ChopStick Helpers for Lazy People

19. Mar, 2009 Comments

amerikajinchop

I just came across this article (which we’ll talk about more below), which made me think… why are you so lazy!? Of course, I’m only talking to those of you who don’t know how to use chopsticks (or hashi, in Japanese). If you’re heading to Japan (or most Asian countries) you should probably get on that, or just use one of these horrible inventions down below. It’s like putting kids with minor learning disabilities into special classes to make things easier on them. Not so good in the long run.

chopstickaidThis one came from SeriousEats which makes me want to SeriousThrowUp. This product doesn’t even let you use chop sticks in a way that’s like chop sticks at all, but I suppose if you’re really really lazy and don’t want to spend a few days learning how to use chop sticks (which really are completely superior to forks … debate below) then go for it… though, why not just bring a fork and save the trouble?

helperchopsticks-1024x768

This is something I came across at a Japanese restaurant in Washington (State). I think it’s the most clever rendition, but still lazy. It’s just rolled up chop stick wrappers in between, plus a rubber band. I didn’t get a chance to try it out, but this is something anybody could do (or, you could spend the time learning how to use chop sticks). [Source]

mid

This is one that I’ve seen around the Internets quite a bit. I suppose there’s a niche / product for everything, huh? [source]

2001_01_27_11

I know this article is all about products that make using chop sticks easier, but this looks like it’s going to make using chop sticks harder. No springiness or anything. So, I suppose if you’ve already figured out that chop sticks thing, and want another challenge, I think this guy’s for you. [source]

Really, chopsticks are so much better than forks. That’s right, I just went there. Try eating salad with a fork, nothing gets penetrated. Chop sticks? Just pick it up. What do you think? Chopsticks or Forks? Let the battle commence in the comments!

No related posts.

Twitter Digg Delicious Stumbleupon Technorati Facebook Email
Food, In Japan, Japanese Culture, Society


  • first and foremost, a fork is nothing without a fork, its like trying to eat a salad with ONE chopstick, you need the knife aswell. They're great for the food from the same heritage, western food go with fork and knife, eastern foods go with chopsticks. You argumented that eating a salad with a fork is hard, try a ribeye with a pair of chopsticks, see, it goes both ways! :D
  • fork is nothing without a knife* grrrr....
  • I'm biased towards chopsticks for the obvious reasons, but the fork+knife has its place. Can't eat a nice steak with chopsticks :)
  • It's all about the Chopstick + Knife combination! ...or, bladed chopsticks... that's something we need to exist, if it doesn't already.
  • WOTDsctoo
    Bladed chopsticks sound like they have a place in some terrible, yet probably entertaining, martial arts movieeee.
  • レイカ♥
    would bladed chopsticks just be teo knives? 0_0
  • Ami
    http://www.theforkchopstore.com/forkchops.htm

    hmm... I think I prefer plain ol' chopsticks
  • Kimmi
    I totally love using chopsticks, I find it so easy!!! Sometimes I ask my friends if they can eat with them and most of them answer: no it's too complicated. I agree with Chopstick+Knife combination... they should call it the Chopknife :P.
  • Chopsticks all the way. They're like fingers, maximal dexterity! Forks suck, I don't want to bother stabbing food that isn't pierce-able...
  • lucky_c
    I can't use chopsticks and I'm Asian. :failure: I blame it on the fact that I'm left-handed but I don't think that means anything. 8D;;
  • True asian parents would have tied your left hand down until you became right handed, then it would have been all okay ;)
  • HLMozart
    Sadly, he's right...at least for Koreans. I had a friend they did that to.
  • Saruko
    Everything seriously tastes better with chopsticks. Although I admit that ice cream is a bit hard to eat with them, I suppose that's where spoons step in
  • Yuki
    Why spoons when you can just eat it like rice?

    Put the bowl up to your mouth and scoop it/ break it up with the chopsticks and POP! fits right into your mouth.

    XD

    Though yeah, Chopsticks for the win. Could sporks possibly win this debate?
  • WOTDsctoo
    Yea, I agree with those above, eating salad with a fork may be a pain compared to chopsticks (or try tofu...), but eating a steak with chopsticks sounds....like an adventure, to say the least. >.<

    In most cases, either usually works. But the thing is that eating western food with chopsticks is fine, but eating asian food with a fork is embarassing. >.<


    FINGER FOOD FTW
  • Ami
    D: I happen to only eat steak at home with chopsticks and a knife.
    Not as hard as it may seem but hey.. never know until you try haha
  • P.S. A TRUE steak comes already cut for you, like when you were 8 and had your mom cut it before giving serving it.
  • Psh. Might as well have your waiter chew the steak for you, like a mother bird!
  • Try to find a non-cut-up steak in Japan, though. It's tough! Not to mention steak sashimi...gah, now my mouth is watering...
  • well, isn't finding a TRUE steak in japan tough enough?
  • Tirabaralla
    Sorry but completely WRONG.
    A good part of the pleasure of having a big steak is cutting it...and enjoy the bloody moment.
    I know my steaks, believe-me.
    Never heard of "fiorentina"?
    Anyway, eastern food it's better eaten with chopsticks...but my country's food...naaaah.

    Finger food ftw, anyway.
  • Trudat!
  • Digger
    Yeah, I do like finger/hand food. Campfire foodz and stuff like that. mmm
  • Natalia
    I don't have trouble using chopsticks, but the ones I have a hard time using are those restaurant chopsticks, the long squared ones. Those are just too heavy for my fingers to hold. :D
  • Mai
    They give out those orange chopstick "helpers" individually wrapped at Noodles & Co D:~

    http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/4741/8323137...

    Super fail. I couldn't pick up anything ;__;~ Although, I do have to admit that I don't hold my chopsticks "correctly" because they cross, but if it works, it works.
  • Beck
    Personally, I like using chopsticks. However, I had a really hard time trying to eat noodles with them. So I thnk that most food is chopsticks all the way! but others need forks.
  • Nick
    I heard that the reason why Asians started using chopsticks was because it was considered "barbaric" to cut the food you had in front of you. Probably a myth though.
  • That's why things come cut for you at restaurants, so I bet there's truth to
    that :)
  • Tyler
    I think it's also because an emperor in China from long ago decided that blades were aggressive, and he wanted to instate a peaceful way among China. I could be very wrong, but it was fun to hear a while ago.
  • Thank God I'm Asian & learned to use chopsticks really early! @_@ That fork-like add on looks completely ridiculous.
    I like chopsticks a lot better than forks too. Some foods break if you stab them with a fork >.< Plus, a metal fork absorbs a lot more heat if you're eating hot food and can burn your tongue much easier than with wood/plastic/porcelain chopsticks.
  • Ally
    i've never ever burned my tongue on my fork from it getting hot. lol
  • It happens, I promise you lol. -esp when eating soup w noodles-
  • Chester_King
    You eat soup with a fork sometimes ?
  • I'm talking about ramen
  • I'm sorry I gotta step in here, the fork doesn't get hotter then the material you touch with it, it will have the same temperature as the food. You just got a +1 in Science.
  • I'm very aware of that. I'm talking about if you leave your fork in hot ramen. Goodness ppl... this happened to me. Why would I just randomly make this up? -_-
  • You would likewise burn yourself on the food, thats all we're saying.
  • Sigh... if you blow on the ramen, the food's no longer hot, but the fork hidden underneath is still hot, whereas chopsticks wouldn't have gotten hot in the first place. All I'm saying is what happened to me the other day. My one little comment really didn't need to be the start of some big debate.
  • lily
    chopsticks, all the way!
  • Oh yeah, & this article reminded me of stamp I made a while back on deviantART:
    http://erikagrace303.deviantart.com/art/Chopsti...
    I thought you might enjoy it XP
  • haha, that's great! Sums up my feelings in one little gif :)
  • I once saw a couple at a Western style "Japanese Steakhouse" teppanyaki place who really could have used these. The lady was trying to use waribashi without breaking them apart! It was awful. I wanted to tell her, but then I felt like I'd just embarrass her, so I didn't. Can you imagine trying to pinch food with the tips of wooden chopsticks that are still connected at the other end?
  • Ally
    chopsticks are awesome. and pre-cut food is awesome. i'm too lazy to cut my own food! i seriously hate doing it. that's it... im moving to japan!!
  • Ariana
    Sadly, I was in the supermarket here in NJ the other day and saw 'easy' chopsticks which were basically plastic chopsticks with a spring on one end. They looked like a giant clothespin and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how they would be easier than learning to use the chopsticks.

    Also, after seeing the kiddie training chopsticks in Japan, how could any functioning adult use them or something similar without undying shame?

    I like using chopsticks to eat spaghetti and salads, and they're great for cooking a lot of things. It's a pain to eat non-sticky rice with them though.
  • Brandon
    Chopsticks are definitely better. I generally prefer them over forks--especially for pasta.
  • Isa
    What? Your fork doesn't pick up salad?

    Are you sure you're stabbing it right? ;)

    I like both chopsticks and forks and I feel they both have their place. I have a lot of trouble picking up certain kinds of foods with chopsticks, so I can see why some people would rather just travel with the option of a fork. But that product is just silly!
  • You must eat iceberg lettuce! Maybe my greenery is just flat and limp :(
  • Isa
    Never! I can't stand iceberg. Romaine, butterhead and whatever that purple-ish-on-top one is are where it's at. I can't really imagine lettuce floppier than butterhead - what kind of impotent lettuce do they grow over there?
  • Matt
    I'm pretty sure attempting to use my complementary chopsticks on the train back from my class visit to 'Japan Day' in London last year, was one of the most embarrasing moments of my life, so I'm going to stick with the good old knife and fork until I get some private practice in. ;]
  • Indeed the fork is completely useless for salads, but it's good for steaks and such. I prefer chopsticks over a fork when I'm eating my instant noodles, it takes too long if you use a fork!
  • The fork isn't what's cutting the steak anyway, it's the knife. So if you can use a fork and a knife why not chopsticks and a knife?
  • 100% agreement!
  • You could do that, but then you'll look funny doing it. You'll have to hold the chopsticks with your non-dominant hand, while using the knife with your dominant hand. I suppose people who are ambidextrous can do it.

    I see it as the fork/knife/spoon as a complete set, while the chopstick is its own set.
  • WOTDsctoo
    Chopsticks + Knife just seemed unappealing to me, but I didn't even think of the dominant hand point! It would be craaazy akward.

    And I think the spoon can seperate from the fork/knife.
    Even if you slurp things like soup, someone mentioned ice cream above I believe, and I would eat ice cream with a spoon after eating with chopsticks. :)
  • Digger
    It took me a little longer than usual to learn to use chopsticks, but I don't think any of those gizmos would have helped me at all. My only recommendations to someone trying to figure them out is:

    1. Get a big helping of your favorite food and vow to finish it with chopsticks only.
    2. Folks may tell you to "hold it kind of like a pencil", but don't let that cause you too hold the chopsticks too close to the tips.

    And remember, if I can figure it out, anyone can....
  • Don't forget finger strength training! :P I like your strategy!
  • Mikoto
    see everyone doesn't remember the day when they sucked butt on using forks and knifes! You know, when you're a drooling toddler and your parents are constantly helping you hold your food to your face? hehe, so I don't get why people can't understand that it takes practice to get good at using chopsticks too?

    I use to practice with m&ms, this made me learn precision and control, then noodles for strength (because it was just difficult to me) and you know what, i noticed i was trying to eat noodles like Americans eat noodles. average Japanese person lets noodles hang, and after i realized that, all my hard work payed off. (watching a native eat things will help you figure out how to eat stuff)

    i just think there is no such thing as chop stick challenged, just lazy <3 love you all, just practice it like you did with a fork, use only it. (also, just precut your steak just like you precut all sorts of other things (like lettuce and tomatos for a salad :D) and you have no problems.
  • WOTDsctoo
    >>You know, when you're a drooling toddler and your parents are constantly helping you hold your food to your face?

    Hahahaha, seriously! Lovely image.
    But people are typically much more resistant to that type of humiliation when they're older, no?
  • Mikoto
    I suppose so, hehe, but to me the road to a goal is much funner than fulfilling the goal some times. I guess looking like a drooling toddler was fun for me XD
  • WOTDsctoo
    Hahaha, fair enough. XD
  • Tekzel
    Wow, I am surprised so many of you have problems eating a simple salad with a fork. I find it easy and intuitive, unlike eating anything with chopsticks.

    Here is my theory with chopsticks. I believe that the Japanese are members of the master race. Since they are superior, they needed to invent the chopsticks since the idea of a fork is like training wheels for eating. They found it too easy. For us mere mortals, the fork is far easier than the chopsticks.
  • emiko
    hi!

    sorry i haven't been on lately, i've been super busy with school

    i love this because so many of my friends don't know how to use chopsticks, so i tried to find easy ways to teach them, i've seen most of these before, the only one that i haven't seen is the fork one, i mean just buy a fork, it isn't that hard

    also, i think that spoons are better than forks, but chopsticks are better than both of them, unless you are eating yogurt, ice cream, or soup (unless it's miso)

    bye bye
  • I agree, chopsticks are better than forks. I also think people should make more efforts to learn how to use chopsticks.
  • I'll have to go with chopstick. Even though I was grown to use a fork, chopstick is my superior utensil. I have to agree that those products are just a way to make people lazy about using traditional chopstick.
  • I was very hungry...I learned fast. This stuff should be in the "novelty" section.
  • Chopsticks - somehow noodles and rice just taste better with 'em.
  • What a coinky dink!

    I took my grandma to get bento boxes in Houston last week - she's 80 and she'd NEVER EATEN Japanese food before!!! (she's a Mid-Western barn -raised girl) I couldn't believe it.

    The waitress gave her FunChops since she was having trouble with her salmon :)
  • Kamizushi
    I'm more about forks. mainly becose I alowes let my plate clean/empty. its easyer with a fork. I could also lick my plate but ... nah bad idia on a restorant
  • ihaXsakito
    I think I saw these while watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 one night. I seriously think I should suggest these to my aunt. She always looks at me with amazment when we get takeout or whatever and I can use the chopsticks and she can't ^^. Anyways on the great salad debate I have to side with Chopsticks my letus is weak. But eating with your fingers pwns, I mean it might be childish but gosh it's so much easier
  • Cath
    for most foods chopsticks are the best! =D
    but with my many years of experience, i don't think it is possible to eat spaghetti with chopsticks ... so far a fork has been the better answer.( i know it's stupid, but it's actually the only thing i can cook right now... i am a really bad cook...)

    but in general, everything is always tastes better with chopsticks
  • Jomann
    I personally think that using chopsticks to eat your food is better anyway, because most western cultures use forks and don't take time to enjoy their food, with chopsticks its a bit trickier to eat fast so you are forced to slow down, and your end up enjoying your food, also it helps your stomach. When I went to seattle last weekend my dad used a fork and my sister and I used chopsticks, so my dad ended up feeling full really fast haha.
  • CuriousKitty
    I've never found eating salad with a fork hard, towards that argument.
    As for the whole fork/chopstick debate, I think they both have their place. I didn't find learning to use chopsticks very difficult, once I got used to it.
    I personally can't use chopsticks for very long sometimes. My hand ends up aching after a while. I was told that sometimes happens and at times it's best to use one of the inventions above, the one that uses the rubber band and the rolled up wrapper.
    On another note it took me a few seconds to realize the first one was actually something other than a chopstick holder.
  • がいじん
    I eat everything with chopsticks even though I am whiter than Michael Jackson.
    Snickers bars, steaks, M&Ms...
  • mochiifiish
    I actually was taught to use chopsticks when I was 4 or 5 years old, and no one in my family is of Asian descent (not that it really matters, tons of Asian people use forks and spoons and such). My grandmother just wanted me to know proper eating etiquette no matter where I was, or what I was using. She also made me walk with a book on my head but that's another story....

    Back to the chopstick/fork debate. I have to admit, eating a salad is really easy with chopsticks, but if you have a proper salad fork, it's easier to pierce the lettuce and therefore also a great choice. Steak on the other hand is easier with forks.

    I guess I would say that chopsticks are good for small pieces of food, or things like noodles, whereas forks are great for big things like steaks, chicken breasts, or things like non-sticky rice, etc.
  • Sky
    that is quite sad... no seriously. i mean it just saying asian are smarter than Americans... and like just making Americans painfully see more of this.
  • Being able to use chopsticks doesn't make anyone smarter than anyone else. Chopsticks are used a lot more in Asia, so of course Asian people are better at using them. If Americans (or any non-Asians) began using chopsticks as children, I'm sure they would be just as proficient with them.
  • I'm so hardcore I eat with METAL chopsticks. The fork-chops are cute though. I could see myself using those.
  • Once, I went to a japanese restaurant with my family. I think I was 13 at the time~ they also gave out those strange chopstick wrappers + rubber bands for those who did not know how to use chopsticks. Growing up in a chinese family, I learned how to use chopsticks when I was like, 3. So the japanese restaurant gave me one of those "training chopsticks." I felt so insulted by pretty much being called a banana. :C

    anyway~

    My dad is also chinese and was raised in america, so he prefers using forks+plates. I actually like using small bowls and chopsticks with my meals because it feels so much more ~ polite. You take smaller bites and you don't look like you're going to eat a mountain of food, haha. So I personally think chopsticks are better just because it looks more polite. C:
  • Yu
    The best part is that we didn't even invent the fork. China did. Then again I swear China invented like half of what we use today...
  • sourkidd
    HANDS FTW. thankyoo.
  • aliene
    I eat my salad with chopsticks too...much easier in my opinion. If you got skills, you can pick up even itty-bitty pieces with chopsticks...but the teeth on some forks are really thick and you can't really pierce anything with them.

    Oh btw, not all people born and bred in Asia use chopsticks proficiently. I've seen "foreigners" here using chopsticks the right way and locals sticking their fingers all over the place and crossing the chopsticks etc. Parents aren't quite as strict with such things as their parents once were.

    anyhow...eating with your hands can be challenging too. Try eating rice with your hands...rice with gravy. You sort of have to sweep everything into a mound, then pick it up.

    Bah, you have to be dexterous to eat anything at all without being spoon-fed hahahha
  • BarbJ
    I'm a Caucasian who grew up in California and learned how to use chopsticks in when I was about 8. I like them and find them quite easy to use.

    It's not any harder to learn than a knife and fork, easier actually than the American way of using a knife and fork, as opposed to the European way.

    As for the salad, I think it depends on how the lettuce is prepared. If it's shredded like most Asian salads, chopsticks work well, if it's torn up larger, then a fork is good. And if it's in such big pieces that you have to use your knife to cut it first, then some one in the kitchen is an idiot!

    By the way, I don't usually stab my salad, that is hard and kind of bad manners. Really you are supposed to slide the fork under the lettuce, shake it a touch to drop off the extra and then bring it to your mouth. At least that's how I was taught, especially if it's on a plate. A little stabbing is OK, but don't attack the lettuce like you want to kill it!

    Also, I think the fork for Asian foods also comes from Asian restaurants catering to western tastes and using long-grain rice. It is nearly impossible to eat long-grain rice with chopsticks, it falls apart. Scoop method with a fork is the only easy way. Myself, if I go to an Asian restaurant that uses long-grain rice for anything other than a curry, I just won't go back, and usually the rest of the food isn't so good either.

    I like to use the utensil the food was originally designed for. If the food is prepared correctly than the correct utensil will work.

    Except those cheap plastic chopsticks in restaurants. Why do they have those? Everything slide through! I'd rather have the cheap wood ones, at least they have some texture to them.

    I have some nice wood ones I use at home, love them.
  • Chimiko
    I don't want to argue which one I prefer, chopsticks or forks... Never mind sporks, but that's a completely different topic...

    Anyway. I am Chinese by birth and I've always used chopsticks wrongly. I had difficulties picking up slippery things or round thing, and my father, who is a very fastidious man, forced me to learn how to use chopsticks the "correct" way... By picking up marbles from a can and transferring it to another can.... I know. It sounds convoluted, but as a last resort, if you still can't get it to work right, try this, it should work...

    So, I use the chopsticks quite well now... >.> Everyone should learn, just for culture divisity sakes if nothing else.
  • Kimmi
    Personnally I really enjoy being able to use chopsticks. Like right now, I am eating a bowl of cereal with chopsticks... please don't ask me why.. I don't even know myself. It goes really well with cheerios:P I also love eating with chopsticks because I get to surprise myself, like when I ate sheperds pie with chopsticks... I can do really weird things sometimes.... My friends always ask me how I do it, I just say I practice, I don't really. I'm a Canadian but I learned how to use chopsticks when I was 4 in a restaurant. They gave me the chopstick helper thingy, but I got it the first time, so instead, I gave them to my mom... lol!!
  • hashi are way way way better than forks...IMO
    they also are way more comfortable to use. I mean everything is weird till you get used to it, but forks are balky and very uncomfortable. I like that weird fork thing you stick to your hashi, i mean yeah i think its the stupidest thing ever.....if your going to turn them into a fork....why not just use a fork or bring one along...so funny. Very interesting though, never new anyone created something like that.
  • Ali
    I think the chopstick helpers with rubber bands are mostly for children- when I was young I used them a couple times, since i had trouble eating without the "training wheels".

    Since then I've learned to use and prefer the chopsticks when eating chinese and japanese food.

    The fork add-on is weird, but I can see my parents bringing it along just in case... >< they'll get it eventually.
  • mydnyt
    lol, I'm Filipina and I was taught to eat with a spoon AND fork. Yes, you heard me, spoon on the dominant hand, fork on the other. That's how we do it in the Philippines. Learning how to use chopsticks took only a few moments though and I love using them whenever it's an option. I don't like those wooden oblong ones though. I much prefer the square ones. And actually found it a bit weird to use a fork first time I tried eating rice with it.

    PS
    I also know how to eat rice on a flat plate with my hands. There's actually a technique in that and it's a good thing to know whenever we run out of plastic utensils on a trip to the beach or the mountains.
  • A chopstick is always 2 sticks.. It 2 is better than one right?? but for me.. spoon and fork is better to use..
  • Miku_Sakurai
    Personally, I actually get uncomfortable when I have to use a fork or spoon for certain things.
    At a Chinese restaurant I went to a few days ago we were given special spoons for the soup, and I felt embarrassed that I was just using my chopsticks to pick up the noodles and picking up the bowl and slurping the broth down.
    Ummm...is that weird?
  • me
    I really don't care what I utensil I use; I'll use whatever as long as I can eat the food using it... Hehe i kinda sound like a fatty...
  • I think I like chopsticks better, they just have more awsominity.
  • mila
    I love chopsticks as much as the next person, and I eat with them all the time, but I don't see how eating salad with chopsticks is better than eating it with a fork. I actually went to a restaurant with a friend just last week and we got salads and a bento box each, and that was the first time I had never been handed a fork for my salad. And while I am really good with chopsticks, I found it kind of awkward eating the salad with the chopsticks. I mean, I didn't have a hard time by any means, but it was definitely awkward. With a fork, you can fold the lettuce and control the size, but with chopsticks, you can't as well, and you get a lot of pieces that are too big for your mouth. and, with a fork, you can make sure you get all the goodies in the salad in one bite by stabbing each thing individually for one saladly-diverse bite, but with chopsticks, you have to eat all the different things separately.

    So, while I agree that chopsticks are awesome, I don't agree that they are superior. In most cases I would rather use chopsticks, but I think the fork has it's place for many things, like salads and, as many have mentioned, steaks XD
  • mikimiki
    Now, I'm in Japan, and I'm eating my lunch at a cafeteria. They serve knife, folk, spoon, and chopsticks all at once, so I actually use knife with chopsticks. My friends say nothing about it XD
blog comments powered by Disqus