How do you hold your chopsticks? Let us know in the polls!
Nobody taught me to hold my chopsticks when I was a kid
You know we all take chopsticks for granted. It is such a part of our Chinese culture that we don't even bother to teach our kids how to hold their chopsticks. How many of you actually remember your father sitting you down one day and saying to you, "Son, now that you have come of age, daddy is going to show you how to hold a pair of chopsticks"? No, more often than not, we all just pick up a pair of chopsticks one day and started using them. Unfortunately, it is for that reason that a lot of people, myself included, ended up holding chopsticks crossed like the photo above!
I had to learn it myself when I grew up!
I came to the realization that I was indeed holding my chopsticks wrongly twenty years ago and re-learned to hold it properly. I guess there would be many of us who are like that. There will be others who have never thought about it until now and then there are others who would give all sorts of excuses to justify why holding chopsticks crossed is alright.
Pragmatist: As long as I can still eat, I don't care.
Universalist: There is no one right way to hold chopsticks.
Anti-establishment: I purposely cross just because you said not to.
Boh Chapist: Can't be bothered to learn. Anyway who cares?
Environmentalist: Don't use chopsticks! Save the forest.
Aware-an: We must be all inclusive! How dare you say we have to hold our chopsticks straight?
Ironically, because the Ang Mohs all learnt to hold chopsticks formally, I have never seen any of my Ang Moh friends holding the chopsticks crossed! So it really is just a matter of Chinese pride that we should try to hold our chopsticks correctly. Don't you all agree?
So how do you hold your chopsticks? Let us know by taking part in our polls!
For those who want to learn how to hold their chopsticks properly, here is a good video:
Many thanks to GSKgirl1 and GSKgirl2 for modeling their chopstick poses!
Click here to cast your vote.
21 comments:
Holding chopsticks right is part of Chinese culture. We should priortize the use of chopsticks over spoon and fork during meal. The very first thing to teach a child when she is able to feed herself is to teach her the proper usage of chopstick.
It is embarrassed that Ang Mohs are able to properly hold a chopsticks than most Chinese do.
soooup - if the parents dont even hold their chopsticks properly, how to teach their children..
but have you guys ever see angmohs eat rice with chopsticks even though the plate of fried rice is on a plate not in a bowl?
I want to go over and tell them, dun need to try so hard leh, use spoon to eat ur fried rice, chopsticks are meant for noodles, or rice in bowl and we dun even use chopsticks to scoop the rice into our mouth like spoon -.-, we sweep it into our mouth haha.
i use the chopsticks the right way. i think i just experimented myself without anyone teaching me back then. hmm.. ya, think so.
Incidentally, my reason for learning how to hold the chopsticks in the proper way was the same as ieat's. I was on a holiday in London when I was about 15years old. When I was in a Chinese restaurant, I noticed that the ang mohs were able to hold the chopsticks better than I could. That made my mad! From then on, I made a conscious effort to hold my chopsticks in the correct manner. I'm proud to say that from that day on, I was able to hold my chopsticks properly and have helped a few people correct theirs as well, one of whom is my wife.
My theory is that when we started using chopsticks as kids, we didn't have the strength or dexterity to use them the right way which is uncrossed. The crossed way is the easiest to get food from the bowl to the mouth with the least fallout. Ang mohs usually use the chopsticks when they are adults and going to Chinese restaurants so they have already developed the dexterity to use them the right uncrossed way.
ermm.. its still wrong??? the middle finger shld be in the middle and not below the btm stick,...
the video is correct thou...
yes... i cant stand angmos who use chopstick when eating something on a plate in a chinese cafe... seen those alot in aussieland... spoon is for plate .. chopstick is for rice bowl...
I can't remember the reason/motivation but I changed from cross to correct some years ago, and have never looked back (I can no longer hold it the wrong way). I am Chinese, usually eat my rice off a plate at home, and use chopsticks for almost everything except liquidy stuff. It's not just ang mohs who do it.
Hmmm, looks like nobody is contesting the fact that there really is only one proper way to hold your chopsticks!
Yes I overlooked the fact that even the 2nd picture did not depict the correct chopstick holding posture. GSKgirl2, you need to make some adjustments!
I will post a perfect chopstick pose later. Must find someone with nicely manicured hands first!
actually - the practice of using chopsticks to eat rice off a plate is still being done in HK. when i go to a traditional roast meets rice place, they will give u chopsticks and a soup spoon.
i believe the gwailohs learn using their chopsticks in HK. if the HK people do it, and they are less westernised than us, i don't see any thing wrong in using chopsticks to eat off a plate.
Ah, sumo, I didn't know that! I also always thought eating rice off a plate with chopsticks look a tad silly so I usually tell my Ang Moh friends that they can use a spoon (and fork if they so wish) when the rice is on a plate. Usually they just think that we use chopsticks to eat everything.
ieat: I hold my chopsticks the corssed way *embarassed* I can use them the correct way but just not used to it. I think I should make an effort to change it. A Jap ex-boss of mine used to try to teach me the right way when we had company dinners. And we practised picking up peanuts or peas. hee.
i think for the younger generation, (and im speaking also for myself) we all either learnt, or have been taught to hold chopsticks the crossed way.
I do find it difficult to change a habit that has stayed with me for the last 11-12 years at least, ever since the time i learnt how to hold chopsticks the crossed way.
any others also share the same sentiments?
Well, holybro, habits are hard to change, but if you keep at it, very soon you will be able to catch flies with your chopsticks.
As Ping said, it would not be very impressive if your boss tried to teach you how to hold a pair of chopsticks during a company function.
Try getting a few marbles and keep practising!
Me too, I tried at home after I came back and felt most comfortable in my own criss cross way. At the start, I did not get a strong grip with the correct method, needs practising but what's important is did I manage to pick the food into my mouth..hehe
holding chopsticks the right way looks very refined and elegant actually..
Well jencooks, as my mother would say, "Ai ahsee mai tnia" (Want or don't want only)
I'm sad to say that I'm one of those who cannot hold the chopsticks properly. It's particularly embarrassing when I dine with my Korean friends, because there's no way you can handle the metal chopsticks using the cross method. :(
I will practise hard over the weekend to get it right. :)
Good on you! Keep at it and you will be holding chopsticks properly very soon!
I actually use both crossed and 'proper' ways, depending on the situation.
We cannot deny the fact that many Singaporean Chinese use and teach their children the crossed method. Who is to say that they are wrong? Yes, the crossed method is inelegant and probably inefficient, but that's the way many people have been using them and it does work. One can argue that a lot of people (Westerners included) do not really know how to use a fork and knife as well (as in, there are more elegant and 'correct' ways of using a fork and knife, which are usually highlighted in social etiquette classes).
Indeed, the crossed method may be inefficient, but it depends on the kind of chopsticks. I have noticed that a lot of chopsticks used in Singapore tend to be squarish, and not very pointed (unlike the Japanese ones). This means that when the two chopsticks are aligned together, they are flushed and there is no gap. This means it is easier to small pieces of food to be picked up as long the food is squashed between almost parallel chopsticks, which can be done using the crossed method. With pointed chopsticks or the flat Korean ones, food can only be properly picked up if the tips grip the food, and the crossed method do not allow the tips to meet that way. So, I guess people who use the crossed method just have to learn another method of using the chopsticks.
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