If you want to get genuine taste of Chinese food, using chopstick!

Chopstick

Using chopstick for eating and cooking is a great Chinese invention. Comparing with fork and knife, a pair of chopsticks is simple and easy to make. The chopstick is multipurpose. People can use chopsticks only to eat soup, to cut food into small morsels and to pick up food and carry it from the plate to the mouth. And more, it is said that using chopstick is good for health and can improve memory, because your fingers get exercise. Chopsticks had been used since the Shang dynasty (4000 years ago). While in the west, the fork has only recently become an essential item at the dinner table. And in the United States, it wasn't until the eighteenth century that people felt the need for more than a knife and spoon.

With the spreading of chinese culture,now chopsticks are primary eating tool in east and south-east asian countries and also are growing in popularity in non-Asian countries.

Chopsicks are usually made from wood,

Chopstick

bamboo, animal bones or other materials, such as plastic, even jade, but it is too expensive not for mormal using. Chopstick is about 25 to 30 centimeters long. kitchen chopstick is little longer for cooking purposes, such as picking up cakes and sweats. The top and end of chopsticks could be square or round. they are often painted or even decorated with designs. But in fast food restaurants, disposable wooden chopsticks could be provided.

Chinese food tastes better eaten with chopsticks. Therefore, you are better to spend some time to learn how to use correctly the chopsticks. It is not difficulty, only need some practise! The correct way of using the chopsticks requires concerted efforts of the thumb, index finger, middle finger and third finger. Hold the pair of chopsticks in the right hand (of course, you can use your left hand), using the index finger, middle and third fingers to keep the chopsticks steady near their top and then push them open by moving the thumb and index finger. Don't hold the chopsticks rigidly. Following our instruction, you can master chopsticks!

• First, hold the upper chopstick like a pencil, about one-third to one-fourth of the way from its top not in the middle or the front part).
• Next, place the second chopstick against your ring finger, holding it with the base of the thumb. It should be pointing the same way as the first chopstick.
• Move the upper chopstick with your thumb, index, and middle fingers. Grab food between the lower and upper chopsticks.

Practise several times, like that:

How to use chopsticks

To pick things up with chopsticks, lift upward one of the two chopsticks with the index and middle fingers while keeping the other one where it is so as to separate the two.

Once the chopsticks have picked up the food, press one of the chopsticks with the thumb and index finger and raise the pair. To separate a piece of food into two pieces, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other. This needs much exercise.

When you are not using your chopsticks and when you are finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tip to left. Pay attention! in China and other Asian countries, there are some equitette when using chopsticks. Please read this article.