Do you know how to use chopsticks

[GB]

I do not think we are any more or any less polite than our Eastern friends. We have plenty of etiquette rules as well. I have have seen plenty of Asians be impolite or rude even. That is not to say that most or all are, but we need to judge people as individuals, not based on a region.

 

[keltin]

I do not think we are any more or any less polite than our Eastern friends. We have plenty of etiquette rules as well. I have have seen plenty of Asians be impolite or rude even. That is not to say that most or all are, but we need to judge people as individuals, not based on a region.

True oh wise one.

 

[Alix]

Sliding only SLIGHTLY off topic, most Asians think nothing of chewing with their mouths open and yet that is a very big Western no no. As is burping at the table in most Western cultures. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[buckytom]

umm, does anyone realize how many vastly different asian peoples and cultures there are? asia is huge, so it's difficult to try to get your occidental minds around the numbers.

i'm sorry to be so impolite to point out that it's remarkably ignorant to assume such a diverse and far reaching spectrum of cultures as having only a few traditions or rules of etiquette.



(that's the most asian looking smiley i could find in our list. i wasn't being judgemental.)

i'd bet it's as regional as any of our western european based traditions. maybe worse, the sneaky, mathematical bastids.

getting back to chopsticks, pleade read the ENTIRE wikipedia entry for chopsticks, and general rules of etiquette. it'll help answer some of the previous questions.

 

[Dave Hutchins]

Yes I can use them I learned quick I had just got to Tokyo and was hungry and all they had was wooden chop sticks, live there for 2 yrs. and was quite proficient with them still use them 45 yrs later

 

[lindatooo]

My ex-FIL taught me to use chopsticks years ago using a crumpled up cigarette wrapper. Once you learn to pick that up you can pick up just about anything!

First you had me drooling over grilled peaches and now I want sushi!

 

[GB]

I learned in the 3rd or 4th grade. We had to do reports on countries. You needed to make a food from the country you were doing your report on. The one exception was whoever did China could instead teach people how to use chopsticks. They would bring in enough for everyone and then make a big pile of popcorn. You had to use the chopsticks to eat the popcorn. Once you finished you could have more. Needless to say I learned how to use them very quickly since I wanted more

 

[Alix]

umm, does anyone realize how many vastly different asian peoples and cultures there are? asia is huge, so it's difficult to try to get your occidental minds around the numbers.

i'm sorry to be so impolite to point out that it's remarkably ignorant to assume such a diverse and far reaching spectrum of cultures as having only a few traditions or rules of etiquette.

BT, if that was directed at me for my generalization about Asian cultures please forgive me. I am indeed well aware of how many cultures there are and how many different traditions etc go along with that. However, in the interest of being brief I generalize, as I am sure many of us do. And I must have missed the section where we all assumed there were only a few traditions or etiquette. Can I get you a nice cup of tea my friend? A little sencha perhaps? It sounds like you need some TLC and maybe some caffeine.

 

[buckytom]

it wasn't directed at you alix. i'm sorry you may have taken it that way.

and yes, a cup of tea would be nice.

having seen what my asian friends go through, being called oriental, like a rug or piece of furniture, or worse, "chinese", even though they're from an entirely different country a third of the world away, it hits a sore spot in me to hear such generalizations.

it would be like someone saying that canadians are exactly the same as people from the united states, just a little chillier.

 

[GB]

Bucky, were you directing your comment at one person or at everyone? You said "Does anyone realize...". That makes it sound like you think multiple people have an issue with this (a bit of a generalization yourself). I think most people here DO realize the differences. I know I do.

 

[Alix]

Oh honey, we get that ALL the time! (And we just smile and spit in their tea before we hand it to them)

All kidding aside BT, I completely understand your point and was genuinely apologizing if it was my statement that caused offense. I tend to edit myself rather severely as I can be rather loquacious at times. (I know that surprises you all to heck). Just to give some credence to my words, I should add that my girls both attended elementary school at a Mandarin language immersion school. They were both in the english program, but they have learned a whole lot about the culture etc. And let me tell you, the New Years party ROCKS! And you know how schools do hot lunch days? Well, their school does Chopstick lunches. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! Very cool.

 

[Chopstix]

I'm of Chinese immigrant stock from both sides, born and raised in an Asian country some distance from China. I grew up using chopsticks once in a while at the table. Given my immigrant mixed-cultural environment, I'm definitely not an authority on the subject of Chinese chopsticks usage, let alone Asian chopsticks usage.

From my personal experience however, there is a correct way of holding/using chopsticks, in terms of finger positions. You'd be surprised to know that not all Chinese know this. (I only learned this myself when I visited an uncle in mainland China.) Also, holding the chopsticks 3/4 to 4/5 of the way up from the food end is considered more elegant. Any lower than this would appear gauche. Picking food up from the serving plate with the food end of the chopsticks is okay as long as you don't touch the rest of the food. People normally use the wrong end when serving food to somebody else's plate. It just shows courtesy.

Also from my experience, whether you hold the chopsticks wrongly or not, it's really no big deal. Not to my parents nor to our elders. Especially if you're not Asian. It's a non-issue. (In fact, some of my siblings hold chopsticks incorrectly.) Now, a non-Asian holding chopsticks correctly will defnitely impress those who know better and may even elicit admiring comments and questions as to how the person learned it.

 

[Chopstix]

Thank you Bucky and the others for your sensitivities in avoiding lumping Asians together and respecting the individual Asian cultures. To this day, I find it jarring and even upsetting to see westerners use 'Chinese' as a generic term to mean Asian.

Editted: A while back in one of the threads here this happened, where the term 'Chinese' was used to refer to all things Oriental, including Japanese. In this particular case, given the historical tensions between China and Japan, it was as wrong as somebody using the term 'French' to include all things German (former WWII occupier).

I am thankful for the fact that there is growing cultural awareness now among people in the world, whether through food, technology, the arts, etc. and this can only be for the good of all.

Ok, I'm getting off the soap box now. Thank you for your attention.

 

[BBQ Mikey]

I am an American with no noticiable traces of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc in me. I did take 5 years of Japanese in high school, and while I retained relatively little, we did a few lessons on using chopsticks, taught to a foreigner's prespective.

To make oneself look least foolish as possible, hold one chop stick between your index and middle finger, this is the "sturdy base" in my experience, a more experienced chopstick pro may disagree. Hold the other chopstick in similar fashion to holding a pen or pencil as if about to write, between the index and thumb. Slide your finger and thumb up as to not touch your food with it, a bit more to seem elegant (just learned that!). The chopstick you hold like a pencil is the one you should be most dilligent with, which most foreigners would find agreeable since those are our more dexterious fingers.

Hope my 2 cents may have helped a beginner out there. Peace!

 

[bullseye]

That's how I was taught, too, BBQ Mikey. I don't use chopsticks often, but I consider myself competent enough to keep the food off me and get it to the mouth.

I have never used the metal ones Bucky refers to, but I am not fond of laquered ones; I find them slippery. My favorites were a friend's. They were made from ivory, squarish and carved at the grip end and round and blunt at the food end. I find the cheap wooden ones quite satisfactory.

 

[CharlieD]

I always thought that I can eat with chop sticks pretty well. The other day I was seating in the park, waiting for my son to come out for lunch and there were this asian couple (do not know where they were from) they were eating some take out. They were holding and operating the chop sticks completely diferent than the way I do it. I'm sure they do it the right way and not me.

 

[keltin]

Here’s a video showing one way to use chopsticks. This is the same way I use them. She has contact with them at about the halfway point and abut 1/4 of the chopsticks behind her hand. She’s using ceramic chopsticks which I’ve never tried before.

For the scientifically inclined, here is a video showing how to eat (drink?) tea (liquid tea) with chopsticks in zero gravity.

 

[foodqs]

there is picture about how to use chopstix

 

[overout]

Even though the basis of the topic was spam, I still felt like I needed to give a "Yes" to the question. Thanks to my interest being sparked in trying sushi, I've come to know how to use chopsticks relatively well.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I can and do use chopstix. I have never had anyone show me how to use them correctly and so don't know if I am or not. But I try my best nad have come up with something that works for me.

This thread has been very interesting and informative. It gives me new knowledge so that I can improve my chopstix skills.

As for lumping all Asians together, that's really no big deal for me, as I purposely try to lump all of humanity together. I try to see no difference between one group of people and another. That way, I can avoid predjudices and pre-supposed traits.

Yes, I do know their are cultural differences between differing people. But I tend to get to the basics. We all want to live good lives and most importantly, provide good lives for our families.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North