"Gerry" > wrote in message
.. .
> In article >, werewolf
> > wrote:
>
> > "Does anyone *like* those really long plastic blunt tip chopsticks
> > they have in Chinese restaurants?"
>
> "Like"? I don't know, I can eat with them just fine. To me it has all
> the distinction of trim design on the handle of a fork or spoon.
> Doesn't really mean much to me. They all work just fine!
>
> > --- At a a very crowded local place in Little Saigon in Westminster,
> > CA there were two types of chopsticks on the tables - the "sanitary"
> > bamboo disposable kind and the reusable long plastic Chinese kind
> > which were loose, unwrapped. I noticed that most of the patrons were
> > favoring the long plastic chopsticks, and I think - having tried both
> > - that they are more efficient on the Vietnamese pho noodle soups.
>
> Are you in the Westminster area? I'm in North-west Santa Ana so eat
> there frequently. I've always seen plastic chinese chopsticks at the
> table with the condiments; I've never once seen disposable chopsticks.
> That would be about a 0 in 400 occasion for my Vietnamese dining in
> Orange County.
>
> > --- Vietnamese like the long chopsticks; Japanese and Koreans the
> > short chopsticks.
>
> So it seems. The legacy of the cuisines happen to be related as well.
>
> > "The cheezy, made-in-China chopsticks that -unfortunately- many
> > Japanese restaurants have come to rely upon are less than $0.05/pair."
>
> These would be the "cheezy" disposable wooden kind then? I wish they
> would dissapper. They have to whittle a lot of lumber, frequently from
> Canada I understand to produce these billions of disposable chopsticks.
>
> > --- Less than one cent, even at retail (even now, 3 1/2 years after
> > that message was written!)
> >
> > --- Those sanitary disposable chopsticks are not very sanitary at all,
> > often made from dirty bamboo that was used in construction and then
> > bleached out with corrosive chemicals, and some by slave labor in
> > Chinese prisons under the most unsanitary conditions. They are
> > starting to outlaw them in some places in China now because they are
> > very wasteful of wood.
>
> How do you come by the information they are made of bamboo. They all
> seem to be made of what looks like pine...?
>

There are two basic "kinds" of waribashi used in Japanese restaurants.
The cheaper kind does look like pine (or other wood) and is cut so that
there are 4 sides.
This is the type where sometimes one screws up and they break unevenly
requiring
a stealthy stretch over the the empty table next to you to grab another set.
(see top- white birch waribashi)
The other kind is bamboo. Although square at the top where the two
hashi are joined, the rest of the chopsticks are each circular and are
tapered at the end.
This type is also fairly common especially in the better Japanese
resaurants.
(See second from top)
Some Bamboo chopsticks are not rounded and cut square.
(See last two examples at bottom)

http://www.beeluck.co.jp/HZ.event/KH...n/waribasi.htm