it isn't about the food as much as it is setting order in life , are you going to be a victim or draw the line in the sand he was warned , he was lucky it was a cheap lesson of a fork stab , could have lost a finger and still deserved it.

my little brother had to jab one of his cousins in-law with a fork to stop stealing food off his plate.
farm family they ate in like 5 minutes even at holidays so 7 minutes in he still had food on his plate and no one else did , he didn't stab them hard enough to need an ER or anything just hard enough
to let them know the pecking order wasn't being set with him as an easy target for more food.

at our family gatherings there is so much food we generally want to send leftovers with you.

There sometimes comes a moment, in the course of events, when a bully needs an attitude adjustment. Plain and simple. It's what they understand.

I’d pack 2 sandwiches and see if he takes both or leaves one.

If my kids didnt handle the bully they would have more to worry about than the bully. Different mind sets i guess

Before we started homeschooling my daughter was in 3rd grade and had a boy picking on her all the time. I asked have you told the teachers, recess attendants, principal. She said yes and it keep happening. OK next time lay him out . she replied I can't I will get into trouble. I told her yes you will but only untill I get to the school.
She looked unconvinced so I asked her if she would rather be in trouble at school or home when I founf out she didn't take care of it.

About 3 days to a week later the recess attendant pulls my wife to the side and tell her how my daughter had that boy in some leg lock and he was crying and couldn't move and she had never seen anything like it. Nothing else was ever said about it. Young man got an introduction to leg bar and actions reactions.

We went to the park and for ice-cream that night as a reward.

Turn the other cheek if slaped when looked at in the context of the time and people it was written to. A slap was an insult. Allow the insult dont escalate from am insult and pride. Not the dont defend yourself crap often pushed. Same as do not kill = do not murder not dont kill who needs killing. Anger and rage is also not wrong.
Jesus had anger and rage when he wiped the money changers and flipped the tabels in the temple. But thats looked right over. Its all rainbows and butterflies. Don't agree cool its America. My kids will stand up for themselves and others and won't be jelly fish weaklings.