Are chopsticks the dumbest thing ever?

[Aves]

Originally posted by: Farvacola
wow this is one long thread about nothing. heres my two cents: UNDERSTAND OTHER CULTURES, OR GO BACK TO ALABAMA!

This statement makes me laugh.

 

[Mday]

chopsticks are an an extension of your fingers. if you try to use it as such, they work just fine.

 

[nguyendot1]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: nguyendot1
So using your hands must be more counter-intuitive right? like say, for eating a sandwich? For the love of God... people use whatever utensil they see best to fit the meal in front of them. If you have a steak, use a fork and knife. If you have soup use a spoon (unless its Pho or Mi), if you have Stir Fry in a communal plate (which most Asian families do), use chopsticks so you can reach across the table and pick the food into your bowl and eat.... don't diss other peoples cultural traits, just because its different from yours doesn't give you the right to make judgements on it. You guys seem to believe that everyone needs to eat with a single utensil, when in fact there is diversity for a reason. Remember that most Asian families eat around a table sharing a communal plate of food of chopped up meat and vegetables, and they eat out of small bowls that a spoon is usually too large to accomodate easily. You ever notice how eating with chopsticks and the smaller bowls makes for a cleaner table? No mess what so ever if you're good, because its more precise. Now if you're eating Uncle Ben's rice, which doesn't stick together, then yeah a spoon is better, but then again thats not real rice anyways. Most asian soups are noodle based and the chopstick allows you to more easily grab the parts in the soup you want to eat, like a decent amount of noodles, a piece of meat, and maybe a piece of freshly cut vegetable thats in your plate, so that the mouthful is nicely proportional, instead of trying to hunt with a spoon. Then again most asians eat with both chopsticks AND a spoon when eating soup... I mean you have two hands right? I use all the utensils, spoon, fork, knife, chopsticks... hands... whatever works the best for the meal at hand. Take into consideration the different types of foods, bowls, plates, portions...etc before you make a judgement call on what is better.

What I don't see is why chopsticks are better for a 'communal plate' -- I mean, a fork would be MUCH better to shovel stuff from one plate to another. That's basically saying that we should respect tradition 'just because' (which is what they did in the middle ages) -- Just because we aren't the people doing something, doesn't mean we shouldn't question it. We should be just as critical of ourseleves as we are of others.

Asian communal plates have smaller, longer pieces, that are easier to pick up with chopsticks, and easier to pick out the pieces you want. Using a spoon to 'shovel' the food picks up everything, making it harder to pick out just what you want. Seriously, how barbaric is it just to 'shovel' food onto your bowl, especially when the bowl is not that large in the first place. Second, usually its a plate in the middle, with bowls you cradle in one hand with each person. Imagine 8 people trying to 'shovel' from the middle of that plate with forks at the same time trying to pick out what they want. Now imagine that with chopsticks...which take up less space and allow everyone to eat from the same plate at once. No one ever said you have to respect it just because, I just said you should respect it because that is some peoples tradition/culture, and yes respecting it for that reason whether you agree/like it or not, is 'just because'.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: nguyendot1

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: nguyendot1
So using your hands must be more counter-intuitive right? like say, for eating a sandwich? For the love of God... people use whatever utensil they see best to fit the meal in front of them. If you have a steak, use a fork and knife. If you have soup use a spoon (unless its Pho or Mi), if you have Stir Fry in a communal plate (which most Asian families do), use chopsticks so you can reach across the table and pick the food into your bowl and eat.... don't diss other peoples cultural traits, just because its different from yours doesn't give you the right to make judgements on it. You guys seem to believe that everyone needs to eat with a single utensil, when in fact there is diversity for a reason. Remember that most Asian families eat around a table sharing a communal plate of food of chopped up meat and vegetables, and they eat out of small bowls that a spoon is usually too large to accomodate easily. You ever notice how eating with chopsticks and the smaller bowls makes for a cleaner table? No mess what so ever if you're good, because its more precise. Now if you're eating Uncle Ben's rice, which doesn't stick together, then yeah a spoon is better, but then again thats not real rice anyways. Most asian soups are noodle based and the chopstick allows you to more easily grab the parts in the soup you want to eat, like a decent amount of noodles, a piece of meat, and maybe a piece of freshly cut vegetable thats in your plate, so that the mouthful is nicely proportional, instead of trying to hunt with a spoon. Then again most asians eat with both chopsticks AND a spoon when eating soup... I mean you have two hands right? I use all the utensils, spoon, fork, knife, chopsticks... hands... whatever works the best for the meal at hand. Take into consideration the different types of foods, bowls, plates, portions...etc before you make a judgement call on what is better.

What I don't see is why chopsticks are better for a 'communal plate' -- I mean, a fork would be MUCH better to shovel stuff from one plate to another. That's basically saying that we should respect tradition 'just because' (which is what they did in the middle ages) -- Just because we aren't the people doing something, doesn't mean we shouldn't question it. We should be just as critical of ourseleves as we are of others.

Asian communal plates have smaller, longer pieces, that are easier to pick up with chopsticks, and easier to pick out the pieces you want. Using a spoon to 'shovel' the food picks up everything, making it harder to pick out just what you want. Seriously, how barbaric is it just to 'shovel' food onto your bowl, especially when the bowl is not that large in the first place. Second, usually its a plate in the middle, with bowls you cradle in one hand with each person. Imagine 8 people trying to 'shovel' from the middle of that plate with forks at the same time trying to pick out what they want. Now imagine that with chopsticks...which take up less space and allow everyone to eat from the same plate at once. No one ever said you have to respect it just because, I just said you should respect it because that is some peoples tradition/culture, and yes respecting it for that reason whether you agree/like it or not, is 'just because'.

You still haven't convinced me that it is more efficient to use a chopstick to take each individual piece of food, when a fork could easily move more at once, then you wouldn't need 8 people eating from a communal plate at once. One person could easily take their share and be done. Again forks are more efficient. I'd like to note you are calling shoveling food 'barbaric' -- shouldn't you, by your own standard have to accept that practice as civilized because someone has done it? Or is this a double standard you are applying here?

Seriously though, respecting something because it is someone else's culture is a terrible idea, by that standard, we have to accept public stoning as morally acceptable because it is done in places. Not to say that using chopstics is somehow objectionable, but respecting something 'just because' is a horrible idea.

 

[konakona]

You still haven't convinced me that it is more efficient to use a chopstick to take each individual piece of food, when a fork could easily move more at once, then you wouldn't need 8 people eating from a communal plate at once. One person could easily take their share and be done. Again forks are more efficient.

do you have some kind of statistical data or study result to prove forks are more efficient? again, you have displayed your lack of understanding for asian kitchen. asian dishes in general take much more time and effort to prepare, and we prefer to enjoy a variety of morsels over sheer quantity of limited choices. a historical explannation behind this would be the fact that nomadic lifestyle europeans led did not allow them the luxury of diversified, labor-intensive meal. at any rate, not everyone agrees with the idea of doing away with communal plates. I hope you enjoy yourself with 5-6 different dishes all mixed up in your tiny bowl, while having to dig for rice all covered up with other stuff. rice is so much easier to eat when placed in a bowl than a dish, so dont even try to tell me we should switch to plates in the first place.

I'd like to note you are calling shoveling food 'barbaric' -- shouldn't you, by your own standard have to accept that practice as civilized because someone has done it? Or is this a double standard you are applying here?

Seriously though, respecting something because it is someone else's culture is a terrible idea, by that standard, we have to accept public stoning as morally acceptable because it is done in places. Not to say that using chopstics is somehow objectionable, but respecting something 'just because' is a horrible idea.

it is quite absurd you compare using chopsticks to stoning another individual, yet you question the use of word 'barbaric' when it wasnt meant to offend anyone. who shovels food onto bowls anyway? if anything, its not part of asian culture unless its one of your own imagination.

 

[nguyendot1]

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: nguyendot1

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: nguyendot1
So using your hands must be more counter-intuitive right? like say, for eating a sandwich? For the love of God... people use whatever utensil they see best to fit the meal in front of them. If you have a steak, use a fork and knife. If you have soup use a spoon (unless its Pho or Mi), if you have Stir Fry in a communal plate (which most Asian families do), use chopsticks so you can reach across the table and pick the food into your bowl and eat.... don't diss other peoples cultural traits, just because its different from yours doesn't give you the right to make judgements on it. You guys seem to believe that everyone needs to eat with a single utensil, when in fact there is diversity for a reason. Remember that most Asian families eat around a table sharing a communal plate of food of chopped up meat and vegetables, and they eat out of small bowls that a spoon is usually too large to accomodate easily. You ever notice how eating with chopsticks and the smaller bowls makes for a cleaner table? No mess what so ever if you're good, because its more precise. Now if you're eating Uncle Ben's rice, which doesn't stick together, then yeah a spoon is better, but then again thats not real rice anyways. Most asian soups are noodle based and the chopstick allows you to more easily grab the parts in the soup you want to eat, like a decent amount of noodles, a piece of meat, and maybe a piece of freshly cut vegetable thats in your plate, so that the mouthful is nicely proportional, instead of trying to hunt with a spoon. Then again most asians eat with both chopsticks AND a spoon when eating soup... I mean you have two hands right? I use all the utensils, spoon, fork, knife, chopsticks... hands... whatever works the best for the meal at hand. Take into consideration the different types of foods, bowls, plates, portions...etc before you make a judgement call on what is better.

What I don't see is why chopsticks are better for a 'communal plate' -- I mean, a fork would be MUCH better to shovel stuff from one plate to another. That's basically saying that we should respect tradition 'just because' (which is what they did in the middle ages) -- Just because we aren't the people doing something, doesn't mean we shouldn't question it. We should be just as critical of ourseleves as we are of others.

Asian communal plates have smaller, longer pieces, that are easier to pick up with chopsticks, and easier to pick out the pieces you want. Using a spoon to 'shovel' the food picks up everything, making it harder to pick out just what you want. Seriously, how barbaric is it just to 'shovel' food onto your bowl, especially when the bowl is not that large in the first place. Second, usually its a plate in the middle, with bowls you cradle in one hand with each person. Imagine 8 people trying to 'shovel' from the middle of that plate with forks at the same time trying to pick out what they want. Now imagine that with chopsticks...which take up less space and allow everyone to eat from the same plate at once. No one ever said you have to respect it just because, I just said you should respect it because that is some peoples tradition/culture, and yes respecting it for that reason whether you agree/like it or not, is 'just because'.

You still haven't convinced me that it is more efficient to use a chopstick to take each individual piece of food, when a fork could easily move more at once, then you wouldn't need 8 people eating from a communal plate at once. One person could easily take their share and be done. Again forks are more efficient. I'd like to note you are calling shoveling food 'barbaric' -- shouldn't you, by your own standard have to accept that practice as civilized because someone has done it? Or is this a double standard you are applying here?

Seriously though, respecting something because it is someone else's culture is a terrible idea, by that standard, we have to accept public stoning as morally acceptable because it is done in places. Not to say that using chopstics is somehow objectionable, but respecting something 'just because' is a horrible idea.

Why is it with you that quantity is so important? Its the quality of the food that goes in your mouth so you can enjoy it that is more important. You just want to shove tons of food in your mouth from how you say its so much more 'efficient'. Communal dishes are how real asian food is served, and you have no right to judge that they should be done away with. It brings the family together in asian families, so they can all eat from one place that someone has thoughtfully prepared. It is tradition in my family, and part of my culture, to eat around a communal bowl that my mom as prepared. This shows her respect that we all share. In fact to her its a sign of disrespect to have individual plates/larger bowls and eat with spoon/fork, because its like telling her you want to eat alone. Not 'needing' 8 people eating from one bowl? Have you ever heard of family? Asian families do that as tradition. It's not a matter of need but rather a matter of how things are in that culture. Have you ever noticed that in Asian countries such as china, on the water canals they all crowd up on a small ass boat around a nicely cooked meal, and all eat rice out of small bowls and use chopsticks communally to get food out of the small pots they cooked on. I mean they don't have space for huge plates. Also, when you eat with chopsticks and those small rice bowls, it generally comes out cleaner, and not having a single morsel wasted is normal. Doing so with a plate and fork/spoon requires actual effort to completely clean it off.
And yes, comparing stoning someone as a culture with eating with chopsticks is a little oranges and apples there. Why not compare driving on the left side of the road with crucifying people? Wait those arent related either.

 

[konakona]

Seriously though, respecting something because it is someone else's culture is a terrible idea, by that standard, we have to accept public stoning as morally acceptable because it is done in places. Not to say that using chopstics is somehow objectionable, but respecting something 'just because' is a horrible idea.

the idea of respect here is not that of admiring them for what they are, but acknowledging them as a different way of life instead of scoffing at it just because its different from what you are used to. you dont have to use chopsticks or give them mad props; all i am asking you is not to make provocative comments with underlying implication how asian culture is behind the times and is subject to be replaced by something 'superior' or 'advanced' in your views.

 

[DeRusto]

The next time I make me a nice steak I think I am going to use chopsticks just for the hell of it.. then I'm gonna have Jello for dessert, aww yeah.. oh yeah, can't forget the tomato soup or some equally un-noodly soup

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I know how to use chopsticks and I still find them silly. I mean, c'mon, you have thousands of years of wonderful inventions, and you are still using two sticks to pick up food??

How many of those inventions have been put into basic utensils??? A spoon is a hollowed out stick, a fork is a pronged stick, and a knife is a sharp stick. I like using 2 blunt, long, thin sticks.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: Argo
Am I the only person who saw chopsticks and thought chapsticks?

yes

 

[Schadenfreude]

It's a part of the vast Asian right wing conspiracy to throw you crackers into utter confusion in its use.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: Kitkat13

Originally posted by: chuckywang
Geez! Dumbest thing ever??? Many people here on ATOT are Asian, and you just offended ALL of them. The point is that it is an all purpose utensil that can be used to eat anything!

I'd like to see you eat soup with your chopsticks!

Actually, I do. just my mouth and my chopstix.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Squisher

Originally posted by: chuckywang
..................The point is that it is an all purpose utensil that can be used to eat anything!

Broth?

steak?

didn't think so. Show me somebody who can eat a 24 ounce steak with chopsticks.

Bite it into small pieces and then use the chopsticks to finish them off.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
They are silly. I can use them without problem, but they're an inferior invention. On my way to Japan I noticed that a native japanese guy was using a fork for some of his food - at least most of it, if not all - because he knows that chop sticks are teh stoopid!

OR... maybe you just saw the village idiot, since the other 500 million Japanese people use chopsticks.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: VanillaH

You still haven't convinced me that it is more efficient to use a chopstick to take each individual piece of food, when a fork could easily move more at once, then you wouldn't need 8 people eating from a communal plate at once. One person could easily take their share and be done. Again forks are more efficient.

do you have some kind of statistical data or study result to prove forks are more efficient? again, you have displayed your lack of understanding for asian kitchen. asian dishes in general take much more time and effort to prepare, and we prefer to enjoy a variety of morsels over sheer quantity of limited choices. a historical explannation behind this would be the fact that nomadic lifestyle europeans led did not allow them the luxury of diversified, labor-intensive meal. at any rate, not everyone agrees with the idea of doing away with communal plates. I hope you enjoy yourself with 5-6 different dishes all mixed up in your tiny bowl, while having to dig for rice all covered up with other stuff. rice is so much easier to eat when placed in a bowl than a dish, so dont even try to tell me we should switch to plates in the first place.

I'd like to note you are calling shoveling food 'barbaric' -- shouldn't you, by your own standard have to accept that practice as civilized because someone has done it? Or is this a double standard you are applying here?

Seriously though, respecting something because it is someone else's culture is a terrible idea, by that standard, we have to accept public stoning as morally acceptable because it is done in places. Not to say that using chopstics is somehow objectionable, but respecting something 'just because' is a horrible idea.

it is quite absurd you compare using chopsticks to stoning another individual, yet you question the use of word 'barbaric' when it wasnt meant to offend anyone. who shovels food onto bowls anyway? if anything, its not part of asian culture unless its one of your own imagination.

This appluies to nguyendot1 too, but I would request that you read what I SAID again. I never said that there was anything inherently WRONG with communal bowls. I was simply pointing out that you implied that chopsticks were the equal of forks because Asians use them. While chopsticks may (I tend to disagree, but that is another argument) be the equal of forks, what I was saying is that you should not attempt to justify chopsticks as equal to forks on the basis of the claim that people use them, other explanations/reasons are perfectly legitimate.

ONCE AGAIN, I DID NOT COMPARE THE USE OF CHOPSTICKS TO STONING!

If you choose to eat without an individual plate, there can be certain uses for chopsticks. But, in sheer simplicity of use, as shown above, forks are more intuitive. Further, the same goes fir eating from a communal plate.... there may be legitimate reasons, but simply 'people do it' is not good enough.

It seems that the best reason given for the continued use of chopsticks (as a primary impliment for eating, there were good justifications in cooking made) is that people use communal plates, but your justification for that is 'it's cultural, and Asians do it, so it must be as good as any other method' -- while I would like to STRESS that it may be just as good as any method, 'because Asians already do it' is not sufficient justification.

 

[biostud]

Chopsticks are to knife and fork, what horses are to cars.

 

[konakona]

ok, i guess you need a little cliff notes here to track the ideas that have been going back and forth.
you said : chopsticks arent as good for shoveling food over and even if you need communal plates so they arent very useful
i replied : rice is much easier to eat from a bowl than a dish, and shoveling food over is not an option with limited square foot area of bowls and given the variety of food in typical asian kitchen.
nguyendot1 added : for that purpose, chopsticks are more preciese and make for a cleaner table. forks are quite clumsy in comparison.

there were some comments in the thread that resembled what you just said, but i think you are barking up the wrong tree. neither i nor nguyendot1 used that argument to justify the use of chopsticks. i dont use chopsticks just cuz i want to show my asian pride or there a billions of other people using them; rather, i use them whenever i feel using chopsticks is easier and more appropriate.

4 wheeled cars are more intuitive and safe but people still use bikes... wonder why?

ONCE AGAIN, I DID NOT COMPARE THE USE OF CHOPSTICKS TO STONING!

unless i am mistaken, you brought it up to point out 'respecting' a culture just for what it is absurd. thus goes my other reply on that, i think you are getting the wrong idea of 'respect' here.

 

[Gulzakar]

The bottom line is that it's a utensil, and in the spirit of makling things simple, I'll stick with fork and spoon.

Chopsticks, by their very nature, seem more German.

 

[piasabird]

Nothing wrong with chopsticks. Makes it harder to shovel food in your mouth faster!

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: edmundoab
just because you don't know how to use it doesn't make chopsticks a dumb creation.

Creation. Some dumd ass just wen out to the street and picked up a few sticks.

 

[oogabooga]

i can not believe how impassioned some people are about this amazing.

 

[Farvacola]

Originally posted by: Spencer278

Originally posted by: edmundoab
just because you don't know how to use it doesn't make chopsticks a dumb creation.

Creation. Some dumd ass just wen out to the street and picked up a few sticks.

LOL this debate keeps getting worse and worse. Is it really that hard to grasp? Hundreds of years ago, when there were no forks or spoons, somewhere in the orient, chopsticks were created so that people could grasp their food! People who use them now either think they are easier to use, which is a matter of opinion, or believe them to be traditional, just as silverware is to our western culture. So, I think it's safe to say that chopsticks were NOT picked up off the street by some, I quote you,"dumd ass".

 

[edro]

I eat out at a Chinese place for lunch every now and then, and I use chop sticks with my Hunan Beef. The main reason is, the plastic forks they provide are extremely smooth, so when you stab a vegetable (ie brocolli), it just slides off again. Using the amazing power of 2 friction laden wooden sticks, I can pick up the sauce drenched vegetables with ease!

 

[MustangSVT]

bruce lee owns chopsticks.. then again.. pepsi owns bruce lee.. -_-;

 

[RabidMongoose]

I have to agree that the chopsticks are inferior utensils.