork.  But I do reckon if the choice was chop sticks or starve I would master the chop sticks.  However if the worst came to the worst I would fall on the food and use my hands to ensure a feed.
It seems to me the first eating implements were the hands.  Once upon a time there was no alternative.  These days eating utensils are mass produced.  There are still places where eating with hands is the accepted norm.   I am going from memory here but I think places in Mongolia use their hands.  I should imagine washing the hands before and after the event would be a good idea.  The guy I knew who’s car broke down and while waiting he ate the upholstery would have used his hands.  I used my hands once when I was so hungry I consumed tooth paste.  Nothing like being clean on the inside.
But to me it is all about the ends rather than the means.  I need food.  I need the right type of food if I want to grow big and strong.  Come to think of it the only way I can grow now is in or out but not up.
Come to think of it there is food that is not consumed with either knife and forks, chop sticks or the hands.  I need to feed myself not just physically but also feed my mind and heart.  They say of computers “garbage in and garbage out.”   Conversely good stuff in and good stuff out.  The latter sounds better for me.