Cynthetiq

Do you need to eat with chopsticks for Chinese or Japanese food? Some people even wrongly think that 'sticks are used for Thai food also. (No, fork and spoon please.)

Does it not "taste" or "feel" right? How do you feel if you don't have access to 'sticks?

I don't get it, but some of my friends cannot eat Chinese or Japanese food without breaking out a pair of chopsticks.

Me, it's food. I feel most comfortable with a fork and spoon, but fork and knife works well for me too.

But chopsticks, I can take them or leave them. In fact if I'm really hungry, no chopsticks at all for sure.

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jewels

Chinese: A fork is fine.
Japanese: I think it's illegal to use anything but chopsticks.

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Willravel

Need? No. Want? Yes. I'd use chopsticks with cereal if I could.

snowy

I prefer to use chopsticks when eating Chinese or Japanese food, especially noodles. But no, I don't need them. Our favorite Chinese restaurant doesn't put chopsticks on the table; you have to ask for them. I don't bother as I'm usually too hungry to care.

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Daval

Need? No. Want? Yes.

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anti fishstick

i am more likely to use chopsticks with japanese food, particularly sushi. i just use a fork for chinese. besides, chinese restauarants don't usually have chopsticks as readily available, or i would use that instead.

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Jozrael

Honestly, I love chopsticks. That might be because of the novelty since I only use them rarely though, a couple times a year. But they're so useful.

When I was a kid I didn't like them because I wasn't manually dextrous enough to really utilize them properly. Years of videogaming have trained my fingers properly now, though

sapiens

I don't need them, but I prefer them. Reminds me of going out for Dim Sum with my friends in college. Looking around the table, chopsticks, chopsticks, chopsticks, chopsticks, chopsticks, fork/knife/spoon. Everyone was given chopsticks except me. My friend told me "You no need chopsticks, round eye!" (I was the only Caucasian at the table).

genuinegirly

I like using them when I get a chinese dish with noodles - much quicker to consume with chopsticks. Rice, though... haven't quite figured it out.

I rarely eat Japanese food.

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lostgirl

You don't need to, but some people are snobs about it.

I'm glad I learned to use them.

Manic_Skafe

I'm a total snob about it - sticks with anything Asian.

Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese....

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roachboy

i prefer chopsticks with most asian food, but i wouldn't say i need them necessarily. they're just easier to manage.

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Daniel_

Chopsticks impose a tempo on the meal.

It is not possible for most westerners to wolf down their food with 'sticks as fast as with irons and that makes it be savoured.

I'm a southpaw, and when I was in Asia my hosts were fascinated with left-stick-using white guy.

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telekinetic

Any Asian cuisine that is prepared in bite-sized morsels ready for chopsticking should be eaten with chopstick. I see no reason for it to be folded/spindled/mutilated with fork knife and spoon.

Also, I wish it was appropriate to eat Italian pasta with chopsticks...it's so much easier!

Charlatan

I typically use what's on offer... Here the custom changes from cuisine to cuisine. Malays and Indian are typically a hand only affair (though a fork and spoon are OK too). There are also times when it is chopsticks and a chinese spoon (don't put the chopsticks in your mouth, you put the food in your spoon and that goes into your mouth). Other times a fork... but rarely a knife.

I have grown comfortable with any form of cutlery (or lack thereof).

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noodle

yes. i actually tend to drop more food on myself with a fork when consuming asian cuisine.
i really wish they had them at the indian restaurants, too.
i think it's the rice and noodle thing.

i'd eat my cereal with chopsticks too, will.

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KellyC

Hey, where is Vietnamese food in the list??



Chopsticks are my preference since I've been using them my whole life. I feel weird using a fork to pick up the food.

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CinnamonGirl

I have not yet mastered chopsticks... so I always use a fork.

One day, though...one day.

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Eweser

I try to use chopsticks, but I'm not very good at it. It's fun to me because it's different than what I use 99.99% of the time.

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dlish

asian=chopsticks

anything else - depends on what it is.

arabic food has some dishes that are a hand only affair too. with bread. i use a fork and knife for 99% of my meals...unless its a kebab..or cold pizza

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jorgelito

Wait, how do you eat cereal with chopsticks?
-----Added 25/9/2008 at 09 : 27 : 07-----
That's a bad sign if there are no chopsticks on the table. The good Chinese restaurants (the ones that cater to Chinese people and not white people) have chopsticks on the table, menus in Chinese, and dubious sanitation.
-----Added 25/9/2008 at 09 : 29 : 20-----
Yeah, if you see a fork at a Chinese restaurant, then it's a bad sign. You must live in an area with very few Asians/Chinese people. The good restaurants all have chopsticks on the table. Ditto if they give you plates instead of bowls.

For all you fork people, how the heck do you eat with it? I find it impossible to eat Chinese food with a fork.

Oh and also to clarify, sushi is actually meant to be eaten with your hands.

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snowy

Given that I live in a college town of 50,000 people, there really aren't many native Chinese to cater to.

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jorgelito

Yes having a lefty at the table is disruptive to the harmony of the dining experience. Chinese cuisine is eaten at round tables, the perfect shape for harmony, balance, and equality. Very zen. As a result, a left hander at a table of right handers will bump elbows with the person at their left and disrupt the flow, rhythm, and harmony of the table. We usually have the left hander eat with their right hand.
-----Added 25/9/2008 at 09 : 32 : 55-----
I actually do eat Italian pasta with chopsticks! Much better.

My dad eats his pizza with his chopsticks.
-----Added 25/9/2008 at 09 : 33 : 32-----
Have you had Palestinian pizza?

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LoganSnake

Need? No. Want? No. Can't use them to save my life? Yes.

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Ayashe

I can't say I have to have them, I will go either way. Sometimes I am in the mood to use the chopsticks, other times I am not. I also would base my decision on what I happened to order. Some foods I find rather challenging to eat with chopsticks others I wouldn't try.

Grasshopper Green

I have never mastered the art of using chopsticks. Fork, please.

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telekinetic

I always used to do this and my wife scolded me. Any online ettiquette reference backing this up?

Baraka_Guru

I think it's okay either way. Just be sure to use chopsticks when eating sashimi!

* * * * *

I prefer to use chopsticks. I normally eat too quickly. Chopsticks help me enjoy the flavour and overall experience more.

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jorgelito

Hmm, not off the top of my head that I can think of. I will google and get back to you.

But, here's what I do know. Sushi is meant to be "packed" loosely and thus will easily fall apart when picked up with chopsticks and also when eaten in more than one bite. However, many white people don't know this so the sushi chefs try and compensate by rolling the sushi more tightly. White folks also have a tendency to over do it and drown their sushi in lots of soy sauce and wasabi ruining the delicate flavors. It's practically an insult to drown your sushi in soy sauce and wasabi.

If the sushi chef sees you eating with your hands then he will adjust accordingly as well as grant you favor (bestowing lots of freebies to you).

The proper way as far as I know, is to pick up the sushi gently with one hand and delicately dab in soy sauce (if you must) and eat in one bite. It is also wise to order in a graduated order of light delicate flavors to the more heavy ones.

EX: I usually start off by ordering one piece of raw tofu or a fried egg (to show I am a good diner who will appreciate the chef's skill). The chef will go to great lengths to prepare this properly and use this as an opportunity to show off his skill. Next, I wll inquire to the daily sashimi offerings starting with a white fish like halibut, then red snapper, then yellowtail. Next comes Spanish Mackerel, sea urchin, then the salmons and toros.

After sashimi, nigiri is a good choice to get into. By this time the chef will have offered me off menu items as well as thrown a bunch of stuff he cooked "on the fly". I may get an appetizer or scallops or steamed Manila Clams in garlic sake sauce.

Anyways, you get the idea. A good sushi meal should take about 3 hours.

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skizziks

Feels weird to use a fork with asian food, but I don't care either way. I mock people who ask for chopsticks at Thai restaurants, as Thais use a spoon, not chopsticks. At least they did when I was in Thailand.
-----Added 26/9/2008 at 12 : 39 : 18-----
Unless you are eating at a kaiten sushi place in Japan, or at Tsukiji market, then it shouldn't.

dlish

whats a palestinian pizza???

or are you talking about something called manoush (dough with thyme and oil on top)?

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Makedde

I have tried to master the use of chopsticks, but I just can't! It's too tricky to get the hand of, so it's a fork for me!

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jorgelito

Hmm..well, that's just what the Palestinian guy called it. He never did tell me the actual name. I was so hungry and delirious that I didn't bother to inquire further.

But basically, it's round dough, kind of like a pie (deep dish ir thick crust) with tomatoes, eggs, olives, meat?, and other things on it. Maybe cheese (like kefir or feta) on it. It comes out of an oven.

I thought perhaps you have heard of it or know what it is.

I got it in the Muslim Quarter in Old Jerusalem.

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dlish

unfortunately anything with dough with stuff on top and goes in the oven is called a pizza here. it makes it easier for people to understand the concept. unless its a hybrid pizza of some sort it usually has an arabic name.

there are many variables of what you are talking about. not sure if its a traditional arabic dish or something they have come to make over the years though. sounds nice regardless.

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jorgelito

Ha, that's what I figured. It was a very local, hole in the wall place. No English spoken. I was hungry and just wandered in and politely asked what it was everyone was eating. They huddled together and conferred for a little bit. Then one of them turned to me and struggled to say, "Palestinian Pizza". I said "Shukran habibi" to their delight and ordered a bunch to eat. Nonetheless, it was delicious, hot, fresh, steamy. I am rather fond of Middle Eastern cuisine so I take to these types of dishes very quickly.

Crap, now I'm hungry. Luckily I have some olives and kefir I can munch on with some toast. Oh, I have some dolmeh too. Maybe I'll put on my gelabaya too while I'm at it.

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Nisses

jorglito:

As far as the sushi goes:
normally you have the choice for yourself, but you should use chopsticks when serving someone.

However, the rice should be packed not too loose and not too dense. It should still easily stand up to the "rigors" of being picked up with chopsticks.
From what I've been told, the simplest way to do it with nigiri sushi, is to lay it on the side, and put 1 chopstick on the topping, and 1 on the bottom.


As for the bites: it really depends on the size of the sushi. In Japan, they're easy to take in 1 bite.
Some futomaki pieces here, require me to carefully position myself at just the right angle to even fit 1 in my mouth in one bite.



as for the topic:
No, I don't need to eat with chopsticks, but for sticky rice I do really prefer it.

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Martian

There's a thai place in town that has chopsticks at every table. I use 'em, because they're there.

Technically, I do it wrong. My middle finger supports the lower stick which, as I understand it, is incorrect. I never quite got the hang of the proper way to do it; mostly I'm just proud of myself for being able to handle chopsticks without making a mess.

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jorgelito

You know, come to think if it, I'm speaking from dining at the sushi bar experience. It may be different at a table (but then again I always sit at the bar so I don't know how the table works). The sushi chef places the sushi on each diner's plate by hand. There really is no reason for you to serve someone but yeah, if you do, best do it with chopsticks .

Sometimes I eat nigiri with chopsticks and yes, I do it the way you have described.

Crap, now I want sushi.

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Nisses

That's something I'd like to try.
So far I haven't found a sushi-bar the way you describe it. No luck finding them here, or maybe I'm just blind?

And yeah, I'm going for some sushi tonight, counting the hours (the fact that it's friday afternoon probably has something to do with it as well )

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ratbastid

EXACTLY. It's a "feel" thing.

I use sticks for sushi. If my chinese food is coming out of a box, I don't worry about it, but if it's as nice restaurant I'll use sticks.

The irony is, the Japanese use their hands for sushi. It's finger-food there.