Requesting Chopsticks

[Rushmore]

Eating at a new Thai place last night, there were no chopsticks on the table. My sweetie and I simply used the forks and spoons and knives that were on the table.

The party of five quasi-hipsters who sat down next to us made it a point to request chopsticks upon ordering their meal.

Now, I am a regular Mr. Miaggi with chopsticks. I could snag that fly out of the air every time, believe me.

But there seems to me to be something odd about actually REQUESTING chopsticks.

I can understand it at a sushi bar--eating sashimi with a fork seems very, very wrong to me.

But rice, sauce, veggies, and meat?

I cannot reconcile my attitude with my sashimi statement, either. Maybe the hipsters felt the same way about su-she as I feel about sushi, the same way about tom kha gai as I feel about mirugai.

I wonder if maybe the young cools had a point, that maybe one SHOULD consume the Asian cuisines with chopsticks.

??????

[The Dude]

Every time I eat Chinese, Thai, or sushi I request chopsticks. I'm somwhat surprised how few places seem to put them out automatically, but I doom feel somwhat odd eating that food (even at home when I get take-out) with a fork.

[B Dids]

I've done this. (and I'm a goofy white guy). Depends on the food and the place, but sometimes it's just easier to eat it with chopsticks.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

They don't use chopsticks in Thailand. Never have.

[The Dude]

Damnit Kurn! Why did you have to tell me that?

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]

Non-Chopstick Countries
Chopsticks are not used everywhere in Asia. In India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Central Asia most people have traditionally eaten with their hands.


[/ QUOTE ]

Damn, he's totally right too.

[AncientPC]

I've never had to request chopsticks at any Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese restaurants, but then again my gf and I are both Asian.

However when eating Thai food I don't request for chopsticks since they usually put the rice on a plate.

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]
I've never had to request chopsticks at any Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese restaurants, but then again my gf and I are both Asian.


[/ QUOTE ]

I swear any time i go out for Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese cuisine with asian friends, if the restaraunt has only chopsticks on the table, they'll look at me and ask if i want a fork, but not ask the rest of the table that the same question. It's so [censored] annoying. Of course i can use chopsticks.

[wayabvpar]

[ QUOTE ]
They don't use chopsticks in Thailand. Never have.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most Thai restaurants will supply chopsticks on demand, then go in the back and laugh at you.

[Rhone]

[ QUOTE ]

Non-Chopstick Countries
Chopsticks are not used everywhere in Asia. In India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Central Asia most people have traditionally eaten with their hands.


[/ QUOTE ]

Some of these countries, particularly Indonesia and Malaysia, have significant ethnic Chinese minorities that would use chopsticks. There's a small Malaysian chain restaurant, I think mainly on the east coast, called Penang, that as far as I know is run by ethnic Chinese Malaysians. There are always chopsticks on the table.

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
They don't use chopsticks in Thailand. Never have.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is so cool.

I swear, I could have gone the rest of my life not knowing this, but post it here at 2+2, and voila--more knowledge!

Excellent.

[brassnuts]

[ QUOTE ]
In India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Central Asia most people have traditionally eaten with their hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

Next time I'm at an Indian or Thai food place, that's what I'm doing.

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
I swear any time i go out for Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese cuisine with asian friends, if the restaraunt has only chopsticks on the table, they'll look at me and ask if i want a fork, but not ask the rest of the table that the same question. It's so [censored] annoying. Of course i can use chopsticks.

[/ QUOTE ]

The proper response is that of course you need a fork, as your big American penis is compensated for by your lack of motor control. Then you let them know that you're bad with math too.

~D

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]
Next time I'm at an Indian or Thai food place, that's what I'm doing.


[/ QUOTE ]
If you pull it off make a post about it. Eating curry with your hands takes mad skills.

[AncientPC]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Next time I'm at an Indian or Thai food place, that's what I'm doing.


[/ QUOTE ]
If you pull it off make a post about it. Eating curry with your hands takes mad skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't you just use the flatbreads they have and dip it in the curry?

[stabn]

At thai?

At indian, sure. But what about the hunks of meat. Are you going to use the flatbread to pick all of those up too?

[AncientPC]

[ QUOTE ]
At thai?

At indian, sure. But what about the hunks of meat. Are you going to use the flatbread to pick all of those up too?

[/ QUOTE ]

Referring to Indian. With the meat just use the flatbreads like a glove and wrap around it. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[stabn]

Seems like you'd be eating a ton of flatbread that way. I think i'll stick to using a fork /images/graemlins/smile.gif.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Next time I'm at an Indian or Thai food place, that's what I'm doing.


[/ QUOTE ]
If you pull it off make a post about it. Eating curry with your hands takes mad skills.

[/ QUOTE ]

You combine it with rice, make a little sort of rice ball with it, and eat. Note that when eating with your hands, you actually just eat with your right hand, since you use your left hand to wipe your ass.

[Ulysses]

You can also just pick up the meat with your hand and eat it, no flatbread required.

[stabn]

All covered with curry? Wouldn't that get my hands...dirty?What kind of animal do you think i am?

[stabn]

[ QUOTE ]

You combine it with rice, make a little sort of rice ball with it, and eat. Note that when eating with your hands, you actually just eat with your right hand, since you use your left hand to wipe your ass.


[/ QUOTE ]

I use my right hand to wipe my ass. My left hand is for picking my nose.

[AncientPC]

[ QUOTE ]
All covered with curry? Wouldn't that get my hands...dirty?What kind of animal do you think i am?

[/ QUOTE ]

Coming from the food culture that lives off hamburgers, french fries, and BBQ (at least in TX).

[Thythe]

I think the thing I admire most about the Chinese is that they're hanging in there with the chopsticks. Because, if you think about it, you know, they've seen the fork... by now. I'm sure they've seen the spoon, they're going, "Yeah, yeah, they're OK... We're going to stay with the sticks." I mean, I don't know how they've missed it: thousands of years ago, Chinese farmer gets up, has his breakfast with the chopsticks, goes out and works all day in the field with a shovel... Hello?... Shovel! Not going out there ploughing 40 acres with a couple of pool cues.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
I think the thing I admire most about the Chinese is that they're hanging in there with the chopsticks. Because, if you think about it, you know, they've seen the fork... by now. I'm sure they've seen the spoon, they're going, "Yeah, yeah, they're OK... We're going to stay with the sticks." I mean, I don't know how they've missed it: thousands of years ago, Chinese farmer gets up, has his breakfast with the chopsticks, goes out and works all day in the field with a shovel... Hello?... Shovel! Not going out there ploughing 40 acres with a couple of pool cues.

[/ QUOTE ]

That thread already happened.

[KJS]

Thais don't use chopsticks except for bowls of noodle soup. Those people are posers.

Long ago the King of Thailand began using knife and fork to appear more Western. That usage trickled down to the people and you will not see chopsticks anywhere in Thailand aside from noodle soup stalls, some restaurants for clueless foreigners and Chinese and Japanese spots.

FYI, Thais use the fork in the left hand and spoon (usually a larger one than we use here) in the right. The fork is used to shovel food onto the spoon and rarely goes into one's mouth.

KJS

[private joker]

If you eat with chopsticks your bites are smaller because you shovel less food per bite into your mouth. As a result, you eat slower and get full before you've finished your plate. Americans eat with spoons and forks, making eating far more efficient but also turning into disgusting fat slobs who have to clean their plate and do it in the fastest time possible. No wonder we're so out of shape. It's the utensils!

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
If you eat with chopsticks your bites are smaller because you shovel less food per bite into your mouth. As a result, you eat slower and get full before you've finished your plate. Americans eat with spoons and forks, making eating far more efficient but also turning into disgusting fat slobs who have to clean their plate and do it in the fastest time possible. No wonder we're so out of shape. It's the utensils!

[/ QUOTE ]

I wonder if there might be some validity to this argument, applied over the long haul.

I'm going to start eating my meals with tweezers and an eye dropper.

[KJS]

But then you go to Thailand and everyone is super skinny and they are shovelling food onto a big spoon and into their mouth and it makes you wonder. Then you realize they eat smaller portions and much healthier food. I dropped 20 lbs there, half of it before I started playing soccer 2X a week. Its just a better diet.

I think all the fast food people shovel in by hand here is a bigger issue.

KJS

[Thythe]

[ QUOTE ]
That thread already happened.

[/ QUOTE ]

Haha, oh I know.