Showing posts with label Combination Straw Spoons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Combination Straw Spoons. Show all posts

Monday, January 2, 2023

The Etiquette of Straw Spoons

Is there etiquette for straws and straw spoons? Yes! — 
1. Never bring your mouth down to your straw, always bring your straw up to your mouth.
 
2. 
When drinking from a straw, pick up the glass you are drinking from and hold the straw 
with your thumb and first 2 fingers 
while you drink. 
3. Never lift your straw out of your drink to get anything from the bottom of the straw, unless you are drinking from a strainer-type straw, like a bombilla.
🥤🍹🧃🧉🧋
“What have we here? — Six iced tea or lemonade straw spoons. - Straw spoons (or stroons) have been around for several hundred years. They are excellent for use, and reuse, in the modern world. They allow iced tea drinkers to stir their tea and leave the straws in the tall glasses, without having to remove them, avoiding soiling tablecloths or the spoons themselves on bare tabletops.” — From “What Have We Here?” by Etiquipedia site editor, Maura J. Graber

An interesting type of spoon variation is the “straw spoon.” The spoon handle is a straw while the spoon bowl can be used to stir the drink. 
Spoon straws come in several different styles, and occasionally we will find a souvenir straw variation, but the styling does not really lend itself to this purpose. Most, however, are designed to be used rather than displayed. Sterling straws are a lot classier than the plastic ones which we currently use.

The Gorham Silver Company writes:
“In the late 18th century, metal straws were used in Holland with brandy and punch bowls for all festive occasions. Gorham's new Sterling-Heart Straws add their own festive note to the serving of iced tea, iced coffee and lemonade or your favorite tall drink.” — From Spoon Planet.com


🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Ice Cream Soda Etiquette

The perfect utensil for simultaneously eating and drinking ice cream sodas or ice cream “floats.”— Antique‘Stroons”  or combination “Straw Spoons” in sterling silver, with heart shaped bowls shown on the right, next to a patent for a similar straw and spoon from 1901 on the left. The proper etiquette is to eat the “solid food”or ice cream, first. Then drink the remaining liquid and melted ice cream in your glass. 
— Images from “Reaching for the Right Fork… the etiquette and evolution of tabletop utensils”


An Unsolved Problem

To the Editor of The New York Times:

In my letter printed in ‘The Times’ of Aug. 27 regarding the matter of drinking or eating ice cream soda, I simply mentioned the matter of soup in an incidental way.

It has amused me to see that all the replies relate to soup. There is no ground for argument on this point. We all know that it is a rule of etiquette to say we eat soup.

The problem remains, however, whether to eat or drink ice cream soda. The authorities on etiquette have not as yet taken up this point, and it is time that they did. True, the matter is not vitally important, but just the same it should not remain unsettled.

What I want to know is when I lead a friend to the soda fountain, can I make him drink or has it got to be eat an ice cream soda? —Thomas A. Wilson, New York, Sept. 1, 1933, The New York Times

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia