About chopsticks
I mentioned in one of my previous posts, that I collect chopsticks. Let me now introduce to you my chopsticks collection. These chopsticks were bought during my several travels to Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. But the collecting started, when a Japanese friend sent me one pair of chopsticks (hashi in Japanese) and the chopstick rest (hashioki) in a shape of a bunny. Check the pictures below:
1 Sent by my Japanese friend 2,3,4 Expensive ones bought in Penang 5,6 Bought in Hong Kong (came with the 2 ducks) 7 My fav to use, bought a set in Penang 8 Worst quality chopstics, made of plastic9 Bought a set in Singapore near Sultan mosque 10 I got those at a hawker in Malaysia and kept them
I had my first real encounter with chopsticks when I first traveled to Singapore in 2005. I've been there twice that year and there was quite few occasions where I had to use them. I admit, I was clumsy and failed to grab a piece several times. Whenever someone saw my embarrassing attempts to pick up food, they immediately offered me a fork. But at that time, I was mostly spending time with Malays, so I didn't need to use chopsticks too often and I switched to fork gladly.That changed in 2007, when I traveled to Penang (Malaysia) for the first time. At that time I dated my ex girlfriend, who was Chinese and I really wanted to learn how to use chopsticks. It took some time, but I eventually mastered it. Then, by being so proud of myself [*Ang moh know use chopstick meh?]. I got so fascinated by these eating utensils, that I started to collect them. And now I even use them at home in Europe, although not very often.
See the pic on the left? I just tried to see, if I'm still capable to hold them right, and guess what? I can! :-) [*So proud of myself again]. I have the feeling I will need this skill next year, when I plan to return to Asia.
Chopsticks are called 筷子[kuàizi] in Chinese and there's something I've been told one should never do: Never stick them in a bowl of rice vertically, because it resembles incense sticks, that are used for praying! I either put them on top of the bowl or on the chopstick rest, if provided. The basic rule is: Use them to pick the food and eat. Don't make noise with them [*they're not drum sticks!], don't use them to pierce food and don't play with them. Then you should be fine. And if you wanna see how you hold them right, check the gif. image on the right. Can you hold them right?Now tell me:
- Do you use chopsticks often or rarely?
- At what age did you learn to use them?
- Any funny story regarding chopsticks?
44 KAFKAESQUE COMMENTS:
Funny stories - nah. Seeing a kwai loh using a chopstick like a pro is classic!
November 11, 2009 7:36 AM
izso
Haha.. Ok, lemme strike back: Seeing a chai nese using a fork like a pro is classic! :P Hey, is it really so amazing for Chinese to see us using chopsticks? LOL.
November 11, 2009 7:49 AM
Yea, if an ang moh knows to use kuai zi, we will like "WOW, don't play play with this ang moh,the skill of holding chopsticks quite PRO leh".
I only use chopsticks while eating Korean food and Japanese food. At home, I stick to fork and spoon. :p
This is very stupid, I remember that I accidentally used plastic chopsticks to cook. And, it melted. -7 years old me was trying to cook instant noodles on a hot plate.
November 11, 2009 8:34 AM
Stefanie
Aha, yes.. I noticed that using chopsticks properly does impress some Chinese. Some even say I hold them more properly than them :P
Hehehe.. love your funny story. I hope that doesn't happen again to you now. Please use metal chopsticks, ok? :P
November 11, 2009 8:39 AM
hehe that's cute! i can't believe u keep #10! thats the worst quality chopstick hehe but i guess it's for keepsake :)
did u buy anything metal like korean chopsticks? i used it in korean restaurant and it's so frigging hard to use @_@ but definitely a challenge!
I'm pretty sure i have #4 in my house and maybe #6 too
i only use chopsticks when i eat at hawkers. i remembered my dad 'forcing' us to learn using chopsticks at age of 7 or 8, it was in sunday school and he wouldnt give us fork for the noodles!
November 11, 2009 9:21 AM
Great collection! I don't think I have ever encountered anyone who collects chop sticks before!!lol Do you use them? Or are they just for show In the case of the latter, how do you display your collection? :O)
November 11, 2009 9:48 AM
Actually, the sticking chopstick in bowl thing is not really symbolises incense sticks. But it's a table etiquette, just like we don't rest our fork and spoon on the plate before we finish our meal. However, I like to poke my dumplings with chopsticks otherwise it would be too slippery
November 11, 2009 10:16 AM
Considering I often eat out in japanese or chinese ( also korean, thai, or vietnamese ) restaurants..I'm pretty familiar with chopsticks. The only thing I have trouble to is to eat sushi with it. Especially if it's a big sushi, I'm not so much of a person who can just put medium to big sized food all at once I usually cut them up. So yeah I never eat sushi all in one bite and it kinda makes it hard since it's not the neatest food around to eat.
But no, no big trouble. Indonesian food usually only take fork and spoon to eat though.
November 11, 2009 11:10 AM
Chopsticks are probably the most simple and versatile utensil ever invented by man. Love how it allows for one-handed eating/cooking. :D
November 11, 2009 2:49 PM
I use chopsticks since I was a kid. However, I'm not using the proper way, both my chopsticks moved.
So ya, your chopsticks skills are better than mine. *blush*
November 11, 2009 2:58 PM
Sharon Yea, the #10 I just keep for keepsake, hehe. I'm like that, when I travel. I keep many things. I used metal ones, but very seldom. But I'll definitely buy some one day :)
Carina
Well, sure I use them sometimes, the #7, it's very nice, made of bamboo. I don't display them, just keep them in a box :)
Jerine
Well, you are right, it is an etiquette nowadays, but then you are also wrong :) Because the reason I mentioned is true. Not only my ex girlfriend told me that, but let me quote Wikipedia:
"Chopsticks should not be left vertically stuck into a bowl of rice because it resembles the ritual of incense-burning that symbolizes "feeding" the dead and death in general."
But I guess many people these days just see it as etiquette and forgot the deeper meaning behind it.
November 11, 2009 5:03 PM
Andhari
Ah, I did expect that from you, I mean to be skilled and to love all kinds of Asian food. Do you also like Western food? :)
Pinkpurplelizard
I agree! And definitely something where the West was behind the East :)
Shingo T
I hold chopsticks the proper way. I saw of most Chinese friends in Malaysia hold them like you, I tried that and failed. It's still a mystery to me..
November 11, 2009 5:07 PM
I am chinese but I prefer using forks & spoons. And the shameful thing is I never ever hold the chopsticks the right way! I have seen most Caucasians using it the right way. Lol.
November 11, 2009 5:52 PM
Vampie
I guess when you need to learn something from a different culture, you wanna learn it right :)
November 11, 2009 6:05 PM
It always impresses me when I see a none-chinese pick up and use a pair of chopsticks. Glad you learn how to use them.
It is always a challenge. If you always use chopstick with you right hand, try using it with your left. It's very challenging. It also gives your brain a good exercise :o) That's something I always do.
November 11, 2009 9:49 PM
Ai Shang
Thank you. I will try it with left hand, haha. Sounds like fun.
November 11, 2009 10:02 PM
Hello mon cher, a kiss on you!
Come back, keep following me ^^
"I'd like my work to let the person who wears it be whatever she is" - Haider Ackermann
@ MaisonChaplin.blogspot.com
November 12, 2009 12:22 AM
Came here on the recommendation of Shingo. Great blog. Dun mind if i link u up over at my blog for easy access to your blog. :D
Just recently, i was also thinking of chopsticks and how i can never learn how to properly use them even though i have been using them since i was a kid. Have been trying it out the correct way like the one on ur gif and i failed miserably.
I guess as long as i can pick up my food i am fine with it. haha.
November 12, 2009 12:42 AM
we're not too big on chopsticks over here. coz the population is of so many different ethnicities, so to make things more universal, it's spoons n forks everywhere. even in chinese restaurants, it's not always that we get chopsticks. but we have a few pairs at home, metal ones. somehow noodles just taste better when you eat the with chopsticks ^^
and i use wooden chopsticks to cook sometimes when i stir-fry stuff
November 12, 2009 1:32 AM
dude, I can't live without these sticks! :P
You have one awesome collection here! I like the pair with the bunny, so I can def. see why you've started collecting after getting that one... I've seen the chopstick stores in Beijing, but didn't go inside to take a look, although I'm chinese, I've never actually known that they have such great looking chopsticks!
loves
(no funny story here, sorry!)
November 12, 2009 4:21 AM
Maison Chaplin
Ooh lah lah... I can't reject such a tempting proposal. I might drop by at your Maison soon :)
Roxy.
Hello and welcome! Of course you can link to my blog, I'm always happy, if I get a new reader. It's my honor to entertain you *bows
You are right, it doesn't matter for Asians, how they hold them, as long as they can pick up food. As for me, I need to hold them right :)
Manju
I see, you're a secret chopstick stir-frier? Woohoo! You probably have a Chinese gene in you :)
Shirley
Ah, I'd definitely buy some, if I was in Beijing. Maybe some day :) The bunny is cute, yea, but I wanna have some nice wooden chopstick rests one day, I wouldn't wanna use the bunny at a special occasion :)
November 12, 2009 5:32 AM
We've reduced our chopsticks collection to a manageable number and retained only the most interesting ones, attractive ones and our special chopsticks. I have never tired of our chopstick rests, boats, fish, leaves, etc.
November 12, 2009 5:44 AM
ZACL
So you're somewhat like me, you like to collect them, too. Nice :)
November 12, 2009 5:47 AM
It took a lot from my parents to get me to master the use of chopsticks, lol. As a kid, I could never be able to pick up any kind of food with chopsticks, even less with dainty things like rice. So I never understood how so many adults were able to use two sticks to scoop up a huge chunk of rice.
Whenever we went to Chinese restaurants, I think I was an utter embarrassment for my parents. Instead of holding the chopsticks in one hand with a finger in between, I had one chopstick in each hand and tried to pick up the food that way, LOL. Of course, that didn't work really well. But my parents were persistent and kept insisting that I practiced.
Finally, by age 10, I managed to hold a pair of chopsticks in one hand and pick up a piece of solid food (I didn't master rice until I was 12). I was so happy, lol.
November 12, 2009 6:37 AM
Van
Haha, so cute imagining you holding chopsticks in every hand :P Well, I must say I never really ate rice with chopsticks, they always had spoons for that in Malaysia and Singapore... The rice has to be sticky, I guess, to be able to eat it with chopsticks.
November 12, 2009 7:02 AM
I think most rice in Chinese restaurants are sticky. But they still tumbled off when I used chopsticks to pick up a chunk at age 10. I'm much better at it nowadays. Though my most favorite time to use chopsticks is when I'm eating noodles. Noodles are the easiest to use chopsticks with.
November 12, 2009 7:07 AM
Van
Oh yea, noodles taste best when you eat with chopsticks... and my friend Manju agrees on that, too :-)
November 12, 2009 7:14 AM
MKL : Eh.. you don't have the stainless steel korean chopsticks?? *gasp*
November 12, 2009 7:18 AM
izso
No I don't :-( *sigh
November 12, 2009 7:20 AM
i eat sushi with chopsticks. i eat sushi every week.
therefore i use chopsticks every week.
November 12, 2009 7:25 AM
I'm an Asian, and I use chopsticks every day, and every meal, but we also use forks and spoons when we eat western food. I should say that you do good job again!! You use the chopstick in the right way!! Most of my fellows use chopsticks in a wrong way, because their parents also use in a wrong way. But many of them haven't been corrected, I guess maybe they think although they use chopsticks in a wrong way, but they still can use well and eat food, right?
In my family, my dad and my brother use chopsticks in a wrong way, my mum and I use in the right way. I used chopsticks in the wrong way when I was a lil girl, and I remembered one day I read a book, and the book said we should use chopsticks in right way, otherwise we should feel shamed about ourselves. I was shocked and then I adjusted my way to the right one, hehe.
Now I use chopsticks skillfully, I can use chopsticks on a whole egg and a piece of tofu, and won't make them shattered. Hehe.
November 12, 2009 2:56 PM
Were you giggling at me?? Haha.
No,I'm smart now. I use wood chopsticks instead of metal one.
Metal conducts heat. :p
November 12, 2009 3:37 PM
LilyChen
Wow, you're really skilled, Lily. That's great. I wonder how you can pick up an egg, hehe.
Stefanie
Oh, I'm sure you're smart noe and you won't make the chopsticks melt again, hehe..
November 12, 2009 6:19 PM
omgggggg i love ur collectionnnnnnnnnnn :D *sighhh* I need to start one too :D hehehe!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!! :D
I may look asian but believe me, I absolutely CANNOT use chopsticks!!!! LOL :p My grandma tried to teach me sooo many timesss without success :p I use it to poke it in stuff and use it as a fork instead!! LOL :p
When I go to chinese restaurants and they only have chopsticks, I always ask for forks :S And they always look at me like I'm a disgrace to the chinese culture! Bahahaha :p
November 13, 2009 10:10 AM
JaiMie
Thaaaank youuuuu :) I think you could learn it easily, it's a very useful skill and I'm sure Chinese won't look down on you in restaurants, hehe :P
November 13, 2009 5:37 PM
if you are here once again, i will bring you to a korean restaurant... those chopsticks are a challenge!
November 14, 2009 11:09 AM
so next year i'll be in asia too!!
your collection is quite nice.
November 14, 2009 12:45 PM
zewt
Ok, but I may use a fork :)
floreta
Thank you. I hope we will both realize our plans ;)
November 14, 2009 5:52 PM
I used chopsticks occasionally at chinese or japanese restaurants....I can't remember at what age I started using them, but it was young.
November 16, 2009 4:49 PM
The Envoy
Thanks for sharing :)
November 16, 2009 5:20 PM
hiah cool :)
You're good with the chopstick:
"Never stick them in a bowl of rice vertically, because it resembles incense sticks, that are used for praying!"
You're right about this one. Just to add a bit more, the praying is for the dead at burials places.
Chinese uses rice (uncooked) in an incense container or small rice bowl with incense sticking in the middle for praying at the graveyard or the place where the dead were place before burials.
So you really, really don't want to stick your chopstick vertically as it means prayer for the dead!
Cheers
November 22, 2009 1:32 AM
Netster
Thanks for the heads up, bro. And also for your compliments, hehe. I won't stick chopsticks in a rice bowl, you can be sure about that :)
November 22, 2009 2:54 AM
ChopSticks are a pair of wooden sticks, generally around 8 to 10 inches - of course, there are different sized ones - used to eat food. They are very narrow at one end - used as food side, and little thicker on the other side, for holding. Both the sticks are to be used using single hand, and its a nack - with fingers.
January 2, 2010 6:00 PM
@Xmas gifts: Very smart observation and you nearly escaped being deleted as spam. You're lucky, that I have a good sense of humour ;)
January 2, 2010 6:38 PM
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