I’ve mentioned numerous times in the past that we often go out for Asian food. Before we moved from Vienna, we went to a Chinese restaurant pretty much every week. Since moving here to Shepherdstown, we often go to Kome — an Asian restaurant that advertises itself as Thai, but it’s really more “Asian.” Some time back, the restaurant started providing “throwaway” chopsticks. They come in a little paper wrapper and must be broken apart to use them. They’re really too short and just generally not acceptable (to me.) Not that I’m an expert when it comes to chopsticks, but I’ve been using them for more than fifty years — so I at least know what I like.
Well, every time I go to Kome, I complain about the chopsticks. Many times, we go to the restaurant with our friend, Anne. Apparently she got tired of hearing me complain and for Christmas, she gave me a set of chopsticks made out of titanium — and — they came in a titanium case.
Even though I’ve written about chopsticks here before, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do it again… especially given the fact that Chinese New Year will be here in a few days.
Chopsticks have been around for between 3,000 and 5,000 years. They originated in China and it’s thought that the Chinese philosopher Confucius had a major influence on their development as eating tools. Chonfucius’ nonviolent teaching philosophy was that instruments such as knives, with the connection people make with them for war and violence, were not to be used at the dinner table.
Using chopsticks involves over 30 joints and 50 muscles in the fingers, wrist, arm and shoulder as well as thousands of nerves.
February 6th is National Chopstick Day.
Almost one third of the world uses chopsticks every day — about as many as use a knife and fork.
80 percent of chopsticks made in Japan are made in the small city of Obama (spelled the same as President Obama) — it has a population of about 32,000.
The fear of chopsticks is called “consecotaleophobia.”
The Chinese use longer style chopsticks than other countries, usually made of wood that come to rounded or blunt end. These are the ones I prefer.
The Japanese use short, wooden sticks that come to a sharper pointy end.
Koreans use shorter, metallic, wood or plastic sticks that are often blunt at the end.
The Vietnamese also use longer sticks that come to a blunted end, like in China — often made of wood, but many are plastic.
So next time you visit us in Shepherdstown, we’ll take you out for some Asian food — but be warned, I’ll be using my titanium chopsticks — you’ll be on your own.
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