I can use them pretty well. I like to actually, something different and it just seems appropriate to do so when eating Chinese or sushi.
One time, at some fair or other I was at, there was a set up to time yourself in picking a marble out of a bottle using chopsticks (they weren’t smooth, they had… lines? divots? I dunno what to call them but they were cut around the tip for a bit of extra traction on the marble) and I had the best time at fifteen seconds.
Bullshit, I say. The wooden chopsticks that have to be broken apart are always cheap chopsticks. No good host would use those to set a table for a proper dinner. Not in Korea, anyway. It’d be like setting a nice dinner table with plastic instead of silverware.
It took me until I was 7 to figure out how to use chopsticks properly, and our household was pretty traditionally Korean, so I got a lot of crap for it. I used to use them like spears. Either that or hold one in each hand and rip my food into shreds. My parents were always quite disapproving.
Yes, I can. I was lousy at it when I was young (my parents always eat Asian food with chopsticks, so I’d tried plenty of times), but my best friend from age 14-25 is Chinese-born and I don’t think they even had any forks in the house. After my friend’s mom laughed at my attempts a couple times, I learned how to use them pretty quickly.
I’ve now been complimented on my skills on several occasions. I don’t know about “form”, but I use chopsticks as jjimm describes - I hold one pretty much still and use the front stick to really pick stuff up.
Back in June, I went with my fourth graders on a field trip that involved going to a Chinese restaurant. My kids were amazed by my skillz, just confirming their opinion that I am the coolest teacher in school.
I’ve been able to use them since almost before I can remember. Most Australians in urban areas can. If you need a knife and fork, you will need to ask. I was a bit taken aback when I was given a knife and fork (but my Chinese friends were given chopsticks) in Hong Kong.
Chopsticks rock. I frequently use the large bbq/cooking type ones for cooking Western things like fried sausages. They grip the food with unusual precision, and don’t scratch the pan.
I must say though: I need to think when I’m using Japanese ones. I’m at home with the Cantonese blunt ended ones. For some reason, the difference is quite pronounced.
Anyone know how to compress .mov files? I did a little instructional video for my compatriot chowder on the use of chopsticks, complete with me dropping stuff and my cat getting in the way, but it’s 124 Mb and exceeds YouTube’s upload size limit.
Once, during a party, I picked up a beer cap with chopsticks. Feeling a bit daring, I threw the cap up in the air and made a wild motion to catch it in mid-fall – all with the chopsticks, of course. Against tremendous odds, I did in fact catch the cap. Everyone, including two Chinese exchange students, had to pick their jaws off the floor after that trick.
I know the odds were bad now because I tried repeating the feat when I was alone later and never could do it.
Yes, I can use chopsticks. I can eat anything with chopsticks, including soup. We pick up and eat peanuts all the time in our kung pao chicken. (Try eating grape nuts in milk with chopsticks if you want a real challenge.) It’s one of the things that impressed my Chinese in-laws. The other was eating and liking the tripe. Both my kids can use chopsticks as well.
That’s a Japanese thing, so it’s not bullshit. Japanese serve their guests with disposable chopsticks since each person in the house has their own set. The more expensive disposable ones don’t have to be broken apart, but not everyone provides these for guests.
I can use chopsticks pretty well but haven’t done so in about 15 years. A Chinese business associate of my brother treated us and a bunch of other guys to dinner in exchange for unloading some trucks.
My wife is Chinese, Born in Hong Kong, raised in Canada’s Chinatowns, and grew up working in restaurants. I damn well better know how to use chopsticks.
Her family is used to me by now, but they are still impressed when I can pick up the small, slippery items at dim sum w/ ease.
Yes. I was introduced to them at a fairly young age, when my uncle married a Vietnamese woman, and of course this is the kind of physical skill that’s a lot easier to learn when you’re a kid compared to when you’re an adult.
At the time, I didn’t really think about it, but I am endlessly grateful, now that sushi and dim sum have really started to take off, that I have this skill in my repertoire.
I am also endlessly amused when a chopstick-challenged dining companion fumbles the dim sum, dropping it into their soy sauce and spattering the front of their shirt. Heh heh.
I honestly don’t remember when I learned to use chopsticks. It feels like I’ve known all my life, although we never went out for Chinese/Japanese when I was growing up.
The first date I ever went on with my wife was to sushi, and it was then that I taught her how to use chopsticks.
then dropped 'em down my shirt front 