What do you think of my new rule for food etiquette?

I know nobody pays much attention to etiquette and, to be honest, I am among them, so at the risk of appearing really sill see if this makes sense.

According to the current rules of etiquette, it is acceptable to hold onto your fork while chewing your food. I think that the proper thing to do would be to put down the fork.

This allows you to concentrate on carefully chewing your food without anticipating spearing the next food morsel. So it is both healthful and civilized. My original motivation for this rule was to keep from eating too quickly, which I have a tendency to do.

Once you are done chewing, you have basically two options. You can either pick up your fork (and possibly knife) and get the next thing to eat, or you can engage in coversation. Speaking while holding a fork seems highly uncivilized. Having that fork in your hand will tend to cut conversations short or encourage you to alternate between talking and chewing.

One effect of my rule would be to make dining more leisurely and lengthen the time required to complete a meal, which I think all to the good, since we always seem to be in such a rush.

I would also extend my rule to the eating of sandwiches. Between bites, put down the sandwich.

So does this make sense, or have I succeeded in making a complete fool of myself?