How to Make Your Own Eating Utensils
While your own two hands are good for many occasions, sometimes you may want something that makes it easier to convey food to your mouth. If you do not happen to have a fork or spoon handy and want to make your own eating utensils instead, it is luckily not difficult. Whether this solution will work for you does depend on how you feel about chopsticks, however. The best part is that you can successfully carve yourself a pair in any size you like in a matter of minutes.
Things You'll Need
- Sharp knife (Swiss army or otherwise)
- "Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants" (optional)
Instructions
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Choose your tree or shrub branches carefully. You may want to carry a copy of the "Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants" or something similar with you, so you can ensure you are not carving eating implements out of something poisonous. Avoid elderberry bushes when contemplating eating utensils.
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Cut two branches from a non-poisonous tree or shrub. Try to choose branches that are reasonably straight, and about the thickness of a pencil. Cut them to any length you prefer. Longer ones may be helpful for cooking, while shorter ones may be helpful for eating. Very small ones will work best for smaller hands.
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Peel some of the bark off your new chopsticks if you like. You can also try whittling them into a more ergonomically suitable shape, perhaps flattening out one side if you prefer.
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Tips & Warnings
Try choosing trees or shrubs that are medicinal in nature, so that carving their branches into chopsticks ends up giving you a nutrient boost as you eat with them.
If you are feeling particularly creative, you can try carving designs into your chopsticks.
Try to cut the ends of your chopsticks cleanly, so that there are no jagged pieces or splinters that can detach themselves in your food or in your fingers. Whether you choose to leave the bark on or take it off, also make sure that there are no loose pieces that can find their way into your mouth, unless you have determined that the tree bark is something you want to eat.
Make sure you are absolutely certain that the tree or shrub you have chosen to donate its wood for your chopsticks is not poisonous before you remove any of its bark. Since the wood you will be using was very recently part of a living plant, this is especially essential because it will likely still have sap in its branches, which can easily find its way into your body as you eat with the branches.
