Do you know how to use chopsticks?

[Duncan Grant]

Poll question: Do you know how to use chopsticks?

[NightWatcher]

1. I practice my multi-culturalism about once a week

That sounds better than "I eat Chinese" because I am to lazy to cook. I had Kung Pao Chicken tonight, umm good

[Duncan Grant]

11. Kung Pao!

I've never tired of Kung Pao Chicken. In fact, I learned to use chopsticks on that very dish. Ummmm.

Then I discovered Japanese soba noodles. That's like the graduate program for chopstick users. :)

[NightWatcher]

15. Fried rice kicks my ass

I get hungry while I'm trying to eat the individual grains of rice.
Nah, I'm a little better than that.

[Duncan Grant]

35. That calls for the advanced "scoop" movement.

Definitely for more skilled hands. And how about eggplant -- boy oh, those are slippery suckers.

[Kali]

2. Can't eat Asian food without!

[Duncan Grant]

12. I couldn't agree more.

The right tools for the right job.

[AwakeAtLast]

3. I can but I'm not very good

I usually give up while keeping up with my 5 y/o.

[Duncan Grant]

13. Practice with popcorn.

We'll get you to the chopstick Olympics yet! :)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. As a Japanese-English translator, I would be ashamed not to be able to

use chopsticks, not to mention the fact that I would have starved to death during my student days in Tokyo because the cafeteria at my university had only chopsticks no silverware.

[Duncan Grant]

14. Was it a crash course in chopstick use or were you already skilled?

I bet you had the experience of a lifetime while being a student in Japan. :thumbsup:

edit: pesky little apostrophe

[Lydia Leftcoast]

17. I already knew how when I went because

my fourth grade teacher taught us when we studied Japan and China.

Later, in graduate school in the States, I hung out with the Asian languages crowd, and when they went out to a Chinese or Japanese restaurant, no one would have dared ask for a fork, so by the time I went to Japan to do my dissertation research, I was an expert user of chopsticks.

[Duncan Grant]

36. Then you know there are different types of chopsticks.

Don't tell though...that's tomorrow night's thread. :)

[Jamastiene]

5. I can use chopsticks, but I'm no pro at it or anything.

I once tried the folder paper training trick as a kid and after that I could use them without the "training wheel paper." It's not so bad, but I do have trouble picking up much at the time with them when it's rice or anything else that breaks up too easily.

[Duncan Grant]

9. Some things are very hard to eat with chopsticks.

Can you imagine eating a taco with chopsticks? Pfffftt. Nearly impossible. :hi:

[Jamastiene]

23. Hehehe.

I like to eat my tacos with no utensils at all. Just dig in. Scrumptious! :thumbsup:

[Duncan Grant]

31. Finger food!

Always a favorite. :thumbsup:

[Jamastiene]

33. Yep, it's not just fried chicken

that's finger licking good. :thumbsup:

[Chan790]

6. My utensil of choice...

builds dexterity of the hands. Forks are for lazy people who want their food to get to their mouth without much effort. Real men use chopsticks...wimpy men use pointy things.

[Duncan Grant]

20. And spoons?!

Ack, child's play.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. I'm no super-expert.......

But I do know how!

Learned a looooong time ago!

:bounce: :bounce:

[Duncan Grant]

21. Do you like sushi?

I find sushi to be a great meal for chopsticks. :9

[Nevernose]

8. I have trouble with pencils.

In fact, I've had nosepicking-related injuries before. Chopsticks require WAY too much hand-eye coordination for a schmuck like me. I've tried, though. Lord knows, I've tried.

[Duncan Grant]

25. Can you shuffle cards?

The lounge can always use a good card shuffler over a good chopstick user. :evilgrin: :hi:

[mentalsolstice]

10. I just can't do it!

My husband learned in Viet Nam (in country for 14 months). My (extremely handsome) cousin lived all over the East, and tried to teach me. I LOVE sushi, any kind, but I still have to grab it with my fingers or a fork!

[Duncan Grant]

26. My advice would be to never move the "bottom" chopstick.

I know the last thing you wanted was advice but sometimes I can't help myself. :) Practice makes perfect.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. Yes, but sometimes my hand gets cramped using them

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. The cramps go away if you use chopsticks often enough

It's the occasional users who get crampy hands.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. We could create a new product...

Midol Chopsticks Formula

[Duncan Grant]

27. OMG!

:rofl:

Maybe a hand massage? :P

[amitten]

22. I eat all foods with normal utensils. The fact that rice is involved

doesn't move me to eat with sticks.

Likewise, if for instance the Italians were prone to eating with only knives, I wouldn't feel moved to always eat my pasta using knives only.

I do what works best/fastest when I'm hungry...and for me that's normal silverware.

[Duncan Grant]

28. Party pooper.

:P

Normal is just so...normal.

[amitten]

29. Yeah...so why not eat ALL your meals with chopsticks...?

Double your fun!

[Duncan Grant]

32. How's does a person eat Cheerios with chopsticks?

One at a time... :D

[Richard Steele]

39. The same way you eat rice.

But you actually know that, right?

[jobycom]

47. Normal is a word defined only by its inappropriateness in any situation.

No, I don't know what that means, just made it up on the spot. :)

[TommyO]

55. But chopsticks are "normal" utensils.

You're just a stickophobe, unwilling to see live from anything but your own narrow viewpoint.


Just to be safe, and to show the true intention of this message: :sarcasm:

[amitten]

58. Yes, I am a Stickophobe. Trees scare the CRAP outa me. nt

[bigwillq]

24. Not so good at it

Last time I managed to eat most of my meal with them but that was years ago.

I don't like when it's a project to eat a freaking meal.

A fork or spoon works for me.

[Duncan Grant]

30. We'll have to find you an especially wonderful guy to offer personal coaching.

:pals:

Man(Woman) cannot eat by fork alone.

[bigwillq]

34. I'm cool with fork.

I could never do the rice...the meaty stuff I was ok at.

When I am hungry, I just want to eat....and chopsticks don't offer me that luxury.

[Pierre.Suave]

37. Of course I can...

who said I couldn't?

LOL, yeah, I can use them but learning was a pain in the ass.

[Duncan Grant]

38. Steep learning curve isn't it?

It's the "bicycle" of eating utensils. :)

[Pierre.Suave]

40. ha

thats a good way to put it. Luckily I had a good looking teacher...;)

[wildhorses]

41. okay but,

left handed ya know----so your pictures are ALL wrong:rofl:

[Duncan Grant]

43. LOL! Triple bonus score!

:rofl:

Left handed. (why I oughta...)

[reyd reid reed]

42. I can *play* chopsticks...

does that count?

:shrug:





yeah, I can use them. Not well, but I wouldn't starve or have messy fingers if that's all there was

[mulsh]

44. true story

When I worked for Working Assets Long Distance my office was at Kearny & Jackson, right next to Zeotrope, in SF. Anyway a couple of times a week I'd walk two blocks down Kearny to one of those Chinese places on the far side of the Chinatown Holiday Inn. One day I noticed something curious, all of the asian diners were using knifes and forks while most of the non asians were using chopsticks. This was the only restaraunt in Chinatown I've ever seen this happen. The waitresses were pretty amused by it too. I normally asked for a fork since I was working a very early shift, 5am-2pm and was way too tired and hurried to manage chop sticks.

A couple of years ago I impressed my wife by demostrating my dexterity with Chop Stick, picking up single grains of rice, picking up slippery noodles, etc. I started using chop sticks when I was abour 3 or 4 years old.

[helderheid]

45. Other

Sometimes!

[Vidar]

46. I once had a charming travelling companion that insited I use them.

After sharpening them with my trusty jack knife, they worked quite well. The discussion never came up again.

[jobycom]

48. Shouldn't you be specific? Like, for food, for kindling wood, etc?

Actually, I'm rather good with chopsticks, and sometimes use them on non-Asian food. But I can also use them to scratch difficult places and once used them to retrieve a washer that I dropped between the block and manifold on my car.

[YankeyMCC]

49. I manage

I don't use them a lot so I'm pretty clumsy but once I get started I get through the meal pretty comfortably if not gracefully. ;)

[Qanisqineq]

50. omg, I try and try but cannot do it

The worst part is I live in Korea right now and all my Korean friends laugh and laugh. At restaurants I am a mess. I have to stab food which is impolite but I think they take into consideration my complete inability to use chopsticks. I can almost pick something up with bamboo chopsticks but all the metal ones are too slippery and I can't pick up a thing. It is so frustrating!

[AllegroRondo]

57. the metal ones are awful!

a year in Korea, and I still couldnt use them. But at least many restaurants also carry disposable wooden ones.

have you been to the Korean barbecue restaurants? the kalbi is wonderful.

[baldguy]

51. My first job was in a Japanese resaurant.

[BarenakedLady]

52. Yes but

I'm not very proficient.

[ThomCat]

53. Yes. On days when my hands are doing well I'm

very good with chopsticks. :)

[NewWaveChick1981]

54. Yes, I can and do use them.

:D My great uncle taught me how to use them when my sister and I went to summer school in Hawaii in 1983. I was 20 years old, and Uncle Ed was such a great guy. He'd lived in Hawaii since the 1950s, before it was even a state. He'd served there in the Army as a colonel in WWII and fell in love with the place. He really got into the local customs and welcomed the Asian influence there. He took us to his favorite Korean Bar-B-Q many times, and we ate Japanese food more times than I can remember. He said, "To really enjoy this food, you have to eat it the right way." :) I got the hang of chopsticks almost immediately, but my sister still hasn't learned. :P

[Rising Phoenix]

56. I'm the one who has never held chopsticks

sniffa and bi-baby will not be surprised....lol

[NewJeffCT]

59. I learned on my first date with my wife

she told me we were going to order the sushi regular and the sashimi regular, and we'd share. I didn't even know what sashimi was, and had never had sushi... but, I forced myself to learn to eat with chopsticks. I'm much improved since then, but am still not great with spaghetti-like noodles.

[Zavulon]

60. I can get by well enough, but am no expert. I always use them to eat Chinese food.

Now, believe it or not, if I'm on a date in a Chinese restaurant I order my dinner based on my chopstick skills. If I'm just with friends or alone in one, I order what I actually want.

[terrya]

61. I've tried using them.

My boyfriend has tried to teach me how to use them.

I've never gotten the hang of using them, though. :-(

[Xithras]

62. I was taught by a wonderful old Chinese lady.

I grew up in a small town, her family owned the only Chinese restaurant in the city limits, and they lived right across the street from me. She used to cook up the most delicious food all day long, and would invite the neighborhood kids in for lunch during the summer. Her only rule was this: No forks. If you ate in her house, you used chopsticks. She taught us all how to use them as if they were an extension of our hand, and it's a lesson I've never forgotten.

I once had some snarky guy comment that you're not a "real chopstick user" unless you can pick up a single grain of rice. His jaw about hit the floor when I began picking individual grains off the side of my California Roll and started building a little house on my plate with it. One grain at a time, as if they were little tiny bricks. It's not really that difficult, it just takes a little practice.

[unpossibles]

63. yes. in fact for a few years I carried a pair of decent ones in my backpack

so I would not need to use plastic ware (save a plastic tree). I even got to the point of being able to eat noodles with them: you make a wide X shape in the noodles, and you can twirl them with one hand with some practice. it's fun! Plus it makes me eat more slowly unless I go for the more authentic (Chinese) style where they become a shovel.

[InvisibleTouch]

64. I can use them.

I don't know if I do it "right," exactly the way you're "supposed to," but my technique works fine for me. I was always told that you hold the lower stick steady, and think of the top one as an extension of your index finger when you go to pick something up.