As someone who adores Chinese and Japanese food etc I always feel very awkward about asking for cutlery. I am hopeless with chopstix. I have practised and practised trying to use them but I am hopeless. Is it bad form to ask for cutlery at these types of establishments? Should I struggle on with my chopstix?

Hey PCC. My advise would be to struggle on. Some things i still find impossible, rice for example is a challenge but it feels more authentic to use chopsticks.

Hi PCC

You should do what I do and use the kiddy ones ! My BF bought me a pair for when we do Yum Cha as I too am hopless at using them.

You can get them at most supermarkets and homeware stores. They are basically chopsticks that are joined at the top. They are much easier to use :)

Has anyone actually been to one of those Japanese restaurants where they throw the food at you? When I visited many years ago I was three parts sloshed and it was hysterical!

Yes, I have PCC! I think it's Teppanyaki...so much fun and you can't get fresher than that!

On the chopsticks issue, I like to use them but I'm not very good at it. Very ungraceful. Like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman where that snail's shell goes flying across the room.

I can't eat asian food without chopstix! :rollthoseeyes:
Those tweezer ones are a good idea to practice at home until you feel confident to graduate. My kids use those. The thinner the chopstick the easier it is to use. There are many different techniques but just do what feels comfortable to you.
I used to deal with a large Asian customer base & as they like to involve food with Biz as much as possible I picked many tips from them. I found that if you go to the effort to learn how to use chopsticks they will teach you all the tricks. Watch & learn.
Next time you are at Yum Cha watch everyone around you. Learning to hold chopsticks is only the first step, then you need to learn etiquette.
Don't give up!

Yes, have been to one of those restaurants too!

I must say I dont find it in bad form to ask for cutlery, I just have no dexterity or co-ordination when it comes to using chopsticks. Have never felt uncomfortable about asking for them even through our extensive trip of China and Hong Kong. Laura puts me to shame though, she looks like she was born using them!

Well I'm terrible at using chopsticks, but I do always attempt it.

I can normally get it to my mouth and what not but just about always have to have the bowl in my hands under my chin just in case - but I did notice that most other people do the same so am thinking this might be acceptable? :whistle:

I try and use them just so that I get better at it!

I love using chopsticks when im eating Asian food - feels so authentic.

Have also heard that another reason why using chopsticks is good is that it makes u eat slower which means u will end up eating less - which is always good when ur watching your weight :p

i'm not great with chopsticks but i love using them. Nigella Lawson uses the tweezer style ones on her show . I remember once having to ask for chopsticks as they had cutlery out
i say go with what u want & don't feel funny , life is too short for that !!

I always try to use chopsticks if I am eating in a chinese or japanese resteraunt, I went to my friends birthday party and I was the only one who used them for the whole meal :chuckle: I nearly always have the bowl under my chin too, I always see lots of chinese people doing that to so I can only assume that its ok to do it!

I generally bring the bowl up too, especially if I'm using chopsticks and it's one of those little bowls. I try to use them whenever possible, mostly because I am afraid that if I don't use them regularly, I will lose my skill and be embarassed when I next have to use them!

Always chopsticks. As Oz stated, the authentic protocol is to bring the bowl up to your chin.

Always chopsticks. As Oz stated, the authentic protocol is to bring the bowl up to your chin.

Ok I need chopstix classes. I am so uncordinated that it always ends in disaster. I am the only person in my family who can't use them and it is so embarrassing! The bowl would have to come up to my chin C or else I would be wearing it!!

Ok I need chopstix classes. I am so uncordinated that it always ends in disaster. I am the only person in my family who can't use them and it is so embarrassing! The bowl would have to come up to my chin C or else I would be wearing it!!

PCC buy some chopsticks and practice at home. Begin by getting used to picking up items such as grapes or something of this size. Once you master this sized object move on to something smaller and keep doing this until you can control a grain of rice. You will be surprised how quickly you become sensational! :encore:

PCC buy some chopsticks and practice at home. Begin by getting used to picking up items such as grapes or something of this size. Once you master this sized object move on to something smaller and keep doing this until you can control a grain of rice. You will be surprised how quickly you become sensational! :encore:

Thanks for the tip C, I will get some and practice.

Thanks for the tip C, I will get some and practice.

Suggest you warn the Family, Billy & Muffin before you begin! :chuckle::chuckle:

I've never tried them! I dislike asian food though so it's hardly surprising :D

Suggest you warn the Family, Billy & Muffin before you begin! :chuckle::chuckle:

Think I will have to do this behind closed doors or they might all die laughing!

My sweetheart is also a big chopstix user and he always tries to teach me how to use them but I get frustrated and try and stick them up his nostrils:chuckle::chuckle:

My sweetheart is also a big chopstix user and he always tries to teach me how to use them but I get frustrated and try and stick them up his nostrils:chuckle::chuckle:

:chuckle::chuckle:

A gf always uses Chopsitcks to eat with when she is on a diet as they limit the quantity of food you eat in each mouthful, thus extending the duration of the meal. She claims you feel fuller quicker and end up eating less.

A gf always uses Chopsitcks to eat with when she is on a diet as they limit the quantity of food you eat in each mouthful, thus extending the duration of the meal. She claims you feel fuller quicker and end up eating less.

Oh I would ebd up eating less alright! I wouldn't get any food because I would be wearing it!:chuckle:

hahahaha :D

I'm sure I remember hearing somewhere that Japanese chopsticks are pointed so if all else fails get yourself some of them and stab your food :chuckle:

Chopsticks! Love 'em -- so much fun to use!

PCC - maybe you could eat out ONLY at Thai restaurants where it is traditional to use a spoon!

I love at Thai restaurants when they have the cute gold spoon and fork. I always want to shove 'em in my bag and take them home.

I like chopsticks - when I was 14 that's all I used to eat everything with for about 3 months.

A gf always uses Chopsitcks to eat with when she is on a diet as they limit the quantity of food you eat in each mouthful, thus extending the duration of the meal. She claims you feel fuller quicker and end up eating less.

Good one! Maybe after my Celebrity Slim two weeks I can go through a chopsticks phase :chuckle:

We went to a chinese restuaurant for the first time last year and we had chopsticks but i think they are so hard to use!
I ended up just stabbing the food through the chopsticks and eating it that way:chuckle:

We went to a chinese restuaurant for the first time last year and we had chopsticks but i think they are so hard to use!
I ended up just stabbing the food through the chopsticks and eating it that way:chuckle:

haha thats so cute hun. I learnt how to use chopsticks by picking up m&ms. Its hard but its a great way to learn

Not to sound racist or anything, but........wouldn't you think Asians would have just switched over to knife and fork by now?? Forks are soooo much easier and just more efficient!

Not to sound racist or anything, but........wouldn't you think Asians would have just switched over to knife and fork by now?? Forks are soooo much easier and just more efficient!

:chuckle: Once you get used to them I thinkl you find them just as easy as forks, well I do anyway.

Not to sound racist or anything, but........wouldn't you think Asians would have just switched over to knife and fork by now?? Forks are soooo much easier and just more efficient!

:chuckle::chuckle:

Not to sound racist or anything, but........wouldn't you think Asians would have just switched over to knife and fork by now?? Forks are soooo much easier and just more efficient!

Oh Oz! :chuckle:
They have as much trouble with cutlery as we may have with chopsticks.

:chuckle: Once you get used to them I thinkl you find them just as easy as forks, well I do anyway.

Oh Oz! :chuckle:
They have as much trouble with cutlery as we may have with chopsticks.

Really?!! I mean, I have no problem with chopsticks, but i fail to see how anyone could find them easier than a fork!

Really?!! I mean, I have no problem with chopsticks, but i fail to see how anyone could find them easier than a fork!

It is cultural Oz!

Yeah but like.....that's like saying that, ok, say there was a culture of people who walked eveyrwhere backwards. Once they discovered that people do in fact walk fowards in other cultures, wouldn't you think they'd realise "hey, we've been doing it the stupid way!" and change?!?

Yours Sincerely,
The Member for Oxley.

If that's all they have known, it is the norm for them and they get conditioned.

Like how people call facewasher's flannels, what's with that?

If that's all they have known, it is the norm for them and they get conditioned.

Like how people call facewasher's flannels, what's with that?

Aaahahaha yeah what IS with that? I had a friend who called them flannels, even though they were quite clearly made of terrycloth and not flannel. Her parents were English. I blamed it on that.

Yeah but like.....that's like saying that, ok, say there was a culture of people who walked eveyrwhere backwards. Once they discovered that people do in fact walk fowards in other cultures, wouldn't you think they'd realise "hey, we've been doing it the stupid way!" and change?!?

Yours Sincerely,
The Member for Oxley.

:whistle: