Are You A Scooper Or A Stabber

Since living with ALS I have very low upper body strength. Because of this, I must have assistance with eating my food.

There is an interesting phenomenon that happens with this dilemma. When someone helps you put food on an eating utensil and give it to you, you start to notice the traits of how they pick up their food with their tool of choice and deliver it to their mouth. 

 You also start to notice how someone eats a sandwich, or more precisely a hamburger. You will start to see a pattern of approaches. Some folks go around the parameter of the hamburger and eat it. Some eat across left to right like reading a book, as they go through the burger.

I never noticed this phenomenon until now. Ever since this I've been watching how people eat food. I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of fork eaters. You are either a scooper or a stabber. Obviously you must have a fork in order to be a stabber, spoons can only scoop to my knowledge.

I will illustrate the differences. In the images you'll notice my wonderful looking Szechuan chicken. It has chicken, vegetables and rice on the bottom. In the bottom there is a delicious Szechuan sauce. 

A stab gets mainly the bulky parts of the dish. But a scoop gets savory juices and rice as well as other delectables. Therefore I believe a scoop is a better approach to eating most dishes with a fork.

A Stab, Very little goodies

I can think of all kinds of examples of how scooping is much better. When eating biscuits and gravy, you must scoop the biscuit  out of the gravy  giving you a delicious moist biscuit. Stabbing just gives you dry biscuit.

My wife is a stabber and since I'm a scooper we have an interesting and engaging conflict. I know in general with a dish like Szechuan chicken one must do some scooping and stabbing. However, I would argue that the majority of the time (85%) should be scooping.

A Scoop Mmm good!

I wonder if this is hereditary or learned? With my wife being a stabber and my two twins are split, one is a stabber and the other is a scooper. My mom is scooper I'm thinking my father was too.

What are you, a scooper or a stabber?