Using your hands to eat certain food is just the most sensible option. You’re not going to have an easier time blowing through a bag of chips, a box of fries, or a plate of calamari using standard utensils, after all. However, using your hand to eat also leaves it messy, making it a hassle when having to interact with your phone, keyboard, or the girl you’re trying to impress during a lunch date. The Fourth Option offers a cleaner alternative.
Instead of using your hands, this contraption offers a mess-free way to grab finger food with the same dexterity as your thumb and forefinger, allowing you to eat just as comfortably without leaving your fingers full of grease, crumbs, and the occasional sauce. That way, you don’t have to spend your snacking days having dirty fingers and licking them clean – just use these things and enjoy a better way.
The Fourth Option is actually just a pair of tongs. Yes, like those tongs you use on the barbecue grill or the tongs you use to pick up ice cubes. Except… you know, a lot smaller, making them more suited to eating finger food items. The business end of the arms are equipped with interlocking grooves, by the way, which helps it grab food a lot easier, so you can use it even with grub that’s lathered in slippery sauces. Whether you spend your days eating salty chips, greasy bar food, or takeout dumplings, this thing lets you grab them with full control without having to leave your fingers covered in food muck.
The contraption actually looks like those eyebrow pluckers that people use to painstakingly shape their eyebrows, but slightly bigger, so you can get some decent leverage when picking up bigger items like chicken wings or some loaded nachos. It’s like using chopsticks without the need to learn how to actually use two separate sticks with one hand, making it the perfect utensil for the uncultured among us to enjoy a visit to the local Chinese and Japanese food places.
The Fourth Option measures seven inches long, so it’s small enough to slip inside pockets while being long enough to use comfortably when eating. It’s made from consumer-grade stainless steel, so it’s durable enough to handle your frequent snacking adventures, with six different finishes available, including fancier ones like rose old and a glossy blue coat. It locks flat, by the way, so you can slip it in your pants’ backpocket without any hassle, all while unlocking by simply sliding the individual arms apart. Very convenient.
If you don’t like carrying your eating utensils bare, the outfit does offer carrying cases. They offer three sizes: a case that can carry just one utensil (for singles), a case that can carry two (for couples), and a case that can carry four, in case you want your entire family to abstain from using their fingers when snacking during your afternoon out.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Fourth Option. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at $10.