Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

They're ancient.

You can't cut up a piece of teriyaki chicken or a big piece of sushi
with chopsticks. You can't scoop up the soup with a chopstick. You
can't spear anything with a chopstick. It seems that modern utensils
make more sense but we still use chopsticks.

And, some of us aren't very good at using them, either. (me) Is
considered that eating with chopsticks tidier than eating with a knife
and fork? It seems less tidy to me and some slurping and splattering
occurs in the course of using chopsticks.

Why aren't chopsticks being phased out? Why do we use chopsticks for
certain types of food?

Do they make food taste better? Is the slender chopstick able to place
the food on the tongue in a location that may enhance the flavor?

Just wondering.

Karen

On Apr 19, 4:24 pm, Karen wrote:
Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Because they work.

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

Not all chopsticks are disposable. I often get steel
chopsticks in Korean restaurants.

They're ancient.

Well, so am I; I'll pretend you said that with admiration.

You can't cut up a piece of teriyaki chicken or a big piece of sushi
with chopsticks.

Teriyaki chicken should be cut into strips after cooking
and before serving; perhaps your Japanese restaurant
isn't up to par.

You can't scoop up the soup with a chopstick. You
can't spear anything with a chopstick.

You can't scoop up soup with a fork, either. If you
need to spear something when eating with chopsticks,
you're doing something wrong. I can handle a salmon
filet with chopsticks.

It seems that modern utensils
make more sense but we still use chopsticks.

And, some of us aren't very good at using them, either. (me)

Well, don't use them, then. Ask for silverware.

Is
considered that eating with chopsticks tidier than eating with a knife
and fork? It seems less tidy to me and some slurping and splattering
occurs in the course of using chopsticks.

It can be as tidy if you are skillful with them.

Why aren't chopsticks being phased out? Why do we use chopsticks for
certain types of food?

Do they make food taste better? Is the slender chopstick able to place
the food on the tongue in a location that may enhance the flavor?

I suppose you avoid the taste of metal (with wooden or
bamboo chopsticks, of course).

Cindy Hamilton

Cindy Hamilton wrote:

On Apr 19, 4:24 pm, Karen wrote:
Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Because they work.

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

Not all chopsticks are disposable. I often get steel
chopsticks in Korean restaurants.

They're ancient.

Well, so am I; I'll pretend you said that with admiration.

You can't cut up a piece of teriyaki chicken or a big piece of sushi
with chopsticks.

Teriyaki chicken should be cut into strips after cooking
and before serving; perhaps your Japanese restaurant
isn't up to par.

You can't scoop up the soup with a chopstick. You
can't spear anything with a chopstick.

You can't scoop up soup with a fork, either. If you
need to spear something when eating with chopsticks,
you're doing something wrong. I can handle a salmon
filet with chopsticks.

It seems that modern utensils
make more sense but we still use chopsticks.

And, some of us aren't very good at using them, either. (me)

Well, don't use them, then. Ask for silverware.

Is
considered that eating with chopsticks tidier than eating with a knife
and fork? It seems less tidy to me and some slurping and splattering
occurs in the course of using chopsticks.

It can be as tidy if you are skillful with them.

Why aren't chopsticks being phased out? Why do we use chopsticks for
certain types of food?

Do they make food taste better? Is the slender chopstick able to place
the food on the tongue in a location that may enhance the flavor?

I suppose you avoid the taste of metal (with wooden or
bamboo chopsticks, of course).

Cindy Hamilton

Additionally, the disposable bamboo chopsticks are environmentally sound
since bamboo is very fast growing, far from threatened and
biodegradable.

Karen wrote:
Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

The vast majority of chopsticks are made of bamboo. Bamboo grows
faster than 10 billion Asians eating at the speed of light can use up
chopsticks. If not for chopsticks and Asians this planet would be
hurtling through space looking like a giant bambo quilled porcupine.

Sheldon

Sheldon wrote:
Karen wrote:
Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

The vast majority of chopsticks are made of bamboo. Bamboo grows
faster than 10 billion Asians eating at the speed of light can use up
chopsticks. If not for chopsticks and Asians this planet would be
hurtling through space looking like a giant bambo quilled porcupine.

Sheldon

ROFL!! Funny but true! We had a bamboo "grove" next to the driveway in
Bangkok. When we arrived it was fairly short, maybe 5 feet tall. By the
time we left 2 years later it was reaching for the stars and had expanded to
hide a number of wild animials without a problem. Enter the neighbors' pet
chimpanzee, which was a really bad idea!

It got away from them, hopped the 6 foot fence via the trees and wound up in
our bamboo. The neighbor (Jim) broke his arm trying to get the dang chimp.

OB Food: We also had a starfruit tree. Pretty fruit, but quite tart.

Jill

In article . com,
says...
Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

They're ancient.

You can't cut up a piece of teriyaki chicken or a big piece of sushi
with chopsticks. You can't scoop up the soup with a chopstick. You
can't spear anything with a chopstick. It seems that modern utensils
make more sense but we still use chopsticks.

And, some of us aren't very good at using them, either. (me) Is
considered that eating with chopsticks tidier than eating with a knife
and fork? It seems less tidy to me and some slurping and splattering
occurs in the course of using chopsticks.

Why aren't chopsticks being phased out? Why do we use chopsticks for
certain types of food?

Do they make food taste better? Is the slender chopstick able to place
the food on the tongue in a location that may enhance the flavor?

Just wondering.

Karen



It's traditional with certain types of food (Chinese, Japanese, etc).
When these foods are prepared correctly, they are in pieces that can
easily be eaten with chopsticks. There's no need to dispose of
chopsticks, they go thru the dishwasher fine and can be used dozens of
times. When soup is involved, there is a spoon provided (CHinese) or it
is considered OK to drink from the bowl (Japanese).
--
Peter Aitken

Steve Wertz wrote:

Don't even get me started on those damned Chinese spoons.

Have you tried Korean spoons? They are metal and flat/shallow.

Steve

On Apr 19, 1:34 pm, Cindy Hamilton
wrote:
Well, so am I; I'll pretend you said that with admiration.

I'm not poking fun or trying to argue. Really. No offense!

Ancient tools are updated to modern tools all over the board. But
chopsticks remain on the table. I'm just wondering why. I suppose
tradition is the answer?

You can't scoop up soup with a fork, either. If you
need to spear something when eating with chopsticks,
you're doing something wrong. I can handle a salmon
filet with chopsticks.

Well, there's the invention of the spoon that one uses for soup. Of
course, noodles slide right over the edges.

Well, don't use them, then. Ask for silverware.

I could, but I don't. I really don't want to use silverware when
everyone else is using chopsticks. So I struggle. But, then I wonder
why many struggle?

I suppose you avoid the taste of metal (with wooden or
bamboo chopsticks, of course).

Yeah, maybe.

A fork does good things when eating ice cream but I always forget and
use a spoon.

Anyway, NOT trying to pick a fight. Just wondering why we cling to
chopsticks when eating certain types of food. And, if those reasons
are valid (like avoiding the taste of metal), why not use chopsticks
exclusively, like for spaghetti, for example?

Karen

Karen

Karen wrote:
Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

Mine aren't. I keep my washable, non-disposable chopsticks in the
silverware drawer.


They're ancient.

So are hands. I'm not doing away with mine any time soon.


You can't cut up a piece of teriyaki chicken or a big piece of sushi
with chopsticks.

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.

You can't scoop up the soup with a chopstick.

Use a spoon? Drink from the bowl?

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.

serene

Karen wrote:

And, some of us aren't very good at using them, either. (me) Is
considered that eating with chopsticks tidier than eating with a knife
and fork? It seems less tidy to me and some slurping and splattering
occurs in the course of using chopsticks.

Is that YOU can't use them the crux of the problem you have with them?
My skills with them have certainly improved over the years and with use.
I would rather see someone work to use chopsticks than hold their fork
like an entrenching tool and shoveling the food in their maw,
lipsmacking, dribbling sauce onto their chest or belly and feeling smug
over those heathen that use chopsticks.

A Chinese friend of mine told me that as a child he learned to use
chopsticks later in life, perhaps around 8 or so. He told me that to
help children learn they take a rubber band to the pair of chopsticks to
make them hold tight together better. As they become proficient, they
lost the band.

"Karen" wrote

Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

You remind me of some comedian who said, Have the Chinese
*seen* the fork?? Made me laugh. My mother had some pretty
chopsticks, but she hardly used them

nancy

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?

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?

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?

Karen

On Apr 19, 4:47 pm, Sheldon wrote:
Karen wrote:
Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

The vast majority of chopsticks are made of bamboo. Bamboo grows
faster than 10 billion Asians eating at the speed of light can use up
chopsticks. If not for chopsticks and Asians this planet would be
hurtling through space looking like a giant bambo quilled porcupine.

Sheldon

I like that image! Pity we can't figure out a way to use the
Japanese
knotweed aka Japanese bamboo that overtakes almost everything
once it gets a roothold. Impossible to dig out, too!

maxine in ri, ever vigilant against invasive alien species!

On Apr 19, 3:35 pm, "kilikini" wrote:
I use chopsticks on a daily basis and so does my husband. They're excellent
to scoop up peas, rice, beans, corn........ we even bring our own to Asian
restaurants, take them home and wash them. I eat salads with them, seafood,
you name it. If something has a sauce to it, like baked beans, yes, I'll
use a spoon or a fork, but other than that, we opt for chopsticks. It's
somehow tidier; I tend to drop less food, believe it or not. In fact, we're
raising 3 tiny baby blue jays (long story) and I'm feeding THEM with
chopstix. (And picking up their poo with them. It's so much easier! - oh,
not the same chopsticks for both things. 2 different sets.)

I bought a little stick in Japan that I thought was a chopstick for a
child with a little scoop on the end. It ended up being an ear-pick. I
keep it in my silverware drawer because it is so pretty.

If I panko a fillet of fish, again, I use chopsticks. You can pry the fish
into pieces and pick out the most minute slivers. I think they're the
greatest invention of mankind.

Well, you are definitely not the only one. Millions of people agree
with you on that score. With all of the kitchen gadgets on the market,
it seems the chopstik is one that stands the test of time.

But, it is interesting, isn't it? We can put a man on the moon, and
NASA can technologically create things for efficiency, but a stick
remains favor?

Karen

Karen wrote:

Pondering the use of chopsticks in western society. Since forks,
knives, spoons were invented, why do we still use chopsticks?

Chopsticks are disposable, which impacts the environment and uses up
trees.

In the western society - the Chinese restaurant part of it - most
chopsticks are made of plastic. In Korean restaurants, metal chopsticks
are usual.

They're ancient.

A lot of good things are.

You can't cut up a piece of teriyaki chicken

They are supposed to be served already cut small enough.

or a big piece of sushi
with chopsticks.

Sushi pieces aren't supposed to be that big. Besides, traditionally,
sushi have always been picked up with fingers. Using chopsticks is
usual, too, but is a relatively new-fangled custom.

You can't scoop up the soup with a chopstick.

Why would you want to? Solids are eaten with chopsticks; liquid is
supposed to be sipped straight from the bowl.

You
can't spear anything with a chopstick.

You do not have to. The food is nearly always cut in small pieces.

It seems that modern utensils
make more sense but we still use chopsticks.

Make sense where, when, to whom, and with what food? Western food has
long become rather popular in major Asian cities and it is almost
invariably eaten using knives, forks and spoons there, too.

And, some of us aren't very good at using them, either. (me)

There, you have it, finally. :-)

Me, I come from a culture probably the least familiar with chopsticks,
yet I have learned to use them reasonably well a long time ago and in
fact, do use them nearly every day, sometimes even with foods totally
usuitable. The other day, I cooked Nürnberger Rostbratwürstchen with
sauerkraut and used chopsticks to lift the Würstchen out of the pan and
place them onto a plate.

Is
considered that eating with chopsticks tidier than eating with a knife
and fork? It seems less tidy to me and some slurping and splattering
occurs in the course of using chopsticks.

Once you have learned to use them well enough, it is just as tidy as
expertly using knife and fork. If you have not learned to use knife and
fork - and especially spoon - slurping and splattering will occur, too.
Also, slurping is not necessarily the result of using chopsticks, as it
is a part of Chinese and Japanese culture and is supposed to demonstrate
enjoyment and appreciation.

Why aren't chopsticks being phased out? Why do we use chopsticks for
certain types of food?

Because they are a part of a larger food culture, one that prepares food
for which chopsticks are peculiarly appropriate.

Do they make food taste better?

Yes, invariably, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese food tastes
better when eaten with chopsticks. I do not know why, but it really
does.

Victor