our life in Singapore: Would you eat a sandwich with a spoon?

Would you eat a sandwich with a spoon? Or use a fork to eat ice cream? Certain foods require the appropriate utensil. Asian foods are no exception: they seem to taste better eaten with chopsticks. And although some of us were raised using chopsticks, it can be an awkward experience for the rest of us. Fortunately, learning to eat with chopsticks can be a simple matter of time and patience.

Many of us labor under a misperception about chopsticks--that both sticks are moved together in your hand as you pick up a morsel. This is only half-true. Instead you'll be holding one chopsticks in place while pivoting the other one to meet it. Simple, eh?

This website explains a lot about using chopsticks and this website is Wikipedia which of course goes into the history of the chopsticks. Both worth clicking on to read more!

Here’s a really smart idea for eating sushi, soy sauce dispensing chopsticks that will eliminate the need for your to use a sauce pan. Image below. Well, the only thing they forgot, is to put wasabi.

these three-legged chopsticks (image below) work a bit like tweezers making it easier to grasp and consume food with grace.

Chopsticks are small tapered sticks used in pairs of equal length as the traditional eating utensils of Greater China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Generally believed to have originated in ancient China, they can also be found in some areas of Tibet and Nepal that are close to Han Chinese populations. Chopsticks are most commonly made of bamboo or plastic, but are also made of metal, bone, ivory, and various types of wood. The pair of sticks is maneuvered in one hand, between the thumb and fingers, and used to pick up pieces of food.

.... and a new invention seen below ....... called "more than chopsticks" eat more sushi with these chopsticks - completely effortless and efficient!!!

Universal etiquette

Chopsticks are not used to make noise, to draw attention, or to gesticulate. Playing with chopsticks is considered bad mannered and vulgar (just as playing with cutlery in a Western environment would be deemed crass).

Chopsticks are not used to move bowls or plates.

Chopsticks are not used to toy with one's food or with dishes in common.

Chopsticks are not used to pierce food, save in rare instances. Exceptions include tearing larger items apart such as vegetables and kimchi. In informal use, small, difficult-to-pick-up items such as cherry tomatoes or fishballs may be stabbed, but this use is frowned upon by traditionalists.

Chopsticks should not be left standing vertically in a bowl of rice or other food. Any stick-like object pointed upward resembles the incense sticks that some Asians use as offerings to deceased family members; certain funerary rites designate offerings of food to the dead using standing chopsticks.

and now for a few funnies!