Ridiculously absent is the lack of mention of the fork.
Europe got the fork about a millennium ago, and children now use forks to spatula unchewed and underchewed food down their gullet, leaving the lower jaw to atrophy. Nobody notices because everybody grows up this way.
Not that complicated a concept, but a ridiculously difficult social norm to overcome, even if you want to do better by your own kids. By picking my battles, I guess I'll just start saving for the orthodontist and oral surgeon (wisdom teeth!) now.
I chew my American food cut with a knife and fork much more than my South Indian food that I eat with my hands (curries and rice are already in small pieces and meat is picked off the bone by hand).
You could make some argument about cutting food into bite size pieces vs biting it off a larger piece, but I don't think the fork plays the pivotal role here.
Europe got the fork about a millennium ago, and children now use forks to spatula unchewed and underchewed food down their gullet, leaving the lower jaw to atrophy. Nobody notices because everybody grows up this way.
Not that complicated a concept, but a ridiculously difficult social norm to overcome, even if you want to do better by your own kids. By picking my battles, I guess I'll just start saving for the orthodontist and oral surgeon (wisdom teeth!) now.