Karen wrote:
> On Apr 19, 2:26 pm, Serene-y the Meanie >
> wrote:
>> So are hands. I'm not doing away with mine any time soon.
>
> Another good example. Utensils were invented so that people could stop
> eating with their hands, especially in western society.
>
> But, something are definitely still eaten with hands... like
> sandwiches, or French fries.
>
>> Maybe you can't. I can, and so can all the Japanese people I had the
>> good fortune to eat with in Tokyo for three weeks this past summer.
>
> Well, Tokyo is certainly an area where the trend is to keep the
> chopsticks. But, I am wondering why hasn't the fork, spoon and knife
> caught on in Japan?
>
> Aren't those utensils more efficient?

Only for people who grew up using them. My first boyfriend used to
tell me about the way little kids played with chopsticks when he was
little in Saigon. They would compete to see who could pick up the
smallest grain of rice. He figured out later in life that that game
was probably invented by adults so that little kids would get their
chopstick practice in.

Have you ever seen a toddler use a spoon? They're *terrible* at it.
We have to learn to use the utensils we're now so comfortable with.

>
> It must be so that chopsticks are more efficient than other utensils
> for some people. If that is so, are chopsticks used exclusively, for
> example, eating a baked potato in Japan?

I never saw forks in a restaurant in Japan unless a non-Japanese
person requested them.

>
>> If you don't like them, no one's saying you should use them, but
>> personally, they seem really comfortable for me to use, and I like them.
>
> Keeping individual personalities aside, why do you like them and do
> you like them for only certain foods?

I would like using them for every meal, but to be honest, habit
usually prevails, and I tend only to think of them when I make
Chinese/Japanese/Thai/etc. foods. But usually when I do, I wonder
why I don't use them all the time.

Serene