On Eating Grapefruits

The grapefruit I was taught to eat when I was young required a knife to cut it in half and a spoon with sharpened ridges to tear out each bite by itself. The risk was the citric acid shot up into the eyes, once or twice each time. I've now discovered it doesn't need as much effort as I was taught to give it. Now I eat it like an orange, now not needing a plate or knife or spoon. Somehow I've discovered the easier path that no one taught me, and now I'd like to learn why I was taught the method that requires so much work. Was that to slow the moment, to stop and make each bite as important and as earned as the last? Was that to add a ceremony to something as simple as eating fruit? Was that to sell more knives and spoons?