Silly me for thinking that all chopsticks were the same. As an American who's never been to Asia, my chopsticks experience consists solely of the cheap wooden ones that come with Chinese takeout. Unsurprisingly, these waribashi chopsticks are the lowest form.
My interest piqued on the subject after I saw this video on how to improve your form.
The man in the video (author Tim Ferriss) talks about how Vietnamese diners hold their chopsticks close together or even crisscross them. What he doesn't mention is the style of chopsticks he's holding -- a more rounded and longer version popular in Vietnam.
Most Asian countries have chopstick idiosyncrasies.
In Korea, they're traditionally made of metal and used in conjunction
with a spoon. (Though never at the same time. That's considered poor
etiquette.) Fine pairs have ornamentation on them just like fancy silverware and are often flat and blunt, a thinner
version of a butter knife.
Tasty Island blog
did an article on various styles of chopsticks and says this about Korean-style: "Not only are they relatively short,
but they have a flat, thin profile
to them. Top that off, you have that polished-to-a-slippery-smooth, who
needs grip? finish of the stainless steel."
The Japanese use so much waribashi that the country has become the largest wood importer in the world. But the traditional style is wood, lacquered and cone-shaped.
The chopsticks with the most potential for growth in America would be
cooking ones. They are often two or three times the length of regular chopsticks and made of bamboo, which doesn't transfer heat. They allow
pinpoint accuracy on flipping foods in an oven or turning over items in
boiling water, tasks for which Western tools don't compare.
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