Toddlers and Food: My Creative Eater

My 3 year old, Biz, takes forever to eat a meal. He’s usually the first to start eating and the last to finish. No matter where we are.
Eating is like an event to him. It usually involves a lot of talking and several story lines.
We used to try to get him to do less talking and more eating, but it’s painfully hard for him to do. I think he almost imploded once while trying to eat without talking.
He’s quite the conversationalist and likes to entertain. Even if it is just himself. And sometimes it is because we end up leaving him at the table after a while. (Is that wrong?)
He will turn his pretzels into race cars that race around the “track” or fly his broccoli through the air. He has carefully positioned his carrot sticks upright in his sandwich to make trees and then “chopped” them down.
Biz has fun when he eats. I guess you could say he’s a creative eater. And though we used to try to get him to just be quiet and eat, we’ve given up. The truth is that he eats really, really well. It might take a long time, but he eats everything on his plate and asks for more.
He orders his own food at a restaurant (usually anything with bacon on the side) and behaves remarkably well for a toddler. We’ll let him play with his food as long as it’s not too disruptive (i.e., his brother isn’t laughing hysterically at his antics making him go too far).
Typically, Biz is just entertaining himself. He’ll be so into his food story that he won’t even notice that everyone has finished eating and left the table. Yesterday, I washed the dishes and played two games of Skip-Bo with my 6 year old before he was done eating. “Almost done, Biz?” I’d ask. “Dey still racing,” he’d reply.
When guests come over, they are amazed by his stamina and his appetite.
It might not be a great idea to let him play with his food, but I figure a little bit won’t hurt. He loses interest in the food if he gets bored, and I’m thinking he’ll eventually grow out of it. Hopefully he’ll take some cues from his big brother.
What would you do? Let him play a little or crack the whip and teach him to eat in a timely manner?
Photo Credit: Dreamstime