Do you know how to use chopsticks?

Yes. I’m way faster with a fork, and I couldn’t handle soup…but other than that, I’m good.

I got pretty good when traveling in asia a few years ago but normally don’t use them. I find it easier when picking up larger bites of meat or veggies or noodles but rice, forget it. By the time you get the chop sticks to your mouth you have about 3 grains of rice left on them. A great way yo lose weight because you get so damn annoyed trying to get a bite of food to your mouth you just give up and have another cocktail. lol

I use them and do ok. Not a super expert but I can get the food to my mouth and prefer to use them for Asian food.

No. My dad and husband do. Maybe my sister too, I’m not sure. I don’t care that I don’t know, except that I think it’s good to know things in general. The more skills the better. A fork is rarely sufficient, because I almost always have to request a knife. Nothing is cut small enough for me.

Yes, in advance of a year as an exchange student in Japan, I learned by eating peanuts. After all these years, it’s second nature. All restaurants here have chopsticks. I prefer to eat salad with them.

@Coloma That’s why Asian rice is sticky. Western rice certainly is a challenge!

Yes, I learned when I about 8 years old. My father worked for an international company, he had several business contacts that were from Asia. He told me it would important to learn to use chopsticks. Later I worked for a company that had Japanese consultants, we as a group, often went out to dinner at Japanese restaurants. I was the one at the head of the table with the consultant.
I can pick-up a single grain of rice or peanuts like @Hawaii_Jake.

@longgone Yes, but even the sticky rice is challenging. :-p

@Coloma If you’re hungry enough… ;)

Yes. I occasionally cook with them, too.

My father taught me when I was very young. We are a lot of Chinese food, and he insisted one should always experience food the way it was meant to be experienced.

I’m sure the New York City Chinese food takeaway was hardly what anyone would call authentic Chinese, but I believe his heart was in the right place.

Yes. Probably not the proper official way but still well enough that I neither starve or look like an idiot.

Yep. Like a pro.

Yup. I have some trouble getting the last bits of rice, but otherwise I do pretty well with them.

I do, but not well enough that I am terribly proficient with them. I’d prefer a knife and fork.

I’ve used chopsticks often and for a long time.

My favorite are these Japanese stye three sided curved ones.

I have styles from different nations, including a black set with skulls on them. We also keep a full set of stainless Japan style ones on hand for guests.

I hold them well back on the shaft, using my wrist to transfer the food from my bowl to my mouth.

I can do the various things with them. Twirl noodles, pop open foam to go containers, etc.

I also know the protocol regarding chopsticks (Japanese, at least).

I can even pick up jello.

This issue is certainly a matter of geography. Out here, Hispanic preschoolers can weild the things with abandon.

Yep. Still a little shaky with rice but I’ve got it.

What do you expect from someone who has been eating rice in every meal for 20 years.

I use them for the better part of any Japanese meal but have never been comfortable doing so. And I’ve never mastered them with rice.

I’m an Asian so it’s like a child’s play handling chopsticks.

I must, however, point out that it’s gradually harder to pick lump of rice with chopsticks because nowadays many restaurants and people prefer to use less-gluttinous variant of rice, while historically rice was more ‘sticky’ which contributed to how easy people can mold it in to a lump and eat it with chopsticks. I also notice that people tend to wash their rice twice these days, which make the rice less ‘sticky’ since even in modern Chinese households it’s not compulsory to eat every day’s food with chopsticks, except for noodles and for ceremonial feast.

I also find that Japanese restaurants tend to have more sticky rice than regular Chinese restaurants.

Several people have mentioned chopsticks as being part of Asian culture, but that is not quite right. Some of the people at the table who were struggling with the chopsticks were immigrants from India and Pakistan.

@LostInParadise Pakistan and India are part of the Asian continent, but in America we use Asian to mean East Asian. Basically, what we used to refer to as the Orient or Oriental.

Edit: I think the countries that use chopsticks are primarily countries that over history had emigration and immigration to and from China.

Yes, i use them regularly, my grandparents employed chinese families to work on their farm and orchards and i learnt to use them as a child.

I can but i certainly dont prefer them.

Also, someone mentioned that rice in Western countries is not as glutinous (or sticky) and another contributing factor to that is the prevalence of parboiled rice (think Uncle Ben) in which each grain remains separate. It is its own hard little pebble and stays that way regardless of how long its cooked. That is horrible. Imagine trying to make Congee with parboiled rice?

For some strange reason, its considered somehow more virtuous or desirable for rice grains to be distinct and separate here in the USA. Granted, for a dish like Jambalya (a long cooking stew) that makes a certain amount of sense. But for everything else its just horrible and very unpleasant to chew.

But, personally, i absolutely hate the fact that even Chinese restaurants here use it. It absolutely ruins it for me, especially with fried rice. If I encounter a Chinese restaurant using parboiled rice, thats the last time they get my business ever.

@Buttonstc I love sticky rice, but for many dishes I prefer Uncle Bens or other rices that stay separated. Uncle Bens I specifically use for paella, a chicken dish I make that has a mushroom cream sauce, and for beef stroganoff. The heavier sauce on sticky rice would be a big glop.

Yup. Youre absolutely correct about parboiled for the dishes which you mentioned because theyre basically stews. But none of them are similar r at all to Chinese cooking which is typically fast with high temp and of short duration.

You use rice for Stroganoff? Thats unique. I’ve never had it with anything other than egg noodles. But rice could work also. I just never thought of it. Interesting.

@Buttonstc Ground beef stroganoff I eat over rice. Swedish meatballs, which are similar, I eat with noodles.

Sticky rice I use as a side plain or with some sesame seeds on top. I’d have the sticky rice and another separate side of vegetables. I also use the sticky rice in sushi (I don’t eat sushi, but my husband does).

For stir fried rice I use left over Uncle Bens from the day before.

My Latin American friends make my favorite white rice. Most of the use Mahatmah brand, and for the life of me I can’t make it like them. They must use more fat? I know my ex used Shortening. Lots of salt and a little garlic. So good. The sticky rice has no fat or salt, and I love it also.

My mom always says no one makes pork better than the Chinese and the Cubans. It might be true for rice too. Lol. There used to be Cuban Chinese restaurants in NYC, I don’t know if they still exist.

Thats a winning combo so i’m sure theres still plenty of them left in NY :)

On the subject of rice, my son has just been in the Philippines with his fiancee’s family. He said he has been served rice made about 15 different ways. They tend to have rice at every meal.

I do, yes. I prefer to eat with chopsticks. I tend to not eat as much food because I’m eating slower and I get bored.

@janbb I wish rice was more popular in America. With steak I prefer rice, but in America restaurants typically only offer potatoes. It might be a choice of fries, baked, or mash, but the starch available as a side is usually a potato dish of some sort.

America grows a ton of rice in Arkansas. We export quite a bit of it.

@JLeslie: I wish rice were offered more often, too. I’m happy with plain white rice, which most restaurants never offer even if they do have rice.

@jca Right! Finding it in plain in a restaurant is a greater task. I don’t like the yellow rice found in Mexican restaurants. Chili’s changed their rice about ten years ago to have more flavors in it than it already had. Cuban restaurants are the only place to consistently find not sticky white rice, and usually it’s good, but not always. In southeast FL it’s consistently good in many Cuban restaurants.

If they have rice, why can’t you just ask for a side of it?

Most restaurants don’t have plain white rice.

Oh. But isn’t brown rice, or long grain rice better for you?

Yes, definitely. I’m not talking about what’s better for me, I was talking about the taste I prefer. I don’t eat rice very often, but when I do, I like plain white.

When restaurants do have rice, it’s usually rice pilaf, which is full of salt.

Ah.