Thursday, February 08, 2007
Chinese teach journalists proper use of chopsticks
APART from the traditional demo on how to cook “tikoy” (glutinuous rice cakes), members of the media were taught the proper way to use chopsticks, the Oriental counterpart of the spoon and fork, during the launching of the Chinese Spring Festival here.
Members of the media were also given a rundown of the etiquette in the use of the chopsticks, including its history.
Accordingly, chopsticks should not be used to point at someone. Chopsticks should not also be used to fish around a soup bowl for food.
Licking and leaving it straight up in a rice bowl is also a no-no in the use of chopsticks, as accordingly, chopsticks should only be used to pick up food.
The use of chopsticks dates back some 5,000 years ago when people in the Chinese countryside used small sticks to eat food, instead of the fork, spoon and knife used by those used to Western culture.
In early Chinese life, food was cooked in large pots and people would break twigs from trees to eat from the pot. And because Chinese food is usually cut into bite-sized pieces, the use of chopsticks was found to be the more appropriate utensil for smaller pieces of food.
In 500 AD, the use of chopsticks spread to Japan, Vietnam and Korea. Bamboo was the most popular material used for chopsticks because it is cheap, easy to split and odorless. (RO)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (February 8, 2007 issue)
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