Can you use chopsticks?

[pcolbeck]

One of the reasons why chopsticks have persisted is that for a lot of Asian food, a knife is redundant.

Yes but isnt that a circular thing? They chop up food small in the kitchen because they use chopsticks and continue to use chopsticks because they chop up everything small in the kitchen ....

Its a cultural oddity.

Which brings me to the question are there any other eating implements other than knives, forks, spoons and chopsticks ?

[L CC]

I have a theory that whilst people say its easy it uses some kind of fine muscle control that most people in the West just don't normally use.

That'll be why no one here can knit or sew then

The best way to learn to use chopsticks is to be in a situation where there is delicious food and no other means of eating it in an acceptable way. It's tough at first but you soon learn.

Key for me was realising the lower stick doesn't move and sussing out how far down the length to grip them.

Yes

Chopstick technique also comes in useful for rescuing objects that have fallen behind the back of an immovable object such as a radiator

Knitting is much easier than chopsticks- you move the wool, not the needles, mostly. Writing requires a greater fine motor skill, and loads of folks here brag about how shit and illegible their writing is.
Same deal- if you don't need to write- and who does, in 2017?- you're crap at it.

I can eat with chopsticks. If I have to, but generally, I don't, so I don't.

[hubner]

Yes but isnt that a circular thing? They chop up food small in the kitchen because they use chopsticks and continue to use chopsticks because they chop up everything small in the kitchen ....

There is a reason for chopping food into small pieces before cooking though, it uses less fuel and the food cooks more quickly.

[mrcharly-YHT]

One of the reasons why chopsticks have persisted is that for a lot of Asian food, a knife is redundant.

Yes but isnt that a circular thing? They chop up food small in the kitchen because they use chopsticks and continue to use chopsticks because they chop up everything small in the kitchen ....

Its a cultural oddity.

Which brings me to the question are there any other eating implements other than knives, forks, spoons and chopsticks ?

Chapattis
Big straws
Hands

[geraldc]

Chopsticks are far more practical once you can use them. You can make them from bamboo very easily. The areas that use chopsticks all seem to grow bamboo too. If you use chopsticks, then each family unit only needs one cleaver/knife, and they can make an infinite number of chopsticks. If you use knives and forks you need mines, blacksmiths, factories etc, and everyone needs a knife.

Petit pois/peas aren't really seen in asia, they go for mange tout. The peas in fried rice here are just for colour, its back from when it was hard to get spring onions.

[Quisling]

At the age of 17 I got a part time job in a Chinese restaurant.  Every night after work the whole staff sit down together for a meal after the punters have left.  That was a sharp lesson in chopstickery having never held any before.  But they respected me for persevering and I'm grateful I made the effort.  It's a life skill, like not grimacing when listening to Country and Western even though you feel an urge to try DIY trepanning.

Seeing Real Chinese People using chopsticks was helpful, because they recognise the chopsticks' limitations and frequently put a bowl to their mouth and use the sticks to shove in vast mouths full.  Naturally, they serve the food on plates to their customers to make it extra funny to watch them chasing the rice about.

[Jurek]

At the age of 17 I got a part time job in a Chinese restaurant.  Every night after work the whole staff sit down together for a meal after the punters have left.  That was a sharp lesson in chopstickery having never held any before.  But they respected me for persevering and I'm grateful I made the effort.  It's a life skill, like not grimacing when listening to Country and Western even though you feel an urge to try DIY trepanning.

Seeing Real Chinese People using chopsticks was helpful, because they recognise the chopsticks' limitations and frequently put a bowl to their mouth and use the sticks to shove in vast mouths full.  Naturally, they serve the food on plates to their customers to make it extra funny to watch them chasing the rice about.

My bold.
Genius!
That's a chopstickery game-changer for me 

[simonp]

I've eaten a fried egg, sunny side up, with runny yolk, using Korean metal chopsticks. That's one of the boss levels.

[ian]

The Chinese find it entertaining to watch western people chase rice around a plate with a chopstick. They use them as an aid to scoop and slurp. We're too dainty for that.

[Jaded]

I’ve used chopsticks to roll up pancakes with crispy aromatic duck

[Cudzoziemiec]

One of the reasons why chopsticks have persisted is that for a lot of Asian food, a knife is redundant.

Yes but isnt that a circular thing? They chop up food small in the kitchen because they use chopsticks and continue to use chopsticks because they chop up everything small in the kitchen ....

Its a cultural oddity.

Which brings me to the question are there any other eating implements other than knives, forks, spoons and chopsticks ?

Chapattis
Big straws
Hands

ice cream cones
hollowed out coconut shells
foil lid of a yogurt pot, folded into a V shape
small leaves
and of course the spork

[pcolbeck]

Chopsticks are far more practical once you can use them. You can make them from bamboo very easily. The areas that use chopsticks all seem to grow bamboo too. If you use chopsticks, then each family unit only needs one cleaver/knife, and they can make an infinite number of chopsticks. If you use knives and forks you need mines, blacksmiths, factories etc, and everyone needs a knife.

That makes a lot of sense.

[hubner]

At the age of 17 I got a part time job in a Chinese restaurant.  Every night after work the whole staff sit down together for a meal after the punters have left.  That was a sharp lesson in chopstickery having never held any before.  But they respected me for persevering and I'm grateful I made the effort.  It's a life skill, like not grimacing when listening to Country and Western even though you feel an urge to try DIY trepanning.

Seeing Real Chinese People using chopsticks was helpful, because they recognise the chopsticks' limitations and frequently put a bowl to their mouth and use the sticks to shove in vast mouths full.  Naturally, they serve the food on plates to their customers to make it extra funny to watch them chasing the rice about.

My bold.
Genius!
That's a chopstickery game-changer for me 

That's completely normal. It's like saying the knife and fork has limitations so people resort to using a spoon when having soup

[LEE]

I could use chopsticks before my MS took hold. Now I can't use a pen

Wouldn't you get ink on your Rice?

[menthel]

Competent with chopsticks, even with the tricky Korean metal version (living in K-Town otherwise known as New Malden certainly helps this!). Also very proficient at hand eating- being married to someone of Indian parentage quickly taught me how to do it in polite company without looking like a greedy, troughing pig. Unfortunately I do tend to look like a greedy troughing pig when eating anyway!

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Which brings me to the question are there any other eating implements other than knives, forks, spoons and chopsticks ?

There are runcible spoons.

I’ve used chopsticks to roll up pancakes with crispy aromatic duck

I've used them to clear hair out of the plughole when I was a student. Other than that, I'm totally useless with them.

[pcolbeck]

Which brings me to the question are there any other eating implements other than knives, forks, spoons and chopsticks ?

There are runcible spoons.

Hmm. Not in the same class as chopsticks and forks, more of a specialist tool than a general use implement as they are only for eating mince and slices of quince.

[T42]

Which brings me to the question are there any other eating implements other than knives, forks, spoons and chopsticks ?

Snail tongs, which always look ready to grasp the unwary testicle:

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Corn on the cob holder things.

[hellymedic]

That strikes me as a serving/cooking implement, not one I would happily put into my mouth...

[Kim]

Corn on the cob holder things.

Barakta and I refer to them as 'crontabs'^[1].  Because we are nerds.


_{[1] Unisex spaceadmin joke.}

[Mr Larrington]

Teh Kim maek me dun a roffles 

[bobb]

When eating mussels, the most practical (and correct) tool to use is another mussel shell.

[ian]

That strikes me as a serving/cooking implement, not one I would happily put into my mouth...

Reminds me of the story some time back where a young lady of the type that appears in Metro 'lost' a sex toy in her, erm, astern porthole. Recovery operations, the Metro cheerfully reported, included a range of kitchen implements and, if I recall, a pair of BBQ tongs. I have no idea if chopsticks were tried.

[Pedal Castro]

I always take my titanium chopsticks with me when camping! 

Mrs PC has accompanied me on many business trips to China over the last 12 years and quite often likes to cook new cuisine we experienced when we get back home, therefore we eat with chopsticks at home quite regularly.