Macaroni and cheese is a dish loved by all, a perfect combination of creamy cheese and pasta. The pasta has become a staple for children and a comfort food for people of all ages. Throughout my years, I have never met anyone who has not loved macaroni and cheese, but the question must be asked: How do you eat it?

The spoon and fork debate rages on as there has never been a clear answer. Restaurants such as Panera Bread insist on serving their mac and cheese with a spoon, and arguments have been made that a spoon provides a more efficient method of shoveling the food into your mouth. And to those people, I must say you are absolutely wrong.

Mac and cheese has one way of being enjoyed, and that is using a fork. Mac and cheese is a noodle dish, and like nearly all other noodle dishes, it should be eaten with a fork. A spoon is unnatural to use with pasta as you lose the crucial ability to poke. A fork gives you the versatility to scoop and gather the noodles and also stab the last remaining morsels of pasta. “I can’t imagine eating mac and cheese with a spoon, it seems completely unnatural to me,” junior Ethan Kach said.

The cheese, when made correctly, should be thick and creamy. This makes the cheese unable to fall through the cracks of a fork eliminating any reason for a spoon to be used. Spoons should be used for liquids or quasi liquids when used for eating. Mac and cheese is not a soup and it is not a cereal. It is a pasta, which is much easier to eat using a fork.

I asked people whether they use a fork or a spoon with their mac and cheese, and I was shocked that some of these people don’t even think twice about using a spoon. I find it impossible to enjoy the dish if you are using a utensil that doesn’t give the pasta an appropriate grip, in which it will turn the mac and cheese into nothing more than cheese soup. If you are one of these people, you are missing out on what mac and cheese really tastes like.

The spork is a common suggestion, but the odds of someone having a spork in their home is unlikely. A spork is flimsy and a worse version of a spoon and fork. It is a combination of an ineffective version of both utensils. A response was posted on a GameSpot forum, saying that the best way to eat mac and cheese is, “With a fork. Anyone who eats it with a spoon should be sent to a correctional facility until they learn to become positive members of society.”

Eating mac and cheese with a spoon is childish. There is no added benefit to using a spoon and the only thing that comes from this is getting a coating of cheese stuck to the bottom of the spoon, having the noodles fall off of the spoon, a weird texture that is created by the spoon and an unenjoyable eating experience. Sure you can shovel the mac and cheese in your mouth at a faster rate using a spoon, but you can also not eat like a complete barbarian and use a fork instead. The fork is clearly the superior option for eating mac and cheese and the best utensil to to maximize your mac and cheese experience. “I don’t trust anyone who eats mac and cheese with a spoon.,” senior Emma Baldwin said.

Matthew Lind

Back Page Editor