Why do you think it was an American that made the picture? Looks like it could have been from any English writing country.
But eating rice “OUT OF BOWLS” is obvious. I eat soup OUT OF BOWLS but I still use a spoon to do it. I don’t get from an evolutionary standpoint how it would become to cultural norm to eat in a more difficult manner than to just invent something sharp and wide to eat with.
Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but it was because Confucious decreed that using anything else – such as a fork or a knife was emulating a violent action of war (AKA: Stabbing/slicing) and that it shouldn’t be at a dinner table when one was with family and enjoying the time together. The current emperor thought it was a great idea, and because the emperor thought it was a great idea, the entire country caught on, and then it spread to other various Asian countries.The two chopsticks are representative of nature (no surprise there) and the pair of them made it easier to eat (versus one, which would have done the same thing as a fork.)
Sage: The picture clearly depicts a bowl of rice. I’m not sure how a bowl makes it any easier to eat rice with chopsticks than whatever you think Americans have in mind.
Most rice in Asia is glutinous (sticky), so chopsticks work really well. In fact, being a proficient chopstick user–and an American, by the way–I have to admit that chopsticks are my preferred method of eating almost everything, including rice. Soup doesn’t work out too well, though.
@TFish
If you eat your soup with a spoon, the fact the soup is in a bowl is irrelevant, and your analogy fails. In you case, it wouldn’t matter if the soup was in a plate, a cardboard box or a shoe, only the spoon is used to put the soup in your mouth.
Rice is eaten with chopsticks by bringing the bowl to your lips, and pushing some in your mouth with the sticks. The bowl here is part of the process.
On the other hand, the “rice is more sticky” argument is invalid too. You’ll never see a Chinese or Japanese eating rice grabbing small lumps of it with his shopstick. You only see that in western countries where eating directly from the plate (or bowl, in this case) is seen as bad manner.
@Random
You’re only half right. I work in a Japanese restaurant that caters specifically to Japanese customers. All of them eat rice by lifting small lumps of it with their chopsticks. It’s only the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese customers who push the rice from the bowl to their mouth. The rice is sticky enough that it’s not difficult at all.
Furthermore, eating bony fish (as they do all over Asia) is WAY easier with chopsticks than it is with a fork. This is another proposed origin for the popularity of chopsticks over stabbing and scooping utensils.
Comments
Because Americans are not smart enough to realize that people normally eat rice with chopsticks OUT OF BOWLS. Morons.
loading...
Why do you think it was an American that made the picture? Looks like it could have been from any English writing country.
But eating rice “OUT OF BOWLS” is obvious. I eat soup OUT OF BOWLS but I still use a spoon to do it. I don’t get from an evolutionary standpoint how it would become to cultural norm to eat in a more difficult manner than to just invent something sharp and wide to eat with.
loading...
Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but it was because Confucious decreed that using anything else – such as a fork or a knife was emulating a violent action of war (AKA: Stabbing/slicing) and that it shouldn’t be at a dinner table when one was with family and enjoying the time together. The current emperor thought it was a great idea, and because the emperor thought it was a great idea, the entire country caught on, and then it spread to other various Asian countries.The two chopsticks are representative of nature (no surprise there) and the pair of them made it easier to eat (versus one, which would have done the same thing as a fork.)
loading...
Sage: The picture clearly depicts a bowl of rice. I’m not sure how a bowl makes it any easier to eat rice with chopsticks than whatever you think Americans have in mind.
Most rice in Asia is glutinous (sticky), so chopsticks work really well. In fact, being a proficient chopstick user–and an American, by the way–I have to admit that chopsticks are my preferred method of eating almost everything, including rice. Soup doesn’t work out too well, though.
loading...
Patience. It’s not about shoveling food as fast as you can. Teach patience.
loading...
Why use sticks? Well, they’re easy to mass-produce, they get the job done, and they require skill to use so all the morons die out from starvation.
loading...
@TFish
If you eat your soup with a spoon, the fact the soup is in a bowl is irrelevant, and your analogy fails. In you case, it wouldn’t matter if the soup was in a plate, a cardboard box or a shoe, only the spoon is used to put the soup in your mouth.
Rice is eaten with chopsticks by bringing the bowl to your lips, and pushing some in your mouth with the sticks. The bowl here is part of the process.
On the other hand, the “rice is more sticky” argument is invalid too. You’ll never see a Chinese or Japanese eating rice grabbing small lumps of it with his shopstick. You only see that in western countries where eating directly from the plate (or bowl, in this case) is seen as bad manner.
loading...
@Random
You’re only half right. I work in a Japanese restaurant that caters specifically to Japanese customers. All of them eat rice by lifting small lumps of it with their chopsticks. It’s only the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese customers who push the rice from the bowl to their mouth. The rice is sticky enough that it’s not difficult at all.
Furthermore, eating bony fish (as they do all over Asia) is WAY easier with chopsticks than it is with a fork. This is another proposed origin for the popularity of chopsticks over stabbing and scooping utensils.
loading...