Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Chopsticks

Besides picking up food, do you know that chopsticks were also used by emperors in the Ancient China to test the safety of food? Yes, those chopsticks were made of silver which turned black when reacted with poisonous chemicals (if any) present in the food.

I have not seen silver chopsticks before but managed to find stainless steel ones. :)

Stainless Steel Chopsticks

In her book Chinese foods / Liu Junru (ISBN: 7-5085-0613-8), Liu Junru also mentioned about the rules set by Chinese when using chopsticks:

1. Do not poke chopsticks into the centre of a bowl of rice since only rice bowls containing sacrificial offerings have a pair of vertically implanted chopsticks.

2. When two people use chopsticks to pick up food, their pair of chopsticks should not cross.

3. Do not hit or tap an empty bowl with chopsticks.

4. Do not use chopsticks of different lengths.

5. Do not use only one chopstick.


Japanese Chopsticks



22 comments:

SandyCarlson said...

Thanks for this etiquette lesson. I am an oaf who uses a fork but I am glad to know.

emilayusof said...

nice chopsticks! i love the red ones!

Ellen Whyte said...

I bet some cunning people at the court invented poisons that don't tarnish silver chopsticks!

Ebie said...

First time to hear about stainless steel chopsticks. Funny about not using only one!

caryl said...

beautiful chopsticks!

The Cunning Runt said...

...but I like using only one chopstick!

Jim said...

Thank you, Dora, for this nice lesson. Actually I need Chopsticks 101 first as I give up before I ever get food up to my mouth.
Happy RT, you have some pretty chopsticks for us today.
..

Felisol said...

Hi, Dora,
Blog and learn!
I'll pass on the chopstick rules to our daughter. She's the only one who master the skill of eating with chopsticks in our family.
It's such an elegant way of eating, in contraire to our simple way of shuffling in food.
I'd thought the metal would have been in the pointy end of the stick to reveal acid in the food!
One of the reasons I prefer steel to silver tableware; silver gets black when in contact with egg!
Happy Ruby Tuesday
From Felisol

Anonymous said...

Great red chopsticks. Thanks for the information.

Jama said...

I prefer the Japanese chopsticks because it's much easier to pick up small food items. Most of the time I used my hands to pick up food, I'm a Malay mah....:p

Leora said...

I like the red chopsticks. My kids have learned to eat with them by watching me. Fun! I don't think I'd like eating with metal ones, however.

Auntie E said...

Love the Red chopsticks! Happy RT

Norm said...

cool chopsticks! happy RT to you and thanks for the visit.

storyteller said...

Thanks for sharing this info. I love to use chopsticks ... especially when dining on Asian food ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

Dianne said...

the red ones are great! I have never mastered using them

nonizamboni said...

Very interesting post and nice photos. Love the red chopsticks. Thanks for sharing!

Robin said...

What pretty chopsticks those are.

I have a set of black and red lacquer ones, but they're round and a bit too smooth and so difficult to actually use!

srp said...

Those are beautiful.... I have tried and tried to use chopsticks... but I am chopstick challenged... of course if I used them anyway I would be much, much thinner.

Jade said...

I always wondered why one must not poke chopsticks into the centre of a bowl ...now I know. Thanks!

Heart of Rachel said...

Thanks for sharing the interesting information about chopsticks. I've learned something new today.

maryt/theteach said...

My husband uses chopsticks and I'm gonna tell him the rules for using them. He'll love that! The RED chopsticks are beautiful! Happy Ruby Tuesday! :)

Patti said...

Those red chopsticks are really pretty. I can eat with chopsticks, but I think I cheat. I hold them a funny way!

This is an interesting post about the rules.

Happy Ruby Tuesday!