#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.

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0 thoughts on “#7 – Chopsticks”

  1. hellzgranny says:

    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…

  2. Chris says:

    Yeah it worked out great for me. I can eat individual rice grains if I want. 🙂

  3. lamb-chan says:

    They so fun to use. My little sister and I raced on who would get the hang of them the first.I won.

  4. The Bird says:

    yay, chopsticks! i gotta get me some;P

  5. Prime says:

    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.

  6. Savanna says:

    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.

  7. Justin says:

    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?

  8. Wannabeelf says:

    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.

  9. Jack says:

    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.

  10. Female Fox Furry says:

    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.

  11. Break Man says:

    You’re missing the point, FFF. You look totally cool if you get it right.

  12. Hailey says:

    I still think its a spork for the win… I wish they sold metal ones you would never need anything else…

    1. JustSomeGuy says:

      They do! I’ve got a titanium camping spork I carry with me everywhere, in case of eating emergencies. Just google “titanium spork” and something ought to come up.

  13. 66point6 says:

    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.

    1. KarmaGirl says:

      “…accomplishment is a great sause that goes with everything.”
      That would make a good fortune cookie saying, wouldn’t it?

  14. Zion says:

    Ahh…chopsticks. I love those things. That and I can eat jello with them!

  15. Some random guy says:

    Chopstick can easily replace a spoon, just hollow them out.

  16. 66point6 says:

    Sooo…to replace spoons, turn chopsticks into small, useless, wodden spoons?

  17. Tom says:

    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)

  18. Cricket says:

    Wait! The ultimate solution is here! Chop Sporks! (now, what the %&^# are they?)

  19. DemonRex says:

    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. 😀

  20. Countchunko says:

    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.

  21. Mr dude says:

    bet ya he failed…awh nuts :D…don’t kill me…

  22. Robin says:

    “Wait! The ultimate solution is here! Chop Sporks! (now, what the %&^# are they?)”

    Cricket – that was SHEER BRILLIANCE.

  23. Darkpheonix XIII says:

    I used chopsticks once, but got frusterated and ate them instead.

  24. Jaz says:

    lol
    that looks like a compas for math

  25. Nero Rose says:

    I still say it would be easier to eat everything with those big salad tossing forks.

  26. Neteeee says:

    i have way too spastic hands to eat jap style

  27. Caitlin says:

    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.

  28. Ian says:

    oh well. theyre good for noodles. and other than that, yeah use forks and spoons.

  29. Radical Edward says:

    I am very skilled at such a simple thing as chopstick use. My parents are starting to think I was switched at birth.

  30. AVEENA says:

    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?!

  31. ~SyM~ says:

    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.

  32. Elkian says:

    Imagine using it backwards

  33. Elkian says:

    Chris, you do FANTASTIC hands.

  34. Marlon says:

    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

  35. singe says:

    I love chopsticks. I’m really good at them but eating icecream with chopsticks makes it taste better.

  36. Lumanaru says:

    I still say it would be easier to eat everything with those big salad tossing forks.

    Agreed, Nero Rose. Giant utensils FTW!

  37. Halo ChIef says:

    They have exams for that?

  38. Halo Chief says:

    the splayd’s got all of ya’ll beat(spoon fork knife combo). Very big in Australia

  39. Psymon says:

    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!

  40. dtanza says:

    *Gasp*

    BIFF HOW COULD YOU!

  41. Trevory says:

    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

  42. Shadow says:

    I’ve had 3 exchange students from Japan live in my house so I’ve known how to use them for many, MANY years.

  43. Mercy says:

    I can’t really remember a time when I couldn’t use chopsticks… 😉

  44. Kaz says:

    I’m so skilled with chopsticks, I can take a pair in each hand and use western cutlery with the chopsticks.

  45. Jenkins says:

    If your pro enough, you can actually use the chopsticks as a spoon if you tip the bowl up a little 😉

    And yeah i can’t remember a time when i couldn’t use chopsticks either and i’m not even asian (I’m Aussie :D)

  46. -2! says:

    I used chopsticks for the fist time last week. By the end of the meal I was pretty well able to pick up single grains of rice. The hardest part of the meal for me was the broccoli.

  47. spidercow says:

    lol, I love chopsticks. (No I am not Asian)
    also, nutcrackers ought to be called nutcrappers. because they are crap.
    Now those things you use to eat crabs, (you know, the ones that look like nutcrackers but have like a sharp edge on the inside and are a little bit smaller?)those are awesome.

  48. Jenny Creed says:

    In my language, the word for chopsticks is “eating sticks”. Makes sense to me. You don’t chop things with them you eat things with them. :I

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