<< Why bother using chopsticks, even if you are asian and very good with them, it's just a big waste of time when forks and spoons are so much easier and faster. I just don't see the sense in it, and people going to resturaunt to show off their skills is even more foolish, since they don't use them unless they have a chance to show someone their mad stix skilz. I guess it's just a cultural thing. Whatever. >>
Well, you're right about one thing tho...it's pretty much a cultural thing...but not in the way that you think about it. I mean, if you took a native asian person to an asian restaurant, they can pick out people who "acquired" their chopstick abilites secondhand with almost pinpoint accuracy. The reason is that when it's your primary utensil, you develop this natural grace and flow with it... The flexibility lies in its simplicity and you can pick things up very quickly because the entire thought process is that they're more like extensions of you fingers...but you can also stab things like a fork, or cut things...just a different methodology to the same end. One of the dead giveaways tho that you're just learning or are having trouble is crossing the chopsticks at the center, making an 'x'. u just can't leverage the full force of your hand muscles that way...I've tried...it doesn' work.
