Timeline for Why didn't Japan adopt western utensils?
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| Jun 17, 2020 at 9:02 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Jan 8, 2019 at 11:53 | comment | added | Astor Florida | @O.R.Mapper Something more familiar: When I eat sushi, I transfer a piece of sushi to my plate, then add a single piece of ginger to the top of my sushi. I think grabbing a single piece of ginger, and placing it atop my sushi, than grabbing the sushi would be difficult with a spoon. I would be impressed if anyone could grab a thin slice of sushi efficiently with a spoon. | |
| Jan 8, 2019 at 11:50 | comment | added | Astor Florida | @O.R.Mapper My father in law makes pickled peppercorns that are still attached to the stick. It is best to eat these one at a time - too many sort of ruins the flavor. They are easy to pull off the stick with chopsticks. This is an example of something impossible with a spoon. | |
| Jan 8, 2019 at 8:33 | comment | added | O. R. Mapper | As someone who can, in general, eat efficiently and cleanly both with chopsticks and spoon/fork/knife, I consider the claim from your summary highly questionable. I don't see what is "awkward" about using a spoon for "small pieces". On top of that, at least in China, the "small pieces" are frequently not that small after all, meaning that you have to take bites from something clenched between chopsticks or separate the edible from the inedible in your mouth and spit out a part - both IMHO much messier and not as easy as with Western-style flatware. | |
| Aug 19, 2017 at 10:39 | comment | added | Greg | @axsvl77 No, most kindergartener learn chopsticks early on, and widely used in kindergartens, and also in elementary schools. | |
| Aug 17, 2017 at 18:08 | comment | added | T.E.D.♦ | Not disagreeing with the argument, but it glosses over the not insignificant difficulty in preparing all the food in that manner. Westerners can just clean a fish, cook it (or not I guess), then slap it on a plate. Saying "they kept using chopsticks because they kept preparing all their food for consumption using chopsticks" seems like a circular argument. | |
| Aug 17, 2017 at 14:26 | comment | added | Astor Florida | Also, most kids I've seen eat with a spoon until about age 8 or 10. When the small ones use chopsticks it can be very amusing. | |
| Aug 17, 2017 at 14:24 | comment | added | Astor Florida | I think your video of a 4 year old eating noodles is funny but not really to relevant to how adult East Asians structure their eating habits or etiquette. There is much less mess when I, a sloppy foreigner, eat noodles with chopsticks instead of a fork. It really helps to be permitted to lift the bowl all the way up to your lips. | |
| Aug 17, 2017 at 14:23 | comment | added | Astor Florida | @DenisdeBernardy In North China, which I know better than the others, a meal goes in ~ 3 stages. Stage 1: A variety of small appetizers sorta like Tapas. Stage 2: Main course of meat / noodles /soup / fish/ Stage 3: Rice or Porridge. For stage 1 is where the the conversation and etiquette really form very strongly, it certainly requires nimble chopsticks. For stage 2 a fork would work for meat or noodles, but since you have chopsticks already dirty, why switch? And Stage 3, the desert stage, a spoon is appropriate, but chopsticks work just fine. | |
| Aug 17, 2017 at 14:12 | comment | added | Denis de Bernardy | The three countries also have a strong culture of eating noodle, soy, and rice out of a bowl. While interesting, the claim you lay out (that it would be messy) doesn't hold much water given those or other messy examples. | |
| Aug 17, 2017 at 13:57 | history | edited | Astor Florida | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 17, 2017 at 13:26 | history | edited | Astor Florida | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 17, 2017 at 13:17 | history | answered | Astor Florida | CC BY-SA 3.0 |