Chop Sticks.

[The Sam]

What's the point of chop sticks?
It may just be me, but chopsticks turn a meal into a puzzle. I'm a lazy man and I don't have time to be trying to figure out how to get that fried rice into my tummy using chopsticks. Give me a fork anyday.
And they seem like a less ergonomic way to eat food as opposed to a fork. A fork can be used in many different and simple ways. As opposed to chop sticks which seem to be only used one way, making food hard to eat.
It's like if someone invented a straw with an extra hole in it. Sure you could easily block that extra hole with your finger or a special "extra straw hole blocker 5000®" and it would work just fine. But if you're going to that you may as well take a regular straw. Less effort for the same amount of Strawberry Quick.

Anyway, that's my rant against chopsticks. Thoughts?

Oh, and sporks are superior to all other utensils.

[Father Dougal McGuire]

While I rarely use them to eat with, chopsticks are the perfect tool for mixing sauces and pasta together, especially long pastas like spaghetti.

[Bam Neeley]

But western guy eating with chopsticks shows how you've mastered the nuances of eastern cultures and come to embrace them!

Personally I think using chopsticks isn't that difficult. But I'd still rather eat with a fork because it's easier. At home I usually eat with an army combined fork/spoon tool.

[saneiac]

I'm currently working in China, so I've gotten to see how real chopstick users do it.

Now, I'm working in a region where noodles are much more popular than rice. Noodles obviously do not pick up very well with chopsticks. The proper method is to use the chopsticks to keep things moving, rather than lift. What they do is, they put their face right down by the bowl, then *slurp* while pushing the noodles towards their mouth with the chopsticks. Meals tend to be very noisy.

Another thing here is that pretty much all meat is boiled. See, the meat has to be soft enough so it falls apart by itself if it's too heavy to pick up with chopsticks. Knives are not usually given to diners, so grilled or roasted meats can't be served. In fact, pretty much everything gets boiled here, vegetables in with the meat, boiled fish, and so on. Everything comes in a stew-like format, to make it soft and easy to pick up with chopsticks.

Finally, nothing to do with chopsticks, but two side effects of the "everything is boiled in a stew" approach to cooking: seasoning and spices all come in liquid form rather than powder, and it's really hard to find flat dinner plates. These are the kind of cultural differences nobody ever thinks about.

Oh yeah. I've been here four months, and I still can't use chopsticks.

[HMARK Center]

I enjoy chopsticks. Also kind of dig that they force me not to shovel food in my face like a madman, as is my wont.

[Mac]

I own a pair of chopsticks and eat with them regularly. Weird I know. But I enjoy using them

[Urethra Franklin]

I simply cannot figure out how to use them. Any time I go to a sushi restaurant, I ask for a fork. I might be embarrassing the people I'm with, but it's certainly less embarrassing than watching me try to navigate dinner with chopsticks.

[The Booty Disciple]

Firstly...



I'm thoroughly disappointed that someone didn't beat me to this.

Second, being a quarter Japanese, I've been using chopsticks all my life. Cleaner, and saner than standard silverware, at least for many dishes. I prefer them many times.

[Glitch]

They make eating ramen better. Metal forks warm up too fast when you put them in the soup while the wooden chopsticks only get a little warm.

[Alex Shelley]

It's way easier to eat rice with chopsticks.

[A Platypus Rave]

The reasons behind chopsticks is Confucius. He said that knives were meant for war. My theory is he just didn't want to clean silverware <_< >_>

Now for a personal anecdote...

The muscles in my hands were underdeveloped as a child so much so that I couldn't even hold pen properly.

I use this as my excuse as to why I am fundamentally handicapped when it comes to using chopsticks despite my rigorous therapy and video games solving the problems ages ago.

Also Sporks rule... though their cousin Knorks always seemed like a really bad idea for really obvious reasons....

[Urethra Franklin]

Mar 29, 2011 2:54:52 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave said:

The reasons behind chopsticks is Confucius. He said that knives were meant for war. My theory is he just didn't want to clean silverware <_< >_>

Now for a personal anecdote...

The muscles in my hands were underdeveloped as a child so much so that I couldn't even hold pen properly.

I use this as my excuse as to why I am fundamentally handicapped when it comes to using chopsticks despite my rigorous therapy and video games solving the problems ages ago.

Also Sporks rule... though their cousin Knorks always seemed like a really bad idea for really obvious reasons....

That begs the question...how do you feel about:

[Koda, Master Crunchyroller]

I love chopsticks and use them a lot. Hell my family has like 10 different pairs of chopsticks.

[theryno665]

I'm not a master at using them by any means, but I do like chopsticks. I only really use them for sushi, though. Any foods smaller than that, I kinda have trouble with.

[Back to being Cenanuff]

Taught my friend how to use them so he could impress his girlfriend's family. They're all Chinese. He's a pizza fiend, so I taught him using Pizza Rolls. He picked it up pretty quick.

[polexia]

it is easier to sweep things in to your mouth (with one hand) while holding the bowl (with the other).

BUT if you do not want to hold the bowl while eating then use a fork.

[El Hijo De Slapnuts]

I've tried multiple times to use chopsticks,it's always explained to me that it's like holding a pencil;but I hold my pencil weird,so it's always confusing me.

[Gus Richlen Was Wrong]

i have no idea what happened to them, but we used to have a pair of "Hillbilly Chopsticks," which were two long, thin pieces of wood glued to a clothespin.

[Apricots And A Pear Tree]

Just remember that Japanese and Chinese people hold them differently so they may laugh at you and point it out depending on where you go.

["Gentleman" AJ Powell]

So that people can learn the basic of piano playing!




Wait, wrong Chopsticks...