learn to use chopsticks

Ive been thinking of adding this to the pile for a little while now; just checked Zeitgeist and someone had made an entry, so I thought, perfect timing.

If you love East and/or South Asian food – and who doesnt lol – knowing how to use chopsticks is an essential skill. We were young when we learned. My mom spent a month in Japan in college and became an expert chopstick user. I think it took alot of practice to become comfortable using chopsticks, but now its easy as pie.

If you eat Chinese, Japanese etc food regularly at home (whether takeaway or homecooked) it might be worthwhile to have a few pairs of reusable chopsticks. We bought some in HK and a few more in the China section of Epcot at Disney World. They come in fun colors, prints, engraved, etc. Or you can just get a plain pair.

It’s actually quite easy to do, nothing hard. After some sushi meals I learned how to use chopsticks.

Just remember – you must move only one chopstick, the upper one. Hold it like you hold a pen (or something like that). And chopsticks aren’t meant to be crossed. And practice.

I think of chopsticks as a pair of scissors, and where the sticks cross between the index and middle fingers is the “joint” of the scissors. The top stick runs along the inside of the index fingers and the bottom stick runs along the inside of the middle finger. The thumb holds the bottom stick in place against the middle finger. You pick things up by moving the index finger up and down to open and close the “scissors”.

I used to work in a Cantonese restaurant as a teenager and it was pretty much compulsory to use chopsticks there so I learnt quickly. :)

There’s a fantastic authentic Japanese restaurant on my street, and I feel embarassed asking for a fork even for takeaway, so I’ve been improving a bit. I’m still a bit clumsy, but I’m reasonably competent at picking up things like California-style rolls (rice on outside) now.

Agedashi tofu is a bit more challenging - the silken tofu slips right away! It's one of my favourite dishes, so I think if I master this I can tick it off.

haven’t been on here in a while… but at my birthday dinner (back in august) i ate most of my japanese food with chopsticks! i actually get it now. and now i need more japanese food, mmmmmm.

so very fun, and its a jhandy move when noone else around you can do it and theyre stabbing chicken like vikings, you can teach them in a flash and theyre like wowww thanks ^_

I think I can safely say I can use chopsticks!
I don’t know how I found it so difficult. Practice makes perfect I guess.

tought my self, and my whole family is jeleous

I’ve lived in Asia on three different occasions, so it was learn to use chopsticks or be really hungry.

It was so worth it just to hear my Chinese and Korean co-workers say “You CAN use chopsticks” like it was the most amazing thing in the world.