Chopsticks

[achow]

Re: chopsticks

Yes. I do know how to use chopsticks. I was raised first using the baby chopsticks which you can buy in Chinatown then gradually using the adult sized chopsticks.

[joshuatree]

Re: chopsticks

It's more of a (Japanese) Buddhist thing.

It's also a Chinese thing. Putting chopsticks standing up in a bowl of rice is similar to the incense sticks burning upright in an ash urn so it's a no-no.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: chopsticks

Hey, those are just the warm up exercises the pros use to stay limber. If you can pull a "Zatoichi", you are a master in my book.

Now catching a flying bug with a pair of Hashi that's what I call...Zatoichi!

One thing of the ancients that I learned with disposable chopsticks is to fold the paper wrapper in a knot and laying flat to resemble a folded triangle.

You lay your chopsticks on top to indicate you are still eating, tuck them inside the folds to say you're done. I still do this but many don't understand what I'm doing. I went to one place in Hilo and I commended the hostess for identifying my gestures accurately. She's old school as is most of Hilo. She was amazed that I knew the proper techniques.

[helen]

Re: chopsticks

Even though I answered "yes" I need to point out it's a barely doable. Noodles yeah, rice is hard for me to eat chopsticks with.

[cyleet99]

Re: chopsticks

I have been trying to eat with chopsticks since high school, and can get down to the last few grains of rice if not too much gravy. The boy is doing pretty well; starts out with the chopsticks, then moves to the spoon or fork at the end...Husband will not use them. Since we have come to Hawaii I use them much more frequently. The boy got his own child's set from the local teppanyaki restaurant at home in SC for his birthday.

I don't cook with them...I think you need extra long ones, right?

[cyleet99]

Re: chopsticks

One thing of the ancients that I learned with disposable chopsticks is to fold the paper wrapper in a knot and laying flat to resemble a folded triangle.

You lay your chopsticks on top to indicate you are still eating, tuck them inside the folds to say you're done. I still do this but many don't understand what I'm doing.

I had heard that before about folding the paper and using it to set your chopsticks on, Craig. I sure appreciate everybody's information about what not to do with them. I would hate to be the object of multiple stares at the local restaurant and not know why they were glaring.

[mapen]

Re: chopsticks

I think I enjoy my meals more when I use chopsticks - with chopsticks I'm looking at the food more and "working it" more with complicated hand motions to gently deposit a morsel of food in my mouth.

With forks it seems I'm in more of a mindless scoop-it-or-poke-it-and-shove-it-in-the-mouth mode.

Also, as a person with white skin and brown hair, I like to ask for them and use them in public just for the looks I sometimes get

On some occasions, I get chopstick "discrimination". At restaurant, I get asked if I want a fork while my more Asian looking family members (I'm hapa) automatically get chopsticks with no questions.

[acousticlady]

Re: chopsticks

I learned to use them (Chinese variety - who knew there were more......) as a little girl. I could pick up a grain of rice and maybe twirl them (we would get yelled at for playing around), but I doubt I could de-bone a chicken . And I agree about leaving the chopsticks stabbed in the rice - big taboo.

[kani-lehua]

Re: chopsticks

ditto to craig's post. i learned the paper folding from my grandmother. was taught to use chopsticks by an aunt albeit the incorrect way i'm told. does anyone think it's easier to use the wooden kind vs. the plastic kind?

[Beau]

Re: chopsticks

You know people may THINK they know how to use chopsticks but do they really know how to use them?

One proficient in the use of chopsticks can:

1) Pick up grains of uncooked rice
2) Twirl them between their fingers then reposition them without using the other hand
3) Debone chicken with one hand using a pair of chopsticks

I prefer to use chopsticks and can do all of the above...However, when I first tried using Korean metal chopsticks, I had a hard time! I think the weight of them felt differently in my hand, sort of like knitting needles!

Many times I have bought a plate lunch and start to eat it with a plastic fork and then finish eating it with chopsticks after I get home.

[Vanguard]

Re: Chopsticks

My Japanese language teacher taught me how to use them once upon a time. I prefer a fork (it's what I'm used to), but I'll use chopsticks when I go to the noodle house with my friends.

[localmoco]

Re: chopsticks

I was raised first using the baby chopsticks which you can buy in Chinatown then gradually using the adult sized chopsticks.

My kids knew how to use chopsticks at age 3 or 4. First they used "training hashi" and then graduated to real hashi.

For the training hashi you don't need to buy special chopsticks. Just wrap a rubber band around the end of the chopsticks and wedge a piece of folded paper in between the two chopsticks. Now you have a spring-loaded pair of chopsticks. All you need to do is squeeze them together to pick things up and then they automatically spring open again when you relax your grip.

[turtlegirl]

Re: Chopsticks

I can't seem to get the hang of chopsticks. Whenever I try, food ends up flying across the table! Sven is very good with them, and loves to pick on me whenever we order chinese.
How the heck can you guys eat noodles with them? Are you using the chopsticks to shovel the noodles into your mouth? Twirling the noodles around the chopsticks?
Best use I have for chopsticks - holding my hair up in a bun!

[NoCal Boy]

Re: chopsticks

I don't care for those long and fat, square profile Chinese ivory plastic type. How do they pick up their loose style of rice with those things anyway?

I can't believe I'm the first to answer this question with "Ancient Chinese Secret!" I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

For the training hashi you don't need to buy special chopsticks. Just wrap a rubber band around the end of the chopsticks and wedge a piece of folded paper in between the two chopsticks. Now you have a spring-loaded pair of chopsticks.

I just saw this for the first time in of all places, here in Marin County! We were just about to get these chopstick holders for our toddler, but then a local sushi bar supplied her with a pair exactly like localmoco suggests. So simple I can't believe I'd never seen it before, and you can't beat the price! (Going back to the Chinese thing )

[MyopicJoe]

Re: Chopsticks

Now I know why asians like sticky rice.

Nah. No need da sticky rice (but sure iz gud wit curry). Jus use one small rice bowl. Neva mine da pinchy-pinchy. Jus scoop'um up. Simpo.

You nubs.

/facepalm