Chopsticks vs. Western Cutlery

[Bamspeedy]

Yes, you can eat something like blueberry or pumpkin pie with your fingers.

I guess that depends on how the blueberry pie is made....

Third one I can see eating with fingers (but the crumbs are evidence why a plate is still needed).

 

[Plains-Cow]

So you are eating your favorite food holding the utensil of your choice.
You want 1 more piece, but someone took the common area utensil that serves the food.

Do you grab the piece of food after turning your utensil 180 degrees and using the clean rear-end?
Or get up and search the drawer for another instrument?

I get a new utensil.

Do I want to do dishes, or not?

I almost never have pecan pie around, I'd probably grab a slice and put it on a plate then eat it with a fork.

Maybe make a pecan pie and post your results on the forum. Or buy one and post it anyway.

If the food's small enough, (either innately or having been chopped up during the preparation), such that you don't need a knife, a spoon is the most conventient utensil - way better than either fork or chopsticks. If it it needs a knife, well, you need a knife and something to hold it with while you cut. Which a fork is best for. So, I can't really see why you'd chose chopsticks.

Chopsticks vs. the trio makes you think. Otherwise chopsticks would probably win in most areas.

 

[Gori the Grey]

By the way, don't you chopsticks people go thinking "Aha, my one utensil is equal to three western utensils"

Hello . . . chopsticks. And y'all have also admitted you use a spoon for soup.

That's three, count'em, three utensils.

And you still can't cut anything.

But I gotta leave it at that, while I go enjoy this T-bone over here.

I'd offer you some, but that would just be cruel. Because it's so delicious. And you can't eat it with your chopsticks.

 

[Kaitzilla]

fork for sure, based on track record/frequency of what i eat. then i can employ the secret professional technique

Spoiler :

flip 2 forks upside down and use them like chopsticks

Seems legit.

 

[sophie]

I'd offer you some, but that would just be cruel. Because it's so delicious. And you can't eat it with your chopsticks.

Easy, just don’t eat meat

 

[Gori the Grey]

Good point.

And that leads to the other thing.

All those veggies are prepared to be eaten by chopsticks using a knife, you heard me, a knife, in the preparation process.

So now, it's knife for preparation, two utensils for chopsticking, spoon. Four, count 'em, four utensils trying to keep up with the clearly-more-efficient Western three.

You chopstickers are just trying to hide one of your utensils in the background of the process.

 

[amadeus]

 

[fy00sh]

Good point.

And that leads to the other thing.

All those veggies are prepared to be eaten by chopsticks using a knife, you heard me, a knife, in the preparation process.

So now, it's knife for preparation, two utensils for chopsticking, spoon. Four, count 'em, four utensils trying to keep up with the clearly-more-efficient Western three.

You chopstickers are just trying to hide one of your utensils in the background of the process.

Ahhh but you dont use a steak knife to chop veggies, you use a separate kitchen knife, dont you?
also with two chopsticks in one hand and a spoon in another you get to hold all three utensils simultaneously, whereas team western has to faff about swapping between three different one-per-hand utensils... tsk tsk tsk

 

[Gori the Grey]

I don't use any knife on my T-bone but my steak knife.

And since I only have one mouth, I can only eat one thing at a time; accordingly, I only need one eating tool at a time.

Even those chopstick-preferrers who theoretically could do what you say, don't.

They too each only have one mouth.

 

[Birdjaguar]

What came first, the small chopping or the chopsticks?

"The fabled ruins of Yin, in Henan province, provided not only the earliest examples of Chinese writing but also the first known chopsticks—bronze sets found in tombs at the site. Capable of reaching deep into boiling pots of water or oil, early chopsticks were used mainly for cooking. It wasn’t until A.D. 400 that people began eating with the utensils. This happened when a population boom across China sapped resources and forced cooks to develop cost-saving habits. They began chopping food into smaller pieces that required less cooking fuel—and happened to be perfect for the tweezers-like grip of chopsticks.

As food became bite-sized, knives became more or less obsolete. Their decline—and chopsticks’ ascent—also came courtesy of Confucius. As a vegetarian, he believed that sharp utensils at the dinner table would remind eaters of the slaughterhouse. He also thought that knives’ sharp points evoked violence and warfare, killing the happy, contended mood that should reign during meals. Thanks in part to his teachings, chopstick use quickly became widespread throughout Asia."

And this, which is slightly different.

Chopsticks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Farm Boy]

Maybe make a pecan pie and post your results on the forum. Or buy one and post it anyway.

Spoiler :

 

[Valka D'Ur]

With or without a plate?


Cream pies are generally served cold and solid like pumpkin, yes? Otherwise they're the kind that are just filled with whipped cream for 1920's-style comedy.

Also meat pies are eaten with the crust as the container, and don't you put ketchup on the side or in a separate container for dipping into? Or do you drizzle it all over the fries and then eat the fries with your hands? Seems like a chopstick job to me.

I put ketchup directly on the fries and eat them with a fork. Why would I dirty another dish just for ketchup? And since I've already mentioned my lack of dexterity, using chopsticks would be a messy process.

Cream pies depend on the bakery. The kind I get are best eaten with either a fork or spoon.

I have a pizza/pasta order on the way as I type. The pizza will be eaten with the fingers. The pasta will be eaten with a fork.

 

[Ajidica]

Easy, just don’t eat meat

I, for one, prefer to experience other culture's culinary history in all their diversity.

Anyhow, much like American pizza is clearly superior to Italian pizza; the fork and spoon are clearly superior to chopsticks.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

By the way, don't you chopsticks people go thinking "Aha, my one utensil is equal to three western utensils"

Hello . . . chopsticks. And y'all have also admitted you use a spoon for soup.

That's three, count'em, three utensils.

And you still can't cut anything.

But I gotta leave it at that, while I go enjoy this T-bone over here.

I'd offer you some, but that would just be cruel. Because it's so delicious. And you can't eat it with your chopsticks.

this is all academic anyway and the generally correct method is to hold the plate up to your face or grab stuff with your hands.

 

[Gori the Grey]

this is all academic

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You say that like it's a bad thing.

it's selectively bad.

 

[Plains-Cow]

Spoiler :

I believe that is the reason why you need to eat them over the sink.

"The fabled ruins of Yin, in Henan province, provided not only the earliest examples of Chinese writing but also the first known chopsticks—bronze sets found in tombs at the site. Capable of reaching deep into boiling pots of water or oil, early chopsticks were used mainly for cooking. It wasn’t until A.D. 400 that people began eating with the utensils. This happened when a population boom across China sapped resources and forced cooks to develop cost-saving habits. They began chopping food into smaller pieces that required less cooking fuel—and happened to be perfect for the tweezers-like grip of chopsticks.

As food became bite-sized, knives became more or less obsolete. Their decline—and chopsticks’ ascent—also came courtesy of Confucius. As a vegetarian, he believed that sharp utensils at the dinner table would remind eaters of the slaughterhouse. He also thought that knives’ sharp points evoked violence and warfare, killing the happy, contended mood that should reign during meals. Thanks in part to his teachings, chopstick use quickly became widespread throughout Asia."

And this, which is slightly different.

Chopsticks - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So technically the chopsticks came first for cooking before making their way to the dinner areas? Interesting.

I put ketchup directly on the fries and eat them with a fork. Why would I dirty another dish just for ketchup? And since I've already mentioned my lack of dexterity, using chopsticks would be a messy process.

Cream pies depend on the bakery. The kind I get are best eaten with either a fork or spoon.

I have a pizza/pasta order on the way as I type. The pizza will be eaten with the fingers. The pasta will be eaten with a fork.

You could always put the ketchup on the side of the same dish. Cream pies sound like a finger food to me. Noodles with chopsticks are very common; have you tried using chopsticks with pasta? If you have a dexterity problem, it's the only time where I'd assume a fork is always better.

I, for one, prefer to experience other culture's culinary history in all their diversity.

Anyhow, much like American pizza is clearly superior to Italian pizza; the fork and spoon are clearly superior to chopsticks.

What is the difference between the two pizzas?

this is all academic anyway and the generally correct method is to hold the plate up to your face or grab stuff with your hands.

Very evolutionary minded. Also, I'd like to point out that we use fingers as chopsticks and not as forks (pinching vs. stabbing).

 

[Gori the Grey]

Except when eating Bugles.

Then fingers serve as little perches.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Very evolutionary minded. Also, I'd like to point out that we use fingers as chopsticks and not as forks (pinching vs. stabbing).

as far as you know

with proper technique, they might be used as any, or as all of chopsticks, spoon, and fork at the same time.

 

[Farm Boy]

Except when eating Bugles.

Then fingers serve as little perches.

Olives, too.

Stabbity stab.