#7 – Chopsticks
I always thought chopsticks looked cool but I could never get the hang of them. The half hour in a chinese restaurant every month or so wasn’t enough time to figure it out. Then one of my best friends went on a trip to Japan and brought back a pair of chopsticks for me as a gift. I felt silly at first because I didn’t know how to use them. She gave me a few lessons and I decided that to really get the full effect I would give up using forks for 1 year and only eat with chopsticks. It worked great. It only took me a few weeks to master it but I kept it up for the full year. I even had a pair of emergency chopsticks in my car in case I was at someone’s house and an unplanned meal came up. I confused the people in the lunchroom at work. A few asked me if I was adopted and my parents were asian.
November 25th, 2006 at 12:58 am
That’s so cool. I should try using just chopsticks for a month or two, since I plan to study abroad in Japan in a year or two. And I seem to forget how again every time I go to a restaurant…
November 25th, 2006 at 1:01 am
Yeah it worked out great for me. I can eat individual rice grains if I want.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:44 pm
They so fun to use. My little sister and I raced on who would get the hang of them the first.I won.
January 13th, 2007 at 8:03 am
yay, chopsticks! i gotta get me some;P
February 5th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Hehe, yeah, my family actually forced me to learn how to use chopsticks when I was little, after an emberassing incident involving a pair of chopsticks and a severe nose bleed at a high class chinese returaunt.
April 5th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
My dad taught me when I was younger. I’m commenting because I found out recently that I could do something cool with chopsticks – pick up a marble! It took me a few tries, but with some patience I got it. Give it a try!
Also, I like the idea of eating with only chopsticks for a year.
April 10th, 2007 at 1:54 am
I don’t get it, honestly… a fork is an easier way to pick up food that you desire to eat, pinching it between two sticks of wood isn’t as quick as just spearing it… so why go with something LESS efficient?
April 10th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
i own 10 pairs of chopsticks because i like eating with them and keep buying sets i think are pretty. Ironically, I don’t like Asian food.
April 10th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Chopsticks are definitely more efficient than forks! And they’re multi-purpose. They replace everything except a knife. Even a spoon. You can drink soup with them.
April 10th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
I like some asian food, but only short grain rice…
And I don’t like most food with sauces. Including all
fruit sauces, and soy sauce. o.O
How do chopsticks replace a spoon? They can’t scoop stuff better than forks can. >.> …Forks can be used as a knife more than a chopstick, too.
April 11th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
You’re missing the point, FFF. You look totally cool if you get it right.
April 18th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
I still think its a spork for the win… I wish they sold metal ones you would never need anything else…
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:34 pm
In answer to the whole fork/chopstick issue, chopsticks are better because the extra effort required to eat only make the food taste better, for accomplishment is a great sause that goes with everything.
And sporks totally trump both their asses.
April 25th, 2007 at 4:53 am
Ahh…chopsticks. I love those things. That and I can eat jello with them!
April 30th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Chopstick can easily replace a spoon, just hollow them out.
April 30th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Sooo…to replace spoons, turn chopsticks into small, useless, wodden spoons?
May 9th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Hailey: They do sell metal sporks. Check http://www.thinkgeek.com, they have a titanium spork. I bought it for my sister (sporks confuse her)
May 10th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Wait! The ultimate solution is here! Chop Sporks! (now, what the %&^# are they?)
May 29th, 2007 at 9:50 am
I like Asian food, and I like chopsticks. I never really had to devote much attention to learning to use them; it just sorta came naturally. I can eat jello with them.
June 3rd, 2007 at 9:07 am
I had a friend from japan, and when I asked him if I was using my chopsticks correctly, he told me “It’s only incorrect when you drop your chicken down your front.” and proceeded to show me some of the strangest chopstick grips I have ever seen.
June 4th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
bet ya he failed…awh nuts
…don’t kill me…
June 8th, 2007 at 5:07 am
“Wait! The ultimate solution is here! Chop Sporks! (now, what the %&^# are they?)”
Cricket – that was SHEER BRILLIANCE.
June 8th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
I used chopsticks once, but got frusterated and ate them instead.
June 10th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
lol
that looks like a compas for math
June 15th, 2007 at 9:51 pm
I still say it would be easier to eat everything with those big salad tossing forks.
June 21st, 2007 at 5:47 am
i have way too spastic hands to eat jap style
July 1st, 2007 at 10:54 pm
I have thirty-odd pairs of wooden chopsticks I brought back from Japan. You know, the kind where they’re stuck together and you snap them apart. Their equivalent of plastic cutlery. I also have a few gift pairs that are really elaborately decorated, and I enjoy eating with them simply because they look nicer than my normal cutlery.
August 21st, 2007 at 8:07 am
oh well. theyre good for noodles. and other than that, yeah use forks and spoons.
September 6th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I am very skilled at such a simple thing as chopstick use. My parents are starting to think I was switched at birth.
November 10th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Okay okay im tellin u chopstix r the best because they r exotic AND sophisticated! That plus its a cool way to spear the hands of relatives who like plate shareage! BADASS!! Am i right or am i right?!
November 12th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Chopsticks were more popular in the olden times because they were easier to carve than forks.
My little brother is great with chopsticks. He eats ice cream with them.
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Imagine using it backwards
January 10th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Chris, you do FANTASTIC hands.
January 17th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
the real challenge comes when you try to eat something soft like icecream with chopsticks… it’s always fun to bug everyone in the restraunt by doing that
February 13th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I love chopsticks. I’m really good at them but eating icecream with chopsticks makes it taste better.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I still say it would be easier to eat everything with those big salad tossing forks.
Agreed, Nero Rose. Giant utensils FTW!
July 9th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
They have exams for that?
October 15th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
the splayd’s got all of ya’ll beat(spoon fork knife combo). Very big in Australia
November 10th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Are chop-sporks when you use a pair of sporks like chopsticks? (It looks like salad tongs without the hinge.)
That sounds good for confusing people, you get more food per bite compared to chopsticks, and you look much more skilled compared to using a single spork. Chop-sporks for the win!
November 27th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
*Gasp*
BIFF HOW COULD YOU!
March 16th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
If you’ve been to Japan and Singapore and stuff and the real great Asian food, you’ll love it.
As for the efficiency, chopsticks are better for getting little bits and stuff. Forks are easier for large amounts of eg. rice
October 16th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I’ve had 3 exchange students from Japan live in my house so I’ve known how to use them for many, MANY years.
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:14 am
I can’t really remember a time when I couldn’t use chopsticks…