A childhood belief about monsters

My mother is Korean and we have a lot of Korean decorations in our house. When I was little we had this really big wooden spoon and fork that hung on the wall in our kitchen (they are still on the wall to this day). They had angry faces carved in them and they looked kind of scary. Somehow I had convinced myself that if you didn't eat all the food on your plate the spoon and fork would come and eat you in your sleep. I had also convinced my cousin the same thing because his mother had a set in their kitchen also. I would get so scared during dinner that I would keep glancing at them to make sure they were still on the wall. It wasn't until later that I asked my mom what they were for. She told me that they were similar to totems that people would put at the entrance of the village to keep evil spirits out. Wow...I was wrong!