Hello, eggs. I have some news. I’m on thrill assignment to eat exclusively with knives from for the next three days. Why? Because I have a supportive network of friends and coworkers on this blog who like to ensure I suffer. Also I love a good challenge. Will this experience give me the tools to achieve self-actualization? I sure hope so! Here’s what happened:

Sunday, October 5th (edit: I’ve been informed that it is November. Oh god!)

11:45am–grabbed coffee and had to run to 10000 things around campus because I’m a lady and an influencer! No knives yet.

1:30pm–I ate an apple (don’t judge the fact that this is the first piece of food I’ve eaten today) (this is also probably the first piece of fruit I’ve eaten in weeks). I used a knife. At the moment, feeling incredibly capable and ready to take on this challenge. 

6:30pm–Dinner//First full meal of the day (yikes!). Here we go. I went with my usual “where do I turn to now” Peirce meal, a scoop of chicken salad (oh god do I wish it was tuna) over some spinach. I’m determined to commit to eating what I regularly eat…but with knives. First bite: a breeze. I’ve decided to go with the One Knife technique: using a single knife to wrangle food onto the blade, as though a fork. The consistency of the chicken salad//spinach is sticky enough to adhere to my knife long enough for me to ungracefully shovel it into my mouth. Excellent news.

This meal occurred over a dinner meeting with some good pals. They were supportive of my new eating challenge, documenting the event like so:

So far this looks process A) normal enough to not cause a scene in the middle of a meal, but B) strange and C) inconvenient enough to make people question if I’m okay. The answer is no, I’m not, and I’m still not sure why I’m doing this.

That’s all for today. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.

Monday, November 6

Good morning.

7:45am–Breakfast. Praise up, it’s hashbrown triangle day. Knife technique: one knife, stab stab. My new knife reality is very similar to my new daylight savings reality: a minor inconvenience, but nothing truly catastrophic.

12:15pm–Lunch. DEAR GOD THEY HAD TUNA!!!! Lunch was my dream version of last nights dinner, a hearty scoop of tuna over some spinach. Once again, this is a breeze. Why am I so good at this? Should I be concerned?

6:30pm–Dinner. Okay. Fine, I had the tuna and spinach bowl again. And I ate with a knife again. And honestly? Didn’t even bat an eye. I don’t know what this experience was supposed to teach me about myself, but if anything I have learned that it takes a lot to derail me from my relationship with Peirce tuna.

Tuesday November 7

Good morning. 

9:30am–Breakfast. Apple and french vanilla coffee (the only Peirce coffee in my heart, fight me!). Knives need not apply to this meal.

12:30pm–Lunch. Deadass, I forgot what I ate or if I ate. I’ve asked my usual food pals if we shared a meal, and the general gist to their replies was:  “No, Erica. I haven’t seen you today.” Should I be concerned? How did I black out in the middle of the day? What did I eat? Am I a ghost?

5:00pm–Dinner. Gyro! Night! At! Peirce! Here’s where things started to get tricky. On a normal day I am already unsure of whether gyros are hand or fork food. Well, surprise bitch, today it’s knife food. This is the first meal when eating only with knives escalated from merely a thorn in my side to an actual problem. A boy at the round table across from mine wouldn’t stop staring at me, meat chunk were flying left and right and none landing in my mouth…it was chaos. 

Pictured above: a text sent to my handsome editor Chris Raffa 

Wednesday November 8th  

Hi

7:45am–Breakfast. A Haiku:

Today I overslept

Knives? The least of my worries

Forks?  no thank you, dad!

12:00pm–Lunch (THE FINAL MEAL!). Probably tuna and it was probably fine.

A haiku to summarize this experience:

Tuna has my back

I only cut my hand once

Surprise–knives ain’t shit!!!