Chopsticks – The Asian Food Experience
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The other day I was dining in a restaurant in Southern China; I placed my food order and soon after the waitress began to remove the chopsticks for my table and replace them with a knife and fork. I said, “Hang on a minute, what are you doing?” she replied “You can use chopstick?” I answered “I have probably been using chopsticks longer than your existence on this very planet.”
Image Credit: Everything Chopsticks
Who doesn’t know how to use chopsticks? In fact there are some Wikis on how to use chopsticks properly so you won’t embarrass yourself. Chopsticks were made 5000 years ago in China. It was used early in the Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 BC) and it spread widely in East Asia. This made chopsticks into the traditional eating utensil of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Other Asian countries followed their lead with the influx of Chinese immigrants into other lands.
Long before spoon and fork were invented in Europe, chopsticks were already used as eating utensil. The knife preceded the chopstick, but it was mainly used as a weapon. Confucius was a big proponent of using chopsticks mainly because the knife and fork looked like cold weapons. In contrast, the chopstick reflects gentleness and benevolence for the Chinese people.
How to Use Chopsticks
Using the chopsticks is not trivial and may require a little practice, especially for people with zero manual dexterity.
The first thing you should do is to hold the first stick with your middle finger and thumb. Next, grip the second stick with your index finger and hold it with your thumb. Grip the sticks to a comfortable position and hold it steady. Now, practice opening and closing the chopsticks. You can control the top stick by moving your middle and index finger up and down. Now you can pick up some food, preferably at a 45 degree angle.
As a novice, you can start holding the chopsticks in the middle. You need to hold the chopsticks farther away from the food as you refine your skill.
Chopstick Etiquette
How to use chopsticks
Image Credit: China Daily
Here are some chopstick faux pas that you should avoid.
1. Do not poke at the food. This is considered bad manners and an insult to the chef who cooked the food.
2. Avoid putting the chopsticks at an X position. This is very bad manners for the Chinese, but it is bad technique as well. You will be hard pressed to pick up food with the chopsticks in the X position. Plus, the X chopsticks are considered a symbol of death for the Chinese.
3. Do not stick your chopstick straight down into a rice bowl. This is considered bad manners because this resembles the way food is presented to the dead. Just put the chopsticks on bowl if you are finished or resting your fingers.
4. If you are eating with Koreans, putting the rice bowl and pushing the rice near the mouth is considered bad etiquette. However if you dine with the Chinese, this is not considered bad at all. Be wary of who you are dining with.
The Real Asian Experience
Using chopsticks to eat some of the Asian dishes is the real experience as opposed to using a spoon and fork. It’s not easy to use chopsticks but it is a skill than can be easily learned through practice. This five thousand year old tradition is a great way to cherish the food that you are eating, may it be Korean, Japanese, or Chinese. In business dinners with Asian partners, it is better to eat with chopsticks just to show how erudite and cultured you really are.
Just be sure that you don’t find an uneven chopstick on your table, or you will surely miss your plane ride.
Can you use chopsticks?
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Australian Chef- Matthew J. Goudge is the mastermind behind the formation of the ProChef360 platform.
You will find another article regarding how to use chopsticks here:
http://prochef360blog.com/chopsticks-sequel/
Happy eating
Matthew
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