Do you know how to eat with Chopsticks?

[JayHawk]

ALso to the arguments against I find the use of sticks to be a much more fulfilling eating experience. I pick and choose the individual items to go into my mouth and what will go across my pallet each time.

A western shovel is not the same for any pacific rim or asian style cuisine. You miss the true nature of the food when you ram it in like a construction worker moving dirt.

Wanna talk about racist perceptions or stereotypes that are hard to overcome based on your own cultural upbringing? How about my Thai being prepared by a Vietnamese gentleman who was born and raised in the midwest, has a southern twang to his voice and where boots usually. I can tell you it is a curious thing to see just as hearing a black man speak with an english accent is to most Americans.

It is not necessarily racist to me... just not what I expect. I have another friend who has embraced american culture completely so to look at him makes you think "down home" boy... Yet when he speaks the Ukrainian accent is so thick it almost seems staged. Until you meet his Brother, Mother, Father and then grandmother. Whereas the accent continues getting thicker until I can barely understand Granny.

All based entirely on what you have experienced. That however does not make what you have seen the norm or the standard.

Back to sticks. Next time you folks with un-trainable fingers use a fork on an Asian dish try taking singular items or onesies and twosies and give your taste buds a treat.

 

[TickTockMan]

Guys, I did some field research today on the topic. I asked a bunch of people at work, who know me, what they thought about it all. It was an education.

To summarize, everything Swellegant and JayHawk said was correct. It all has to do with how we individuals view the dining experience.

The 50% who said they used chopsticks, said they did it "because it was part of the dining experience." The 50% who thought the whole thing was silly said it was "too hard", or "Too much work" or "more trouble than it was worth".

It all comes down on how we see dining. One half considers it an "experience", while the other half doesn't care so much about the experience, they just want to "taste the food".

Folks, for the most part, I'm in the latter category. I don't care about the "experience" so much, I'm a "cut the shit, sonny, and give me the food" kind of guy.

But now I understand all of you, I understand why you use chopsticks, and whichever kind of guy you are, I say

"Bon Appetit".

Most of us enjoy the Asian food, so I think, in the end, that's all that matters.

I guess I would be in the middle then. I personally liked chopsticks because they made me eat slower.

 

[Beachguyj]

My friend taught himself, so next time we are eating Chinese or Sushi I will ask him to show me how. I used to work many years ago as a banquet server and we had to serve food using two serving spoon and hold them like tongs, so maybe if I can do that maybe I can do chopsticks too.

 

[braex27]

I can't actually remember a time when I couldn't eat with chopsticks.

 

[Yves Grey]

This is random. One day when I was in my late teens I just decided it was a skill I wanted to acquire, so I bought some chop sticks and practiced... on fruit cocktail--variety of sizes, shapes, and textures--some are slippery.

I do sometimes struggle with rice, though I think that's already commented on here. Most rice meant to be consumed with chop sticks, I find, is sticky; I usually "cut it" into lumps by pinching it with the chops then pick up and ingest the lumps. I also take to heart the comment about the mushrooms; what's up with those freakin' mushrooms, man?!

Heh... "ingest."

...*zonk*

 

[bankside]

I guess I just don't see the purpose of eating with chopsticks, unless you're just trying to impress somebody.

Guys, don't you think it's a little bit affected?

I eat the salad with the salad fork, and the soup with the soup spoon instead of the coffee spoon too. Guess I'm putting on airs.

 

[JaedenKaydence]

I know how to eat with Chop Sticks.

I think it offers a great deal of insight into multiculturalism as well. In fact, some Asian countries see forks as barbaric.

 

[LilBit]

I eat the salad with the salad fork, and the soup with the soup spoon instead of the coffee spoon too. Guess I'm putting on airs.

I once went to a dinner (sponsored by a youth group) where the combination of food, vessel, and utensil was selected by random drawing of cards. For example, you may be served lasagna in a cup, to be eaten with a spoon, and then salad in a bowl to be eaten with a knife.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this exercise was (though I suspect it was to encourage conformity), but I found the concept amusing.

 

[zoltanspawn]

In fact, some Asian countries see forks as barbaric.

This one time I stabbed a heifer to death with one.

 

[bankside]

Bankside, that particular post was yesterday's news. Recent events have eclipsed it.

Please read my second-to-last post.

Nah, you're still worried about practicality and affectation if I read it right.

It's not so much the idea of a British (or Canadian) visitor bothering to switch hands after they cut a piece of chicken fried steak so they can enjoy the American experience. I don't think that's the right comparison.

It's more like, if you were at a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant somewhere in the middle of China, would you be helpless or would you be able to eat? If you were invited to someone's home, would you bother them to see if they had a knife and fork somewhere in the kitchen? Would you actually bring your own?

I'd feel like I was imposing on my hosts if I had to ask them for special foreign cutlery just because I couldn't use chopsticks. And I'd feel a bit rude if I brought my own, as though I were suggesting my hosts weren't able to provide proper hospitality. At the very least, I'd be worried that it would be misinterpreted that way. Last but not least I would not want my hosts thinking "Ha ha. Poor uneducated foreign boy can't even feed himself with chopsticks." It would be a bit of a pride thing to show them this Canadian boy can eat a formal meal as well as anyone.

PS. What is chicken fried steak?

I know I know...

Wait....

...
....
so no actual chicken in it?

I can't see myself going to the states and ordering chips, and expecting you to understand that I mean "freedom fries," and then demanding gravy and cheese with them so I could have proper poutine. It's kind of a "when in rome" thing, don't you think?

 

[zoltanspawn]

Last but not least I would not want my hosts thinking "Ha ha. Poor uneducated foreign boy can't even feed himself with chopsticks." It would be a bit of a pride thing to show them this Canadian boy can eat a formal meal as well as anyone.

A ha ha. Pooru boy can'tuh even feed himselfuh withuh a chopstickoo.

I mean, why wouldn't anyone be able to easily mimic unfamiliar manners?

It's not as though manners are...sophisticated in nature.

 

[zoltanspawn]

My point was that my field studies revealed that there were two distinct types of people:
*the kind that savor dining as an experience
*the kind that focus on the food itself

The problem you face is that no one has ever truly been able to focus on the food itself without also savoring it as an experience.

Ha!

 

[T-Rexx]

In fact, some Asian countries see forks as barbaric.

But, chopsticks are only usable for food that is served in small pieces.

Which means, in many cases, that someone has chopped up that food into small pieces for you, presumably with a knife and fork.

So, when you use chopsticks, you're eating with a knife and fork. It's just that someone else is operating the tools on your behalf.

 

[MoltenRock III]

The 50% who said they used chopsticks, said they did it "because it was part of the dining experience." The 50% who thought the whole thing was silly said it was "too hard", or "Too much work" or "more trouble than it was worth".

It all comes down on how we see dining. One half considers it an "experience", while the other half doesn't care so much about the experience, they just want to "taste the food".

Folks, for the most part, I'm in the latter category. I don't care about the "experience" so much, I'm a "cut the shit, sonny, and give me the food" kind of guy.

matters.

So laziness and food shoveling into ones maw was the differentiator. If one has an obesity problem and holds this view, it's no wonder, really.

 

[MoltenRock III]

In fact, some Asian countries see forks as barbaric.

Yup!

It reminds me when I took a white, co-worker, with me from the States to Tokyo on a biz trip. He had never been outside of the US before this. I took him to dinner to one of my favorite hole-in-the-wall places that seats only a dozen or so people. A number of the other locals all commented on, and showed genuine shock/surprise, at his ability to use a pair of chopsticks. I could tell he was starting to get angry, as he asked me, "they act as if I'm some trained monkey that learned a new trick". I explained why he shouldn't feel insulted and they weren't mocking him, but he still felt slighted by the stereotyping he encountered. I just smiled with smug satisfaction and said; "touché".

 

[jasoncrew03]

Yup, my dad lived in Japan for several years and he taught all of us.

 

[zoltanspawn]

But, chopsticks are only usable for food that is served in small pieces.

Which means, in many cases, that someone has chopped up that food into small pieces for you, presumably with a knife and fork.

So, when you use chopsticks, you're eating with a knife and fork. It's just that someone else is operating the tools on your behalf.

I used chopsticks earlier today to pull apart and pick succulent nuggets from a meltingly tender yet mammoth slab of pig's foot. It worked well. Eventually, I was able to gobble up all the gelatinous bits, too.

I don't think forks play a role as cooking tools in East Asian kitchens. (And very few others, either.)

 

[BostonPirate]

Your father sounds wonderful.

you just like daddies

 

[zoltanspawn]

Yup!

It reminds me when I took a white, co-worker, with me from the States to Tokyo on a biz trip. He had never been outside of the US before this. I took him to dinner to one of my favorite hole-in-the-wall places that seats only a dozen or so people. A number of the other locals all commented on, and showed genuine shock/surprise, at his ability to use a pair of chopsticks. I could tell he was starting to get angry, as he asked me, "they act as if I'm some trained monkey that learned a new trick". I explained why he shouldn't feel insulted and they weren't mocking him, but he still felt slighted by the stereotyping he encountered. I just smiled with smug satisfaction and said; "touché".

MR3, aren't Asians who think forks are barbaric just as witless as Anglos who think chopsticks are? I feel like I'm not picking up the nuances of your anecdote.

 

[Ram]

Even though I live in an Asian country, I still do not know how to eat with chopsticks. When I do use chopsticks, something like this usually happens:

I have no desire to learn how to use a chopstick. I tried and I still suck at it.