Chopsticks

[speshllkay]

My son is five and he still doesn't know how to use them. It's frustrating for me because I want the kids to know how to use them. I remember using them at five.

At what age did you know how to use them?

[applehead]

Originally posted by tazadar@Feb 3 2003, 03:36 PM
Then as girls get older they get dumber.
but still smarter than you men!!

my mom said i used chopsticks when i was three.
fast learner.
except, i hold it wrong.
it looks awful.
hi, i'll just use a fork.

[Hanuman]

I think I learned pretty late in life, like when I was 10....I was a late bloomer :(

[thaite]

Started early on, I dunno, five or six.

[SunWuKong]

moving...

[amietron]

you can teach him to use chopsticks with waribashi, the throw away kind. roll the paper wrapper and put it in between the two chopsticks and use a rubberband to suspend it there. that'll make it so the chopsticks are kept together. that's how i've seen kids taught to use chopsticks. they also sell plastic training chopsticks that're essentially a block of thin plastic connected at the top with a slit down the middle. yeaah. couldn't find those online, but i did find these--

http://www.houserice.com/houserice/chiltraincho.html

[blkazngirl]

My mom said one day she gave me my spoon when I was three. I got up from the table and got a pair of chop sticks, the rest is history.

My daughter basically did the same thing too at a young age.

[Hiroshi2]

I learned when I was in my early teens, like thirteen i suppose. My mom said I learned quickly, though, and I can use them as well as she can now. It's not that hard, I suppose. I hate the warabashi though. They always serve them at asian resturants. Fook that, i'll use a fork. Though I have to admit that now eating asian food with chopsticks can seem a bit clumsy.

[Adaon]

I learned when I was like.....4? i used to own at those school festivals things where they had a booth and you had to pick up marbles and other knick-knacks from soapy water....lol, I was better at it than most people so after a while they kicked me outta their booth in order to save their prizes :lol:
much like the b-ball booths :lol:

[speshllkay]

Originally posted by amietron@Feb 3 2003, 04:30 PM
you can teach him to use chopsticks with waribashi, the throw away kind. roll the paper wrapper and put it in between the two chopsticks and use a rubberband to suspend it there. that'll make it so the chopsticks are kept together. that's how i've seen kids taught to use chopsticks. they also sell plastic training chopsticks that're essentially a block of thin plastic connected at the top with a slit down the middle. yeaah. couldn't find those online, but i did find these--

http://www.houserice.com/houserice/chiltraincho.html
thanks for the tip

[AltimaGTR]

I learned when I was in elementary school...but I still hold them like a pencil!

[lethal]

I learned sometime around age 5 I think. I'm good with them, but the style is a bit unorthodox. I manipulate the moving stick with the webbing between my thumb and forefinger.

[AliBabaIncorporated]

i'm forced to hold it abc style with the sticks crossing cuz of a problem with my index finger

[tvbdude]

too young to remember

[speshllkay]

Originally posted by AliBabaIncorporated@Feb 3 2003, 08:29 PM
i'm forced to hold it abc style with the sticks crossing cuz of a problem with my index finger
what's abc style?

[Napoleon Chynamite]

I learned while growing up as a result of eating w/ my parents at the dinner table every night (it happens). One way to discourage your parents from teaching you how (l'est you actually for some reason don't wanna use them) is to repeatedly tap on the table and use them as drumsticks.

[applehead]

Originally posted by AliBabaIncorporated@Feb 3 2003, 08:29 PM
i'm forced to hold it abc style with the sticks crossing cuz of a problem with my index finger
i do the samething except my index finger is perfectly normal.
my uncle says this will prevent me from marrying a good man.
WTF??

[tomtomtom]

:lol: I learned from Vietnamese peasants when I was 20, such great folks! :lol:

[BaiginLong]

I dun remember
I know how to use it multiple ways including old school and ABC
hehe

[teaz0r]

i still dunno how to use them the proper way a la tweezer style,
i just shove my chopstick in dim sum and eat it like meatball on a stick.

yeah. i suck.

[Fireblade]

I learned when I was like... 3 or 4. I remember stabbing things with one chopstick. Man I was a violent child. (Still Am.) :lol:

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Originally posted by Fireblade@Feb 16 2003, 12:27 AM
I learned when I was like... 3 or 4. I remember stabbing things with one chopstick. Man I was a violent child. (Still Am.) :lol:
Or you can be like Jet Li in KOD and stab bad guys in the throat with both chopsticks :D

[Fireblade]

Dood. I will be the chopstick god. I will stab not only bad guys, but good guys, pigs, and dogs. I will be the ultimate badass chopstick guy. I will whip out my chopstick, and people will fear me. The people will bring me gifts to appease my badassness. I AM THE CHOPSTICK MAN.


Muhahaha

[VV o n g B a]

don't remember when i learned. but whats up w/ those korean chopsticks? why metal? it makes them unweildy <- sp? and stuff.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Originally posted by VV o n g B a@Feb 16 2003, 12:55 AM
don't remember when i learned. but whats up w/ those korean chopsticks? why metal? it makes them unweildy <- sp? and stuff.
More stabbing power....metal penetrates flesh easier than wood or ivory.

[kayla]

i never knew koreans use metal chopsticks. interesting. i have ivory ones.

i've started using chopsticks around 3. my sister actually mastered using chopsticks at age 2. i guess she didnt want to be left out since everyone at the dinner table were using chopsticks. she actually demanded a pair of her own.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Nice Chinese chopsticks are long and made of ivory...I think?? The best set my parents had was always made of ivory. This always beats the wooden ones at cheap restaurants where they come stuck together and you hafta break'em in half, but usually you end up sending wooden splinter shards up into your fingers and then the dining experience is pretty much ruined.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by FrozenPizza@Feb 16 2003, 06:32 AM
Nice Chinese chopsticks are long and made of ivory...I think?? The best set my parents had was always made of ivory. This always beats the wooden ones at cheap restaurants where they come stuck together and you hafta break'em in half, but usually you end up sending wooden splinter shards up into your fingers and then the dining experience is pretty much ruined.
the only ones that are ivory are really expensive ones. and they're even more expensive now that they've became very tough on poaching. the ones that you think are ivory are just made to look like they're ivory. not sure what they're made out of, probably some kind of plastic.

[thaite]

I have some made out of jade. Kinda brittle, though.

[kangal]

my parents use metal chopsticks..two reasons 1)i think its cleaner as the food and bacteria can't seep into the wood and 2) they say its heavier so they eat less since its more of an effort....ha....my parents will be appearing this wednesday at Ha-Ha's....and...i can't use chopsticks well..i hold it like i hold a pencil...my parents call me an idiot everytime we eat..... :dance:

[Fireblade]

Well use the metal chopstick as stabbing utensils. Then if you're eating small meat cube, ppl will look at you, but then you can flash back a wild look in your eyes, teeth gleaming, while holding the chopstick between your teeth. :D

Or just try to learn chopsticks the way we're supposed to. Hehehe

[kangal]

man, i tried to follow those guides on the back of chopsticks in restaurants....bah to them....

[TyroneK(prettypretty)]

When I was 9. My older cousins forced me to eat with them until I got it down.

Before then. I only used a spoon.

[rakovlam]

3, I was born in HK. It was THE utensil to use. Chopsticks are interesting though. The Japanese like wooden chopsticks, Koreans like metal chopsticks, and the Chinese like plastic chopsticks. At least that's what I see in every restaurant I go to. My dad keeps saying that I'm still not holding them correctly, whatever.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Originally posted by rakovlam@Feb 17 2003, 07:03 PM
3, I was born in HK. It was THE utensil to use. Chopsticks are interesting though. The Japanese like wooden chopsticks, Koreans like metal chopsticks, and the Chinese like plastic chopsticks. At least that's what I see in every restaurant I go to. My dad keeps saying that I'm still not holding them correctly, whatever.
Whateva works...who cares how you hold them as long as the food is gettin' from the plate to ur mouth. :lol:

[BeTheReds]

Asians who can't use chopsticks exist?

Hell, white people who can't use chopsticks exist?

[purezero]

I don't remember when I learned how to use chopsticks, but I do remember that I started off using them the wrong way. You know, when you cross the chopsticks and pick things up? Yeah, and then finally I figured out how to use them right. Ever since then, I couldn't go back to crossing my chopsticks.

I do remember in 3rd grade, we were supposed to make inventions to help around the house or with whatever. There was this one really creative invention, think chopsticks crossed with tweezers. Pretty much, they rubber banded two chopsticks together at the end (the ones you get in restaurants to-go, with the angled ends) so that it formed a V. And yeah, it was pretty much like large tweezers in chopstick form.

[purezero]

Originally posted by BeTheReds@Feb 17 2003, 10:30 PM
Asians who can't use chopsticks exist?

Hell, white people who can't use chopsticks exist?
My friend can't use chopsticks very well, and he's asian. He keeps sticking to forks. Perhaps it's a generation thing? He's 5th and 2nd generation, so he's well "Americanized."

I have some white friends who can use chopsticks. They hang out with Asians more than whites or other cultures. They make jokes about being able to use chopsticks better than some Asians (see above).

[nonamerasian]

I learned when I was around six-years-old.

I'm not Asian and wasn't really exposed to chopsticks before then except for when I went to some restaurants.

At the restaurants I would stab my food and try to pick up what I couldn't stab on top of the sticks.

It was messy but efficient enough.

I think the way I used them scared my friend's mother so she sat me down and taught me "the Chinese way" (her words, not mine).

[Faithless]

I was a late bloomer, but I used them eversince for everthing. Like sandwiches and jello.

Is it true what is said about how you hold chopsticks:

Where you hold them determines how close you are to your parents. That is, if you hold them close to the bottom or tips, you're real close to your parents. :confused:

[kimpossible]

Honestly, I can't think back to the age when I started using chopsticks so I would guess a regular age like 4 or 5? I prefer the Japanese sized chopsticks to Chinese, metal in particular. I have quite a few, sanitary and last a long time. For cooking I still use the large wooden or bamboo type. I hold them normally. Nothing special about it.

When I get the disposable type at restaurants I pack them up and take them home with me after the meal to use for gross things I don't want to touch. Like if something gets stuck in the garbage disposal, I poke in an old disposable pair, grab the icky biological and then toss the whole thing out.

[kayla]

Originally posted by ChottoMatte@Jun 8 2003, 04:31 PM
I was a late bloomer, but I used them eversince for everthing. Like sandwiches and jello.

Is it true what is said about how you hold chopsticks:

Where you hold them determines how close you are to your parents. That is, if you hold them close to the bottom or tips, you're real close to your parents. :confused:
My mom told me it determines how "far" you'll marry. If you hold it higher up, you'll marry someone from a farther country or ethnicity than your own.

My auntie holds her chopsticks really high and she married a German. Its not really a practical method to determine the kind of person you'll marry, but its um..to give you a sense, i guess. for fun. kinda like palm readings.

[artsfartsyjanet]

I learned how to use mini chopsticks since I was 3 or 4. I used regular chopsticks at 5 or so.

[sOKaLiBoY]

i was taught when i was little. however i rarely use them. i use a fork most of the time.

[Faithless]

Originally posted by kayla@Jun 9 2003, 10:43 AM
Originally posted by ChottoMatte@Jun 8 2003, 04:31 PM
I was a late bloomer, but I used them eversince for everthing. Like sandwiches and jello.

Is it true what is said about how you hold chopsticks:

Where you hold them determines how close you are to your parents. That is, if you hold them close to the bottom or tips, you're real close to your parents.&nbsp; :confused:
My mom told me it determines how "far" you'll marry. If you hold it higher up, you'll marry someone from a farther country or ethnicity than your own.

My auntie holds her chopsticks really high and she married a German. Its not really a practical method to determine the kind of person you'll marry, but its um..to give you a sense, i guess. for fun. kinda like palm readings.
Hm. That's an interesting twist.

I deliberately hold my chopsticks up high because I don't want to be seen as a momma's boy. Even though Iyam. :rolleyes:

[Faithless]

Since nobody asked, :blink: , my first chopsticks were these little, light blue, Japanese things.

However, Japanese chopsticks seem to crack, so we have the Chinese kind (long and flat yellow, made of hardened plastic or something.)

[nonamerasian]

I think my first real ones were the Chinese kind.

They were long, a creamy yellowish color, and a hard plastic.

They had something written on them with red characters.

[Emperor_Mike]

I don't particularly like chopsticks. Some of my friends back home have a nasty habit of sucking on their chopsticks and gesticulating with them with reckless abandon whilst conversing (i.e. pointing at people with the sticks.) I prefer a fork and spoon.

But we have silver ones back in BC and its strange eating with them.

[coagulated fat]

I'm still not an expert at chopsticks. I can eat with them, but it's not very efficient or pretty when I do. Inevitably I end up playing with them by trying to get them to stand up on their own in my rice, and I have to be reminded that that's rude.

I prefer the stabbiness of forks.

[ren28]

I have been using them ever since I could remember. I did not want to learn how to use them with the proper technique (controlling them seperately and not like scissors is the best way I can explain it) until maybe 5 years ago.

[Adaon]

Yeah, ummm, I find myself at times asking for chopsticks to cook with when I'm at a friend's house cooking....I'm so used to them being all purpose food utensils :D

[Adaon]

Originally posted by LL_Cool_D@Jun 12 2003, 05:27 AM
never taught and never learned. thankfully so because using chopsticks is a real crappy way of eating. i guess i prefer a knife and fork or spoon.
betcha, I can smoke ya in an eating contest. :D