chopsticks

[BamaFan2989]

Hey guys! I have a question. Do you eat everything with chopsticks? I was just wondering. Also, what is Somen. I would appreciate if there were any suggestions about chopsticks.

I know this post sounds noobish, but I was wondering.

[Apollo]

Somen is:
A kind of noodles, thinner than Udon and Soba. Somen are eaten cold and is very popular during summer...it tastes good too!

And to your question about chopsticks, no I don't eat everything with chopsticks (not western food), mostly when eating Asian food I use chopsticks, but NOT all the time...

About your question regarding "suggestions about chopsticks"... Well, my suggestion is: only use chopsticks for eating food.... (I am not sure if I understood your question entirely...)

[BamaFan2989]

lol, I don't know what I meant either. I was just wondering if you used chopsticks all the time, when in Japan. Or if you are Japanese. Do they use it for all they eat? Is that I meant. Thanks for the Somen answer!

[okaeri_man]

if it's possible to eat using chopsticks, then chopsticks are usually the way to go. go chopsticks!

[TwistedMac]

I use chopsticks for everything like okaeri, but not really because I like it..

I just feel I need to practice! You can always get better, you know? you don't wanna go to Japan and have all the kids laugh at you and call you noob, now do you?

[Lina Inverse]

I only use chopsticks for Japanese noodles

[Apollo]

Originally Posted by Lina Inverse

I only use chopsticks for Japanese noodles

HAHA..Lina, do you eat other Japanese dishes than noodles? You are a noodle lover, and you mention noodles numerously when talking about food.
I like noodles too, but other Japanese dishes can do aswell...

About chopsticks and noodles:
I don't have any problems with this combination and only eat noodles with chopsticks at restaurants - at home it is with a fork!
For some people, it can be difficult if they are beginners though...too slippery and can make a mess!

[rakuten]

You can eat Sushi with your bare hands

[bezz]

Originally Posted by BamaFan2989

I would appreciate if there were any suggestions about chopsticks.

This is supposedly the proper way to hold chopsticks.

[Da Monstar]

Real easy once you've getting the hang of it.

I don't have any problems with this combination and only eat noodles with chopsticks at restaurants - at home it is with a fork!

After getting used to eating noodels with Chopsticks I find that I can't use fork when eating noodles anymore , now it looks funnier when I eat noodles with a fork, than when I tried my way to learn using Chopsticks a couple of years ago.

But I only use Chopsticks for noodles, when I eat other japan dishes I'll still just use the good old western fork and knife

[yukio_michael]

Originally Posted by Da Monstar

After getting used to eating noodels with Chopsticks I find that I can't use fork when eating noodles anymore

I don't like to eat noodles with a fork either--- I'm so used to eating noodles w/ chopsticks that it's actually much easier for me than using a fork...

The exception is something like pasta, where the noodles are a little different, and if my grandmother (rest her soul) saw me eating pasta with chopticks she'd whack my head.

One thing I really to this day still have a problem with is udon, if the chopsticks are too slick, I don't have the finger strength to pick up the noodles.. :/ ...

As for meat and things like that, most of the time it's cut, or I can cut it w/ two chopsticks, there are however a lot of Japanese people I've noticed who eat using western style utensils when eating at such a restaraunt--- Around the corner we have both a Denny's and a small independant steakhouse, and I always see people eating w/ knives and forks there...

I use them whenever it's appropriate, when I'm cooking western style food usually.

edit: Oh, one time I saw an adult woman using 'trainer-chopsticks' they had a sort of spring-mechanism--- Personally I don't think it should be embarasing to not know how to use a utensil you're not familiar with, but---



...this? That device is for children, but you get the idea.

[xerxes99]

Originally Posted by yukio_neko^_o

edit: Oh, one time I saw an adult woman using 'trainer-chopsticks' they had a sort of spring-mechanism--- Personally I don't think it should be embarasing to not know how to use a utensil you're not familiar with, but---



...this? That device is for children, but you get the idea.

Actually I've seen people do the same thing, but with rubber bands holding the two chopsticks together.

[justin9213]

私は中国のレストランへ行くチョップの棒を得るため。 それらは29.0563 円である,
私が住んでいるところ.
As for me in order to obtain the chop-stick I go to the Chinese
restaurant. Those are 25 cent, where I have live.

[tinkerjack]

I have eaten with chopsticks since I was a child and became fascinated with them. Most times I use chopsticks unless cutting something big, then I use fork and knife, then chopsticks.
However, I do not use chopsticks for eating soup.

[Mycernius]

The best thing to get pickled onions from out of a jar.

[Mikawa Ossan]

I fall in Da Monster's camp. I never really learned the proper way to hold a knife and fork, so I avoid places with only knives and forks like the plague. I eat everything with chopsticks, and I have for some time.

Long chopsticks are good for cooking. They are good for grilling. Chopsticks can be good for cleaning drinking glasses.

Long live chopsticks!

[xerxes99]

I eat most things with chopsticks. Eating out I always use them, but I sometimes use a kife and fork at home.

[Flashjeff]

I have tried and tried and tried to use chopsticks, but have never managed to master them, or at the very least avoid looking stupid when using them. Most frustrating! To tell you the thruth, I wouldn't mind having those training chopsticks like in the pic above. I'm just shameless enough to use 'em in public!

[Sensuikan San]

I'm proud to say that I have no problem with chopsticks - prefer the Japanese ones to Chinese. The "pointy ends" seem to make them more versatile.
I also have some really large 'kitchen' chopsticks, which I even use now when cooking western food. Very handy!
I did have a problem once though, at a Chinese banquet. One of the dishes was a huge platter of crab (complete with shells 'gemixt'!). I had to quietly lean to my Chinese neighbour and ask for advice! It seems that - in some circumstances, fingers were invented before chopsticks!
ジョン

[yukio_michael]

In Korea I used metal chopsticks for the first time, but I've never seen them in Japan... My favourite type of chopsticks are the raw wooden ones (not painted), with the little bevel at the end, because they snap apart so easy that they are "lucky"...
Have you read this? My friends have always told me that when you snap apart chopsticks if they come apart even they are lucky. We have a good deal of cheap chopsticks at home and it always spooks me out to break them apart because they stick together so that half-the time one chopstick's end remains on the other, and looks lopsided!
The coolest chopsticks I've ever seen were in a Japanese food magazine that looked as if they were carved from two sticks---

Originally Posted by Sensuikan San

I did have a problem once though, at a Chinese banquet. One of the dishes was a huge platter of crab (complete with shells 'gemixt'!). I had to quietly lean to my Chinese neighbour and ask for advice! It seems that - in some circumstances, fingers were invented before chopsticks!
ジョン

The same thing happened to me, my girlfriend and her brother, eating at a Chinese fami-restaraunt... One particular dish was vehemently not conductive to chopsticks, seemingly we all simultaenously gave up the futile attempts we were making.

[celtician]

Chopsticks are for picking up large objects like a chunk of meat/fish but I prefer the more sensible Thai way of Spoon & Fork when dealing with noodles or something wet and small. Think about it chopsticks are primitive!

[yukio_michael]

Originally Posted by celtician

Think about it chopsticks are primitive!

Just how modern do you think other utensils are?

[godppgo]

Originally Posted by celtician

Chopsticks are for picking up large objects like a chunk of meat/fish but I prefer the more sensible Thai way of Spoon & Fork when dealing with noodles or something wet and small. Think about it chopsticks are primitive!

Chopsticks aren't just used for picking up large piece of meat or fish. There are two main types of chopstick. The Chinese and Japanese ones.

The Chinese ones are longer and has a wider tip due to the fact that Chinese eat alot of meat and need a chopstick that can perform "heavey duty" task such as dissecting a big piece of meat. The longer length also helps in exerting more force (moment). On the contrary, Japanese chopstick is shorter and has a more narrow end. This is because Japanese diet is composed of alot of fish and narrower tip is useful in picking out fish bones (small ones). Shorter length is for better for "handling" the chopstick.

[godppgo]

Here is an interesting tip in finding a genuine Japanese restaurant. Japanese place the chopstick horizontally infront of them while the Chinese place them vertically. Next time when you go to a Japanese restaurant, if the chopsticks are placed vertically then it's probably operated by Chinese.

[bossel]

Originally Posted by godppgo

There are two main types of chopstick. The Chinese and Japanese ones.
The Chinese ones are longer and has a wider tip due to the fact that Chinese eat alot of meat and need a chopstick that can perform "heavey duty" task such as dissecting a big piece of meat. The longer length also helps in exerting more force (moment).

Since I haven't seen many Japanese chopsticks, I can't really judge the difference. But I have seen quite a number of Chinese chopsticks, from heavy duty ones in a posh restaurant to the cheapest stuff in some small takeaway. There doesn't really seem to be one favoured style.

Dissecting a big piece of meat doesn't happen that often in Chinese cuisine, either. Most of the time the stuff is chopped into little pieces, fit for chopstick use (that's one of my main criticisms at Chinese cuisine, because I hate all those bone smithereens in the meat).