I eat my peas with honey
I've done it all my life
It does taste kind of funny,
but it keeps them on the knife.
– Anon., possibly Ogden NashHow does a cook prepare peas to be eaten with an upside-down fork? Or does proper etiquette demand not eating tasty, healthy, cost-effective foods if they interfere with making a fancy show of putting food in your mouth?
It would indeed be interesting to know if there used to be regional variants in the UK. Actually, do you have a feeling for whether this has strong regional ties in the US, e.g. to Virginia vs Boston?
Obligatory book plug: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion%27s_Seed (as long as you have a decent tolerance academic writing) and http://www.colinwoodard.com/americannations.html (some overlap, much less formal).