I found this short video on them interesting and enlightening. 
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Chopsticks
- Thread starter Jeff Scott
- Start date
We certainly have our own personal pairs in this household.
Mine are teak, but I have many sets. The teak ones just have the best grip, in my experience.
I thought I liked the steel ones that are common in Korea, but the grip is not as good as wood, again in my experience.
Today I ordered tonkatsu ramen & it was served without chopsticks or any condiments. What a joke!
Mine are teak, but I have many sets. The teak ones just have the best grip, in my experience.
I thought I liked the steel ones that are common in Korea, but the grip is not as good as wood, again in my experience.
Today I ordered tonkatsu ramen & it was served without chopsticks or any condiments. What a joke!
I have 2 pair that are ivory.
Yes, I know.
But they might be the coolest things I own. They’re etched like scrimshaw.
100+ years old.
Yes, I know.
But they might be the coolest things I own. They’re etched like scrimshaw.
100+ years old.
I've made a few from walnut with a Swiss Army knife. I'm no craftsman and it shows, but I can make stuff.
I've also got a steel travel set that came in a little case with a stamped steel spoon when I was teaching in China.
I've also got a steel travel set that came in a little case with a stamped steel spoon when I was teaching in China.
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My Dad got three of these in Thailand or Viet Nam when the government sent him. I got the rest on eBay recently. Lacquered and inlaid with mother of pearl and stuff
Very nice!!We just have a bunch of cheap wooden ones. I am heading over to eBay right now!
You can buy them in just about any Asian market. Our local store has half an aisle just for utensils.
They have the good soup spoons, too.
The most expensive set I have seen was made of Onyx.
They have the good soup spoons, too.
The most expensive set I have seen was made of Onyx.
Personally, I prefer regular wooden ones to lacquered. My most unusual pair are octagonal! (Purchased in Omote Sando in Tokyo some 20+ years ago)
I agree. I much prefer something grippy to hold onto the food. I also find as I get older that my hand coordination is getting worse, so any to help with that is better than using slippery chopsticks.
I have seen a fair bit of hexagonal, but I do not think I have ever seen octagonal.
The steel ones are good for pulling bulgogi apart, or pulling meat from the bone at a barbecue.
The steel ones are good for pulling bulgogi apart, or pulling meat from the bone at a barbecue.
@Jeff Scott Great video. Thanks for sharing.
If anyone wants to make their own chopsticks, there is a kit you can buy from Bridge City Tool Works that includes the wood blanks and a benchtop jig with hand plane and other pieces to make your own. It's a very well made kit. Here's the link: CSMv1 Chopstick Master Gen.1 There is a video at the bottom of the page showing how it all works.
If anyone wants to make their own chopsticks, there is a kit you can buy from Bridge City Tool Works that includes the wood blanks and a benchtop jig with hand plane and other pieces to make your own. It's a very well made kit. Here's the link: CSMv1 Chopstick Master Gen.1 There is a video at the bottom of the page showing how it all works.
hmm, make your own?
like a Jedi?
wilder & wilder chopsticks are trending in Asia:
like a Jedi?
wilder & wilder chopsticks are trending in Asia:
Interesting thread. I've never given much thought to chopsticks, or eating utensils in general. I usually just use the wood ones that are stuck together that they give you at the restaurant.
One tip I did learn from a Korean friend was to briefly 'file' the chopsticks once you separate them to smooth them out and remove any potential splinters. Once I pop them apart, I'll briefly run them back and forth across each other, then dig in.
-Mike
One tip I did learn from a Korean friend was to briefly 'file' the chopsticks once you separate them to smooth them out and remove any potential splinters. Once I pop them apart, I'll briefly run them back and forth across each other, then dig in.
-Mike
Please do not rub those sticks together in Japan, it insinuates they use low-quality wood.
It is no longer necessary, unless you made your own from bamboo.
It was a real thing when they fed armies using sticks made from whatever they could find.
It is no longer necessary, unless you made your own from bamboo.
It was a real thing when they fed armies using sticks made from whatever they could find.
Well, I'm thinking the ones they give you that are stuck together in a paper sleeve, for free, are likely not high quality. If I am in Japan and receive a pair that aren't like the freebies we get at many Asian restaurants in the USA, I will pass on rubbing them together. Otherwise, they are going to get the rub treatment.
We did visit a Japanese steakhouse in Seattle a few months ago that offered us metal ones. Those I did not use. It didn't seem right to me.
-Mike
We did visit a Japanese steakhouse in Seattle a few months ago that offered us metal ones. Those I did not use. It didn't seem right to me.
-Mike
Those are the ones he's referring to. They're called waribashi, and his advice against rubbing them together is entirely correct. They may be disposable, but the act of rubbing them together implies exactly what he notes, and is considered poor manners at a Japanese table.
If you still want to check for splinters or loose shavings, this can be done more politely with a discreet rub/roll action of each one between a finger and thumb across (not along) the edge where the cut between them was made.
Bonus: If you really want to do things right, after you're finished eating, slide the chopsticks back into the paper wrapper. This is a consideration made toward the person who has to clear the table, as it makes things easier, and a bit more sanitary, for them to clean up.
I always put them back in the paper sleeve when I'm done if I don't take them with me. That just seems like the right thing to do. But I also fold up the straw paper and put it in my pocket to throw away if I use a straw. I don't like a mess on the table while I'm eating.
In my experience so far, the freebies I've been getting don't appear to be high quality. They break oddly and have splinters or rough edges at times. Maybe I'm going to the wrong restaurants. Gotta up my game.
-Mike
In my experience so far, the freebies I've been getting don't appear to be high quality. They break oddly and have splinters or rough edges at times. Maybe I'm going to the wrong restaurants. Gotta up my game.
-Mike
Excellent. Your instinct on that is correct!
You may be more right about that than the humor intended. Lots of "Japanese" restaurants in the US and mall kiosks are "Japanese" in name and decorative theme only. The average American can't discern the differences, so the proverbial waters around the subject get cloudy very quickly.
If the issues you've found with waribashi in places where you go are happening a lot, I would put a large wager on them being made somewhere other than Japan. Japanese makers of them there take the craft seriously. In 30+ years of my travels there, and at (genuinely) Japanese-owned establishments in the US, I've never had a serious problem with the waribashi I've used.
That said, even in Japan, there's a growing discussion about waribashi; While technically a "natural" product, the use of wood in making so many single-use, disposable items has come more to light as a matter of concern as sustainable environmental issues are raised. The result has been a growing trend toward people carrying their own chopsticks with them to be used when out and about, and taken home to be washed along with one's own dishes. Personally, I think this is a great idea; Chopsticks are light and easily portable/packable. It's a win-win all around, generating less trash along the way.
This website is a great resource if you'd like to look into buying some of your own. They make clear where their products are made, and seem to keep a strong eye on quality. I've had very good results shopping with them, and have found their offerings to be of high quality (particularly the dishwasher-safe chopsticks, which makes everything easier).
A "travel" set isn't the only option. A travel sleeve, and a basic set of diswasher-safe chopsticks can work just as well as a way to "create your own set."
And if you really want to raise your game, they also have an extensive section on chopstick customs and etiquette.
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Hmm, I learned that "trick" from an old Korean friend of ours; he also introduced us to sushi at the famous, now defunct Dong Il Jang in 1984.
