Patent ID: 7102111

Claim:
A multi-purpose handheld food-serving apparatus, providing repeatable fold-as-you-eat bending and unbending functionality, substantially sized and shaped to that of the size and shape of at least one food-item intended to be served thereon, comprising: a food-supporting member consisting of a material sized to serve at least one food-item without altering the normal appearance of the food, and having sufficient rigidity when held at one end to support said food-item(s), including when said apparatus is in a substantially horizontal orientation and following at least one bending and unbending cycle; said food-supporting member having at least one bendable food-retaining portion integrally formed adjacent thereto which extends upward, relative to a food-supporting surface of said member, in a manner which increases the rigidity of the food-supporting member, and said portion(s) is sized, having sufficient rigidity, to facilitate the retention of said food-item(s) on the food-supporting member, and at least one of said portions has an upper edge adjoining a discernible-content displaying tab sized to extend over and cover an upper surface portion of served food-item(s) as said apparatus is held by a user, and the combination of said discernible-content displaying tab and said at least one of said portions comprising at least one flexible material different from that of the rest of the apparatus and being attached adjacent to an end of said apparatus; and said food-supporting member having at least one re-bendable cross-section extending across a width of the member to predispose bending and unbending of the member at said bendable cross-section(s); and at least one of said food-retaining portion(s) having at least one re-bendable reduced-cross-section located tangent to an end of said re-bendable cross-section(s) to predispose bending and unbending of said portion(s) at said reduced-cross-section(s), whereby i. discernible-content of said tab is brought into a user's field of view as the user is about to eat, and as the user is eating, one or more items of food supported on said handheld food-serving apparatus, and ii. a simultaneous bending of a said member re-bendable cross-section(s) and at least one adjacent said portion re-bendable reduced-cross-section causes at least one segment of the apparatus to be bent away from said food-item(s) to fully expose a portion of the food for eating.