Chopsticks
Chopsticks are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in most countries of the Sinosphere for over three millennia. They are held in the dominant hand, secured by fingers, and wielded as extensions of the hand, to pick up food.
Originating in China, chopsticks later spread to other parts of the Sinosphere such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Chopsticks have become more accepted in connection with East Asian food in the West, especially in cities with significant East Asian diaspora communities. The use of chopsticks has also spread to the Southeast Asia either via the Chinese diaspora in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand or through some dishes such as noodles that may require chopsticks.
Chopsticks are smoothed, and frequently tapered. They are traditionally made of wood, bamboo, metal, ivory, and ceramics, and in modern days, increasingly available in non-traditional materials such as plastic, stainless steel, and even titanium. Chopsticks are often seen as requiring practice and skill to master to be used as an eating utensil. In some countries, failing to follow etiquette in their use is frowned upon, though such feelings are generally lesser than they once were.
Origin and history
Chopsticks have been around and used since at least the Shang dynasty. However, the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian wrote that it is likely that chopsticks were also used in the preceding Xia dynasty and even the earlier Erlitou culture, although finding archeological evidence from this era is difficult.The earliest evidence of chopsticks uncovered so far consists of six chopsticks, made of bronze, long, and wide, excavated from the Ruins of Yin near Anyang. These are dated roughly to 1200 BC, during the Shang dynasty. They were supposed to have been used for cooking. The earliest known textual reference to the use of chopsticks comes from the Han Feizi, a philosophical text written by Han Fei in the 3rd century BC.
The wide diffusion of chopsticks in the Chinese culture is sometimes attributed to the Confucian philosophy that emphasizes family harmony as the basis for civil order. Some modern writers have associated chopsticks with traditional Confucian values of moderation, civility, and nonviolence. For example, it is sometimes said that "knives are for warriors, but chopsticks are for scholars", a modern aphorism that reflects symbolic interpretations of dining customs. However, this phrase does not appear in any known classical Confucian texts, and there is no historical evidence that Confucius made this statement.
Similarly, a popular quote attributed to Mencius—"The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen ... and he allows no knives on his table"—only partially reflects classical writings. The first part is a paraphrase of a real line from the Mencius, but the latter sentence is a modern addition not found in ancient texts. As such, attributions of this kind should be understood as contemporary interpretations rather than direct quotations from Confucian sources. Confucius' reference to chopsticks in his Book of Rites suggests these items were widely known in the Warring States period.
As cooking utensils
The first chopsticks were used for cooking, stirring the fire, serving or seizing bits of food, and not as eating utensils. One reason was that before the Han dynasty, millet was predominant in North China, Korea and parts of Japan. While chopsticks were used for cooking, millet porridge was eaten with spoons at that time. The use of chopsticks in the kitchen continues to this day.Ryōribashi are Japanese kitchen chopsticks used in Japanese cuisine. They are used in the preparation of Japanese food, and are not designed for eating. These chopsticks allow handling of hot food with one hand, and are used like regular chopsticks. These chopsticks have a length of or more, and may be looped together with a string at the top. They are usually made from bamboo. For deep frying, however, metal chopsticks with bamboo handles are preferred, as tips of regular bamboo chopsticks become discolored and greasy after repeated use in hot oil. The bamboo handles protect against heat.
Similarly, Vietnamese cooks use Đũa cả or "grand chopsticks" in cooking, and for serving rice from the pot.
As cooking thermometers
When a wetted end of a wooden chopstick is dipped into cooking oil, a sizzling sound due to bubbles bursting indicates that the temperature is suitable for deep-frying. Instead, loud popping or crackling implies that the temperature is too high, whereas silence implies that it is too low.As eating utensils
Chopsticks began to be used as eating utensils during the Han dynasty, as rice consumption increased. During this period, spoons continued to be used alongside chopsticks as eating utensils at meals. It was not until the Ming dynasty that chopsticks came into exclusive use for both serving and eating. They then acquired the name kuaizi and the present shape.Propagation throughout the world
The use of chopsticks as both cooking and eating utensils spread throughout East and Southeast Asia over time. Scholars such as Isshiki Hachiro and Lynn White have noted how the world was split among three dining customs, or food cultural spheres. There are those that eat with their fingers, those that use forks and knives, and then there is the "chopsticks cultural sphere", consisting of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.As Han Chinese emigration percolated, they spread the usage of chopsticks as eating utensils to South and Southeast Asian countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand. In Singapore and Malaysia, the Han Chinese traditionally consume all food with chopsticks, while ethnic Indians and Malays use chopsticks primarily to consume noodle dishes. Overall, the use of either chopsticks, a spoon, or a fork, is interchangeable in these regions. In Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Nepal chopsticks are generally used only to consume noodles.
Similarly, chopsticks have become more accepted in connection with East Asian cuisine around the world, in Hawaii, the West Coast of North America, and cities with Overseas Asian communities all around the globe.
The earliest European reference to chopsticks comes in the Portuguese Suma Oriental by Tomé Pires, who wrote in 1515 in Malacca: "They eat with two sticks and the earthenware or china bowl in their left hand close to the mouth, with the two sticks to suck in. This is the Chinese way."
Naming in different countries
In ancient written Chinese, the character for chopsticks was zhu. Although it may have been widely used in ancient vernacular Chinese, its use was eventually replaced by the pronunciation for the character kuài, meaning "quick". The original character, though still used in writing, is rarely used in modern spoken Mandarin. It, however, is preserved in Chinese languages such as Hokkien and Teochew, as the Min Chinese languages are directly descended from Old Chinese rather than Middle Chinese.The Standard Chinese term for chopsticks is kuàizi. The first character is a pictophonetic compound created with a phonetic part meaning "quick", and a semantic part meaning "bamboo", using the radical.
The English word "chopstick" may have derived from Chinese Pidgin English, in which chop chop meant "quickly". According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest published use of the word is in the 1699 book Voyages and Descriptions by William Dampier: "they are called by the English seamen Chopsticks". Another possibility is that the term is derived from chow, which is also a pidgin word stemming from Southeast Asia meaning "food". Thus chopsticks would simply mean "food sticks".
In Tibetan, chopsticks are called "kho-ze" ཁོ་ཙེ.
In Japanese, chopsticks are called. A common misconception is that they are referred as, a phrase commonly on the wrappers of disposable chopsticks. Te means hand and moto means the area under or around something. The preceding o is used for politeness. Otemoto therefore can refer to any small plate or serving utensil placed at a serving table.
In Okinawan, chopsticks are called mēshi as a vulgar word, umēshi as a polite word, or
In Korean, 저 is used in the compound jeotgarak, which is composed of jeo and garak. Jeo cannot be used alone, but can be found in other compounds such as sujeo.
In Taiwanese Hokkien, which is derived from Hokkien, chopsticks are called tī, written as.
In Vietnamese, chopsticks are called , which is written as in Chữ Nôm. Đũa is the non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of. An alternative character is.
In Mongolian, chopsticks are called savkh which is written as савх in Cyrillic and as in the Mongolian script.
In Cambodian, chopsticks are called chang keuh.
In such Malay-speaking countries, in Indonesian, chopsticks are called sumpit, from Baba Malay sumpit, from Hokkien 栓筆／栓笔. In Borneo, bamboo chopsticks called candas. In Malaysia they may be called penyepit.
Styles of chopsticks
Common characteristics
Chopsticks come in a wide variety of styles, with differences in geometry and material. Depending on the country and the region some chopstick styles are more common than others.- Length: Chopsticks range from long, tapering to one end. Very long, large chopsticks, usually about, are used for cooking, especially for deep frying foods.
- Cross-section: Chopsticks may have round, square, hexagonal, or other polygonal cross-sections. Usually the edges are rounded off so there are no sharp 90° surface angles in square chopsticks. Korean chopsticks are notable for having flat handles, instead of regular full bodies as in Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese chopsticks.
- Taper: Chopsticks are usually tapered in the end used for picking up food. Chinese and Vietnamese chopsticks are more commonly blunt, while Japanese ones tend to be sharp and pointed in style. Korean chopsticks typically have sharp tapers.
- Tips: Some chopsticks have a rough surface for the tip end, to provide better friction for gripping food. The gripping surfaces may be carved as circumferential grooves, or provided as a rough texture.
- Material: A large variety of materials is available, including bamboo, wood, plastic, metal, bone, jade, porcelain, and ivory.
- * Bamboo and wooden chopsticks are relatively inexpensive, low in thermal conduction, and provide good grip for holding food. They can warp and deteriorate with continued use if they are of the unvarnished or unlacquered variety. Almost all cooking and disposable chopsticks are made of bamboo or wood. Disposable unlacquered chopsticks are used especially in restaurants. These often come as a piece of wood that is partially cut and must be split into two chopsticks by the user. In Japanese, these disposable implements are known as waribashi
- * Plastic chopsticks are relatively inexpensive, low in thermal conduction, and resistant to wear. Melamine is one of the more commonly used plastics for chopsticks. Plastic chopsticks are not as effective as wood and bamboo for picking up food, because they tend to be slippery. Also, plastic chopsticks cannot be used for cooking, since high temperatures may damage the chopsticks and produce toxic compounds.
- * Metal chopsticks are durable and easy to clean, but present a slippery surface. Stainless steel is a common metal used to make chopsticks, but titanium chopsticks can be purchased at prices comparable to a good pair of wooden chopsticks. Silver is still common among wealthy families, and as part of gift sets.
- * Other materials such as ivory, jade, gold, and silver are typically chosen for luxury. Silver-tipped chopsticks were often used as a precaution by wealthy people, based on the myth that silver would turn black upon contact with poison.
- Embellishments: Wooden or bamboo chopsticks can be painted or lacquered for decoration and waterproofing. Metal chopsticks are sometimes roughened or scribed to make them less slippery. Higher-priced metal chopstick pairs are sometimes connected by a short chain at the untapered end to prevent their separation.