History

Chopsticks were developed about 3000 to 5000 years ago in China.

Tools resembling chopsticks were unearthed in the archeological site Meggido, Israel belonging to Scythian invaders of Canaan before and contemporary to Moses and Joshua. This discovery may reveal the existence of a trade relationship between the Middle East and the Far East in early antiquity, or may be an independent parallel development. Chopsticks were also common household items of civilized Uyghurs on the Mongolian Steppes during the 6-8th centuries.

Chopsticks, a pair of small even-length tapered sticks, are the traditional eating utensils of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, the four "chopstick countries") as well as Thailand, where they are now restricted to just soup and noodles since the introduction of Western utensils by King Rama V in the 19th century. Chopsticks are commonly made of wood, bamboo, metal, bone, ivory, and in modern times, plastic as well. It was believed that silver chopsticks were used in Chinese royal palace to detect poison (possibly toxic metallic oxides) in the royalty's meals; if poison existed, the chopsticks would become blackened owing to displacement.

Definition

"Chopstick" is the pidgin-English and English name for the tools. "Chop" is pidgin-English for "quick", the Mandarin word for chopsticks being kuàizi or kuài'er, meaning "the bamboo-objects for eating quickly". In Japanese chopsticks are pronounced hashi. In Korea, jeo is used in the compound jeotgarak which is composed of jeo (chopstick) and garak (long skinny thing). Jeo cannot be used alone.

The Vietnamese language uses the word dua.

Held between the thumb and fingers of the right hand, they are used as tongs to take up portions of the food, which is brought to the table cut up into small and convenient pieces, or as means for sweeping the rice and small particles of food into the mouth from the bowl. Many rules of etiquette govern the proper conduct of the chopsticks.

Chopsticks are traditionally held in the right hand only, even by the left-handed. Biases against left-handed eating are becoming less severe. Chopsticks may now be found in either hand, although some still consider left-handed chopstick use as improper etiquette.

Chopsticks are simple in design: merely two thin rods (top and bottom area smaller than one square centimeter, length varies), each with one end slightly smaller than the other. The smaller, round ends come in contact with the food. In practice, their use is an acquired skill that can take some mastery. In addition, East Asian food, which is usually made into small pieces more suitable for clawing than cutting or scraping, is generally geared to be eaten with chopsticks. For example, rice in East Asia is often prepared to be sticky, while rice prepared using Western methods tend to be "fluffy", and is particularly difficult to eat with chopsticks.

There are several main styles of chopsticks:

Chinese: long, wooden sticks that taper to a rounded end Japanese: short, wooden sticks that taper to a pointed end Korean: medium, stainless steel sticks that taper to a blunted end, traditionally made of silver or brass; wooden versions are also used in cooking hot food, and disposable wooden chopsticks are delivered with home delivery food Vietnamese: long sticks that taper to a blunted end; traditionally wooden, but now made of plastic as well. There are also chopsticks used especially for cooking or for serving food, these are much longer. In Japan they are called saibashi.

How to hold chopsticks

1. Put one chopstick between the palm and the base of the thumb, using the ring finger (the fourth finger) to support the lower part of the stick. With the thumb, squeeze the stick down while the ring finger pushes it up. The stick should be stationary and very stable.
2. Use the tips of the thumb, index and middle fingers to hold the other stick like an ink pen. Make sure the tips of the two sticks line up.
3. Pivot the upper stick up and down towards the stationary lower stick. With this motion one can pick up food of surprising size.
4. With enough practice, the two sticks function like a pair of pincers.

Tip: For easier handling in the beginning, hold the sticks at the midpoint as a child would do. With proficiency, hold the sticks at the upper ends for a farther reach and a more mature look.

If the tips fail to line up, it will be difficult to hold things. Hold the chopsticks upright with one of the tips lightly touching the table, and gently push the chopsticks down or gently loosen your grip for a moment to let both tips become equal in length. You can also adjust your grip or holding position this way.

With practice, it is possible to perform step one and two simultaneously, on picking up the chopsticks with one hand, with a single fluid and seamless motion. Readjust your grip if necessary.

In Chinese culture, it is not considered impolite to have your lips touching the edge of the rice bowl and using chopsticks to push rice directly into the mouth. In Japanese culture, however, the diner's lips should never touch the edge of the rice bowl and chopsticks should be used to pick up the rice before putting it into the mouth. In Korean culture, it is rude to pick the rice bowl off the table in the first place.

Dishes are usually prepared in such a way that each piece is bite-sized so if the item is too small or too big to be picked up by the chopsticks, then it is not designed to be eaten with the chopsticks.

Chinese traditionally eat rice from a bowl. The rice bowl can be raised to the mouth and the rice shoveled into the mouth using the chopsticks. (Note that this Chinese etiquette is the exact opposite from the Japanese custom.) If rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the West, it is acceptable and more practical to eat it with a fork or spoon. It is quite tedious to try to pick up the rice, grain by grain, but some people will attempt to do this if they do not know that they are not expected to utilise the chopsticks in this manner.

Do not stand chopsticks in a bowl of rice or anything else because the act resembles part of a traditional funeral rite.

A set of chopsticks are one of the wedding gifts normally presented to Chinese newlyweds as the Chinese words for "chopsticks" and "soon son" are homophones.

Trivia

You may use several disposable bamboo chopsticks to pry open the case of a Mac Mini.
In many Asian IC and LCD fabs, being capable to pick up small beads quickly with a pair of chopsticks is a requirement of employment. This is a very simple test of eye-hand coordination. Another test is needleworks.

Medical Problems

In recent studies conducted by some government medical organizations and universities, it has been found that regular use of chopsticks can cause osteoarthritis, a painful condition where cartilage gets worn off, leading to pain in the hand joints. [3] The condition is particularly severe for the elderly, however further research has been requested before confirming this.