can you use CHOPSTICKS?

[vash]

granted i work with miners, and got into a culinary discussion with them. they were amazed i eat with chopsticks. chopsticks are not special, are they? i am not convinced miners even use forks, but chopsticks are not unusual are they? i am chinese, but i didnt grow up using them, and was horrible with them. after moving to california, and meeting my wife, i can now use them with either hand! i dont eat with them often, but i cook with them everyday. from flipping donuts in hot oil to quick whipping eggs, they are a fantastic multitasker.

my mom and stepdad, never use them. they live in texas. is it a geography thing?

[Rick Lee]

I probably eat the majority of my dinners with them.

[legion]

I grew up in SoCal. I grew up using them. I am not Asian.

The only thing I can't do with them is eat rice very well.

[Noah930]

I'm an ABC and grew up using them, so not really a fair question.

[924slover]

I've mastered eating rice with them i eat with them frequently.

[porsche4life]

Nope... Not at all... Of course here in OK there are very few places that you would traditionally eat with chopsticks....

[peppy]

Although not correct in my technique, I would not starve using them.

[imcarthur]

Well, I'm a wasp from the northeast and I can use them quite well. For our ten days in China a couple of years ago I would have starved without.

The trick with rice is to scoop not pick. Chopsticks together and scoop. And ideally it will be in a bowl that you can bring close to your mouth.

Ian

[futuresoptions]

Think I watched a TV show where someone said "You know you are good with chop sticks when you can pick up a single grain of rice" So I practiced eating with them until I could do just that! My children 11 & 15 now have been eating with them for years... One thing that I have noticed and I don't know if it is psychological or not, but food seems to tastes better with the chops versus the fork...

[Dave L]

yup I can use chopsticks.

[azasadny]

Yep, but I'm a drummer, so it's pretty easy...

[jyl]

Yes. grew up using. But until I was 10 I used them incorrectly. Finally learned the right way to hold the chopsticks.

I have a monster set for cooking - like 2 feet long.

[dtw]

Yup, 2nd nature.

[Chaos Theory]

yes, self-taught and not a traditional part of my culture. Probably not technically correct but like others have said I would not starve.

Once had a challenge with a friend of mine who was born in China and used chopsticks every day of his life.. We each had a small rice bowl full of M&M plain and M&M peanuts, and I was victorious, haha. Hmm.. Maybe I was just more hungry?

[Bill Douglas]

Yup, I can eat everything but soup with them.

Although my parents are white kiwis we ate a lot of chinese food. My mom knew an old Chinese guy who gave her something to put in her pork fried rice that REALLY made the meal. Many years later, long after the old guy had passed away, she ran out of the stuff without taking it to someone who could identify it and get some more and the pork fried rice just never tasted as good. Not msg or five spices, or varoius other strange things tried.

Actually... Living in this corner of the world I would be embarrassed not to be able to use chop sticks.

[nostatic]

The key to rice is to shovel. And rice doesn't go on the plate, it goes in a bowl. So you can shovel.

[masraum]

Yep, really well. White guy, but I lived in Japan for several years starting when I was 8. With regular cheap square wooden chopsticks, I can eat a plate full of fried rice down to the last grain. I've used chopsticks to get stuff that has fallen through grates (well, maybe 2 pencils or twigs). It's great to know how.

My mother went to a new "Japanese" restaurant with some friends in here little country town in the Florida panhandle. They were all amazed when she started eating with chopsticks. She was shocked because it didn't seem like that big a deal.

[alf]

My 2YO uses them, then again we currently live in the biggest Chinatown in the world.

[audiman08]

I think the spoon and fork were better inventions...nothing against Asian culture

[red-beard]

Yeah.