Thread: Chopsticks
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Musashi
 
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"werewolf" > wrote in message
om...
> "Musashi" > wrote in message

>...
> > "werewolf" > wrote in message
> > om...
> > > "Does anyone *like* those really long plastic blunt tip chopsticks
> > > they have in Chinese restaurants?"
> > >

> >
> > I grew up with the Japanese chopsticks so I find the Chinese ones too

long
> > for eating. But I have a bigger problem with them not being tapered,

after
> > all I have
> > no problem at all using Japanese long chopsticks when cooking.
> >
> > > --- 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.
> > >

> >
> > That's surprising. If I recall correctly, Pho noodles are like Japanese

Udon
> > but
> > flater and made from rice. I would have expected the bamboo chopsticks

to be
> > more popular as plastic ones really have a hard time holding noodles in
> > broth.

>
>
>
>
> I think the difference is that the pho comes in a very big bowl. The
> big plastic chopsticks seem to hold the noodles OK. The trick is to
> put your face close to the bowl.
>


Must be great for clearing out sinuses

> I found some nice long Chinese-style chopsticks made from a
> multicoloured wood, coconut I think, in the Vietnamese shops in
> Westminster, very inexpensive. They're nice, I like them better than
> plastic, but the wood is much weaker than bamboo.
>


Yes, Bamboo seems to be the strongest.
Those fine laquered Japanese "family" chopsticks are bamboo.
Usually the laquer starts chipping well before the chopsticks themselves
show any signs of wear and tear.

<snip>
> > >

> >
> > I'm not surprised that the Chinese are exporting low cost disposable
> > chopsticks.
> > Upto maybe 10 years ago, Japanese Waribashi (disposable chopsticks) were
> > made
> > from wood exported from the United States. Somewhere in the middle of

the
> > country
> > like Montana or Wyoming. Presume that's history now.

>
> Yeah, Japan imports them from China now, like everybody else. I read
> about a Japanese girl who made an experiment as part of her project to
> prove that the disposable chopsticks were unhealthy as well as being
> destructive to the forests. She placed one into a bowl of fish and the
> fish died, presumably because of the chemicals released from the
> treated wood.
>


Oh good grief.