Despite the learning curve that comes with chopsticks, there is no doubt that they are the most effective and glorious utensil. Commonly made of bamboo, wood, metal, or plastic, these East Asian utensils are found at most Asian restaurants and markets.
Chopsticks originated around 5000 years ago, in China. They most likely came from people using small twigs to cook in rural areas. At the time, there was also a lack of fuel to cook food, so food was often chopped into small pieces in order to cook faster. Therefore, knives were not needed at tables, and chopsticks could be used more often. Confucius was a big proponent of the utensil and small pieces of food, as he thought knives were unnecessarily violent to be at a table. Since Confucius was such a large influence over China, many took up chopsticks.
The utensil then spread to Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, each of which now has their own distinct shape of chopstick. Each country also has their own superstitions regarding chopsticks, a common one being that dropping chopsticks is a bad omen.
Chopsticks offer a plethora of benefits when eating with them. For one, almost every food can be eaten with chopsticks, given you are good at using them. If you have a liquid, you cannot eat it with chopsticks but I raise you this: drink it. Do it. Just drink it. No one will curse for you for drinking out of a bowl. If you are reading this, and think to yourself, “Oh, it’s bad manners!”, let me remind you that drinking out of bowls is bad manners mainly in Western countries.
The utensil also forces one to take smaller bites than one can with a fork or spoon (given you are not my sister, and not absolutely shoveling noodles into your mouth), forces one to eat slower, and be more content with less food, stopping overeating. Smaller bites also lessen the likelihood of choking.
Finally, they are the best utensil to cook with. You can fry, whisk, sauté, and all of that good stuff. Rather than switching out utensils constantly for one dish, you instead have one simple utensil, that is all effective and easy to clean. If you do want to cook with chopsticks, I would recommend long, wooden or bamboo ones. These will make cooking a breeze.
In a poll of the Westmont Journalism Class, 6 people reported they cannot use chopsticks, and 26 can (although almost all of those who can, mentioned they cannot do it well). Even the final boss, Andrew Evans, admits he is not that good at using chopsticks. Yet, I implore all those out there to work on your chopstick skills, not only for my sake, but for yours. Chopsticks have been shown to help with hand-eye coordination, as well as fine motor skills. With all of the benefits and usefulness of chopsticks, I do not know why anyone would opt for a fork.