# Do you eat Asian food with chopsticks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2008, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460 "2008-01-14T07:29:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![fdrre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@fdrre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fdrre)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460/81 "2008-01-16T10:05:15Z")
so funny. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460/82 "2008-01-16T15:37:12Z")
[QUOTE=China Guy] Ha! you spit into a neat pile? you’re hanging with some high faluntin’ pretencious peasants! where is Rizhao? laowai probably to you and country bumpkin (xiangxiaren mandarin/ shawunin shanghaiese) 🙂 [/QUOTE] In India, you use your fingers to transfer fish bones from mouth to plate. If you actually spat stuff from your mouth to your plate, it would be considered disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460/83 "2008-01-16T16:49:23Z")
Non-Asian here. I’ve never eaten Chinese, Thai or other Asian food often enough to come proficient with chopsticks. It always feels awkward to me, so I always ask for silverware. ---
**Author:** ![chocolatefrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/41988e/32.png) [@chocolatefrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chocolatefrog)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460/84 "2008-01-16T17:26:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I can agree with this. When I spent five months Rizhao I learned to eat like the locals. I shovelled rice into my mouth, and fish bones were spit out into a small pile next to my plate, hey, when in Rome, right? Then on the way home I had a weekend layover in Shanghai. Halfway through dinner I glanced up to find most of the restaurant staring in incredulity at the westerner who was eating like a peasant. Welcome to the big city, lao wei. Heh I do this when presented with a bowl of rice and chopsticks (minus the fishbones). Yes I’m vulgar and of peasant stock 😃 . ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460/85 "2008-01-16T17:29:09Z")
[QUOTE=China Guy] Ha! you spit into a neat pile? you’re hanging with some high faluntin’ pretencious peasants! where is Rizhao? laowai probably to you and country bumpkin (xiangxiaren mandarin/ shawunin shanghaiese) 🙂 [/QUOTE] Rizhao is right on the coast around 160 kilometers southwest of Qingdao. It’s in the Shandong province. Good seafood, not much meat, although until you try the donkey how do you know you won’t like the donkey? ---
**Author:** ![chocolatefrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/41988e/32.png) [@chocolatefrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chocolatefrog)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460/86 "2008-01-16T17:30:34Z")
Oops the above was quoted from **Bill Door** ’s post ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460/87 "2008-01-16T18:06:40Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] I’ve never eaten Chinese, Thai or other Asian food often enough to come proficient with chopsticks. [/QUOTE] Thai generally does not come with chopsticks. Although, SO and I were at a local Thai place the other day and I remarked with shock that the food was served with chopsticks. Is this a practice in certain parts of Thailand? Looking through the internet, I see various places selling “Thai chopsticks,” but all of the Thais I’ve known use primarily spoons, forks, and knives for their main dishes. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460/88 "2008-01-16T19:05:28Z")
[QUOTE=LSLGuy] Actually, anyone who prefers the puffy kind is already pretty suspect. The dense crinkly kind are the only true Cheetos. But the chopsticks are a good idea; I’ll have to try that for my next Cheetos binge. You know, the convenient 16 oz single-serving package. Back to the OP … Eating Asian food with a fork is just wrong. It feels disrespectful. It feels like eating off styrofoam: OK for camping, but certainly not for dining. [/QUOTE] You made a typo in your post. The _puffy_ kind are the only true Cheetos. The newfangled crinkly kind are a mistake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-eat-asian-food-with-chopsticks/433460.md?page=4)