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Everything on chopsticks
Regarding
this page
Dutch
version
In most Asian countries meals are eaten
with chopsticks. But there are differences, just as in the western world
Americans wield knives and forks in a different way as Europeans. I have a
small collection of chopsticks and chopstick rests (nothing special, but I
enjoy it nonetheless), and thought it would be nice to add a page on these
utensils.
Chopsticks are simple but brilliant
utensils to pick up food and bring it to the mouth, but you can not cut
with them. That is why most ingredients in "chopstick cuisines"
are carved into bite-sized chunks. You do not need to use a knife. In the
Chinese cuisine a porcelain spoon is provided for eating soups and other
food that is difficult to eat with sticks, but the Japanese eat even their
soups with chopsticks! The solid ingrediënts are taken out of the soup
with the sticks, the soup itself is drunk straight from the bowl.
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Chopsticks were probably already used
for eating as long as two thousand years ago. There are differences between Japanese
and Chinese chopsticks.
Chinese chopsticks are made
of unfinished wood (bamboo). They are straight with a blunt end. Other
materials are: bone (ivory), metal or stone (jade). Chinese
chopsticks are relatively long. Diners take their food from common bowls
which are set in the middle of the (round) table. Long sticks are quite
handy to be able to reach everything. When laying the table the chopsticks
are placed on the right side of the bowl or plate (like our knife). The
chopsticks are the same for all diners.(On
the history of Chinese chopsticks).
Japanese chopsticks are
made of wood (mostly bamboo), often lacquered, and have tapered ends.
Sometimes the tapered ends are ribbed or roughened, to get a firmer hold
on the food. The chopsticks vary in length. Children have short sticks,
men use the longest sticks. Women sometimes have slightly shorter sticks.
Because the food is served in individual bowls and dishes, the chopsticks
are not as long as the Chinese ones. When laying the table the chopsticks
are placed horizontally in front of the bowl(s), with the tapered end to
the left. Everyone has his or her own individual chopsticks, no two pairs
need to be the same (except of course in restaurants).
Explanation of the ciphers in the
photograph: 1 - Chopsticks for cooking; 2- Japanese wooden sticks
for men and women with a beautiful woodgrain; 3 - Three pairs of decorated
Japanese chopsticks; 4 -
Chinese chopsticks: the eight
immortals; 5 - Long Chinese chopsticks with a saying wishing
happiness; 6 - Two pairs of rookie sticks.
How
to use chopsticks. First you pick up your sticks: Take them at the
holding end with your right hand. Then take them over at the eating end
with your left hand. Now you can take them with your right hand in the
eating position. The eating position is: The lower chopstick is fixed with
the ringfinger, the upper chopstick is moved and controlled by the index
finger. Maybe you think you will never learn it, but be patient: practice
makes perfect.
Here is an exercise: Take two small bowls. Fill one with peanuts or peas.
Then move them one by one from one bowl to the other. Young children and
people with arthritis may prefer the so called "rookie sticks".
These sticks are joined together, so that you can use them as a pincher.
Tablemanners. When you eat
with chopsticks you have to mind your manners, just as when you eat with
knife and fork. It is not polite to pierce your food with sticks to
pick it up. You may not gesticulate or point at something with sticks in
your hand. You may not bite on or lick off your chopsticks. You may not
cut food with them. You may not hover with your sticks above foodbowls.
You must not pick up a bowl with the hand that is holding your chopsticks.
When not in use, deposit your chopsticks on the table with the tips on the
chopstick rest. Chopstick rests date from the second half of the twentieth
century. Before then the chopsticks rested on the edge of a plate or bowl.
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Chopstick
rests come in many forms and hues. On the Chinese table, all
chopstick rests are the same, like the chopsticks. Japanese chopstick
rests are individual, again like the chopsticks. Once you start buying
chopstick rests you won't be able to stop: there are always new ones (and
generally they are not very expensive!). Most chopstick rests are made of
porselain, some of wood or other materials. They are figurative: lots of
fish, other animals, but also tree leaves, vegetables and objects.
When eating Chinese or Japanese, you
don't have to lay your table in style. The food is just as tasty on
Western plates, eaten with knives, forks and spoons. But when you can
afford the money and space, it is fun to acquire some Eastern tableware.
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The
eight immortals. These Chinese chopsticks can be compared to
the Western silver "apostle spoons". Of every immortal there is
one pair of chopsticks. The eight immortals are Taoist deities. Below you
find a very short description of the iconography of each of them (from
left to right).
1.Chang Kuo-lao: Seated backwards on a mule, holds a feather of a phoenix,
or bamboo tube-drum, or again the peach of immortality. A hermit, patron
of old men.
2.Lan Tbsp.’ai-ho: With a basket filled with flowers or peaches of
immortality. Hermafrodite, wandering musician. Patron of florists.
3.Li T’ieh-kuai: Lame, with an iron leg and a gourd filled with magic
herbs. Patron of the sick.
4.Lu Tung-pin: With a magic sword and a fly-whisker. A scholar (lived
755-855 AD). Patron of barbers.
5.Han Hsiang-tzu: Plays a flute or castanets. Nephew of the famous author Han Yu
(768-824 AD), clairvoyant. Corpulent, with a naked belly. Patron of musicians.
6.Chung li Ch'uan: Has a fan or the peach of immortality. A military man.
7.Ho Hsien-ku (the only woman): With magical lotus blossom, peach or basket
with flowers, sometimes with reed-organ. Drinks wine. Said to have lived
in the 7th century.
8.Tbsp.’ao Kuo-ch'iu: Keeps his hands reverential crossed before the breast,
holding a small jade tablet of admission to court, or has castanets.
Eldest brother of empress Jen-chung (1023-1064 AD), hermit, patron of
actors.
The historic background runs from the 7th to the 11th century. The legend
got its definitive form around 1200 AD.
You can find more on the eight immortals on this site on Taoism.
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