Why do they eat with chopsticks? How to hold Chinese chopsticks and how to eat with them correctly

Archaeological excavations show that chopsticks are in Asia, in China (in Chinese kuaizi — 筷子) was used for eating food 3 thousand years ago. However, they were used only for catching food from broth or oil, and this was not widespread.

They say that greatest contribution The philosopher Confucius (5th-6th century), deeply revered by the Chinese, introduced the use of chopsticks.

Confucius was a vegetarian, so it is believed that he opposed the use of metal objects. He owns the following expression:

‘An honest and noble man avoids slaughterhouses and kitchens and does not keep a knife on his table.’

A knife and fork, according to this philosophy, are weapons and lead a person to violence. And the table at which food is taken is not a place for weapons and strife. Hence the idea in Chinese and Asian culture in general that a person who makes chopsticks is a person with a pure soul, incapable of evil.

Another point of view connects the beginning of the use of chopsticks as cutlery with the growth of population (around the same era as Confucius), when food had to be divided between big amount of people. Food was cut into smaller pieces and taken with chopsticks rather than with hands.

There are also legendary versions about how the Chinese began to eat with chopsticks. The first attributes the invention of this method of eating food to Daji, Emperor Zhou-Wang's concubine, who took the pins out of her hair and used them to get hot pieces of food for the emperor. Another speaks of Da Yu (Great Yu), who, tired and hungry while fighting the flood, cooked himself meat and rice. The food was very hot, and I was very hungry. Da Yu broke off the twigs to get food - with their help he took out a piece of meat, cooled it and ate it.

Subsequently, aristocratic families began to use silver chopsticks, unlike commoners who continued to use bamboo chopsticks. It was believed that they would protect against poisoning, since people believed that silver tarnishes and darkens if it comes into contact with poison.

Modern Chinese, although not so strictly, still honor many traditions that they inherited from ancient times, and therefore continue to use chopsticks. Although the Chinese eat with chopsticks, spoons, knives, and forks are increasingly entering their lives. And yet, it is still believed that putting metal in your mouth is not very beneficial for your teeth and oral cavity.

Interestingly, the Chinese eat not only solid food with chopsticks, but also soups. Solid ingredients they catch and eat, and simply drink the liquid. Chinese dishes- These are basically finely chopped pieces of meat, vegetables, and mushrooms. The Chinese eat rice a little sticky so that it can be eaten with a chopstick.

It would seem, why create so many difficulties for yourself - take a spoon, scoop and eat. However, Chinese culture is special; a philosophical attitude to life occupies a lot of space in it, hence, as a consequence, an attitude towards eating food as a special ritual, and not just meeting physical needs (remember, for example, tea ceremonies).

Chopsticks play an important, serious role in the life of the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans; they are never used for pampering; there are many subtleties and rules of etiquette when using them, for example, you can’t put food on chopsticks, you can’t shake them to cool a piece, you can’t lick the chopsticks , holding chopsticks in your mouth just like that, pointing them, waving them in the air, moving dishes with them - and many other rules.

It is also necessary to note that not only the Chinese eat with chopsticks, but they eat this way in almost all South-East Asia— since the time of Confucius, this method of eating food has spread to the territories of what is now Korea, Vietnam, and Japan; 80% of those who eat with chopsticks live in these countries.

Of course, each country has its own characteristics of using chopsticks. In Japan they are usually wooden (bamboo) with a sharp end. In China, sticks made of wood or plastic are used, of different lengths, often long. And in Korea, they mostly use metal ones and at the same time flat ones.

In Japan, when eating, the bowl of food is brought closer to you, so there is no need for long chopsticks. At the same time, the Japanese eat a lot of fish, so wooden chopsticks are enough for them. The sharp ends of the sticks make it easy to remove fish bones.

In China, people usually ate at the table, and not on the floor, as in Korea and Japan. That's why Chinese chopsticks longer, thicker - food is usually further away at the table. And it is the Chinese who also eat rice with chopsticks, unlike, for example, the same Koreans. Also Chinese cuisine- the fattest of the presented ones, and such food is easier to hold with a bamboo stick rather than a metal one.

Koreans need thin chopsticks to remove beans and kimchi from a cup. Also, Koreans eat almost everything with chopsticks, except soup and rice, so they need stronger tools. Even in Korea, bringing a cup of food from the table is bad manners, unlike in Japan.

• In China alone, nearly 45 billion pairs of disposable wooden chopsticks are thrown away every year, amounting to 1.7 million cubic meters of wood—that's almost 25 million trees a year. To protect the environment, China introduced a 5% tax on the sale of disposable chopsticks in 2006. Japan uses up to 25 billion pairs of chopsticks (mostly imported from China).
• Some Asian microelectronics companies offer to demonstrate their chopstick handling skills as a test, because fine motor skills and hand coordination are very important in the production and assembly of electronics.
• There are several beliefs associated with knitting with sticks:

• The Chinese and eastern peoples Losing or breaking sticks is a bad omen.
• Also, banging chopsticks on the edge of a bowl is the same as begging, so it is not customary to do this.
• Sticking chopsticks into a bowl of rice or moving them to the side is prohibited - these are signs of death (stuck chopsticks resemble smoking sticks in a temple). There is even an expression, “move your chopsticks,” which means death. Usually the sticks are placed on a special stand.

By the way, there is a myth that this part on sticks

needed in order to break it off and use it as a stand. However, this is not so, especially since it is not so easy to break it off. Connoisseurs oriental cuisine They explain that such a jumper only exists on disposable chopsticks - so the client can be sure that no one has used these chopsticks before. The jumper also eliminates the possibility that the machine will put one stick in the package instead of two.

Chinese cuisine is gaining popularity around the world, but what do we know about it? Chef Yu Qiang worked in Beijing at the State Department's Office of Affairs, at the Chinese Embassy in Berlin, and is now president of the Chinese Cultural Center, answers questions and debunks myths.

Myth #1: Food is very spicy. This is not entirely true. Since ancient times, Chinese cuisine has been divided into 8 regional trends, each with its own specific characteristics. Spices are a particularly revered part of the ki Thai cuisine. They significantly enrich the taste of food.

This is not to say that all Chinese food is spicy. For example, in the city of Hangzhou the food is sweet, but in the provinces of Xiuan the food is really very spicy,” he explains.

Myth No. 2: The Chinese combine incongruous things.

Only where it is justified from the point of view of taste and health benefits. For example, pork and pineapple are incompatible for a European, but we know that pineapple softens the meat, makes it juicier, and allows its taste, as well as the taste of pineapple, to be revealed richer.

Myth No. 3: they like to substitute tastes.

Yes, we have a tradition of using complex techniques to change the taste of foods. This is due to the climate, which varies greatly in different regions. It's hot in the south there good conditions for keeping livestock and people eat a lot of meat. To diversify the diet, add to meat various vegetables, so that it looks like fish or other meat. It is very cold in northern China and there is little choice of ingredients, so people also tend to change the taste of foods, which is good for digestion.

Myth No. 4: soy sauce - always and everywhere.

It is not true that the Chinese eat everything from soy sauce. There are many dishes white, no sauce. The sauce is added to certain dishes according to the recipe.

Myth #5: Chinese food is difficult to prepare at home. The expert admits that Chinese cuisine is indeed complex. Many dishes require an open fire, which is not easy to provide in a city apartment.

But Chinese cooking courses usually teach how to prepare dishes that can be repeated in electric stove. For example, these are mushrooms in butter, fried crispy lamb, onion pie, rack of pork ribs in sweet and sour sauce.

Myth No. 6: Products that the Chinese traditionally use are completely unsuitable for European understanding.

Each of the many peoples of our planet has its own dish, which differs both in the method of preparation and in the characteristics of consumption. Different nationalities They prefer different cutlery: some like to eat with kuaizi, others with spoons and forks, and others with their hands.

Chinese medicine believes that consuming a particular product can affect the well-being of the body as a whole. Therefore, the Chinese eat in such a way as to have a beneficial effect on the respiratory system, digestive tract and slow down the aging of the body. In China, it is believed that if a person has pain in some organ, then when you eat the same animal organ, it is restored, and food becomes medicine. That's why we eat the eyes and other parts of the pig. Although, of course, food itself cannot be considered a panacea for illness, this is wrong.

In the south, in Guangdong, they can eat snake meat. There is an opinion that the Chinese eat insects. Few people know, but such components - distinguishing feature Thai cuisine. And in China, insects are a delicacy. The Chinese do not eat cats, and the tradition of eating dog meat remains only in some northern provinces, because their meat takes a long time to cool down and warms the body. These traditions were born when the country's economy was weak and people ate whatever they could find in the wild. But now a lot has changed in China.

Why do the Chinese eat with chopsticks? This question has plagued more than one generation of peoples of the Old World. A long time ago, at the dawn of civilization, the ancient inhabitants of the Celestial Empire ate with their hands, which was completely inconvenient: it was hot and their hands were constantly dirty. And then they took the sticks in their hands, which became, as it were, an extension of their fingers. Knives and forks are considered weapons - eating with weapons is unacceptable.

Alcohol is drunk in China mainly by men - beer and baiju rice vodka with herbs at 60% strength, as well as red wines from Shaoxing County.

You, and like us, have probably always wondered why in Asia everyone eats with chopsticks and not with forks or spoons? Well, we have found the answer! But let's start from the very beginning...

Chopsticks and their history

Historians believe that chopsticks in China began to be used five thousand years ago. The most interesting thing is that at first they did not eat with them, but only cooked food - with thin long twigs it was quite convenient to turn over and lift pieces of meat or fish while they were in special pots on the fire.

As complete (and irreplaceable) cutlery Chinese chopsticks appear only closer to our era - in the 500s BC. The main reason, not surprisingly, is rapid population growth. There was very little food, it had to be cut into very small pieces, which in turn were much easier to manage with the help of thin twigs. Small pieces the dishes did not need to be cut after cooking or at all, in any special way before lunch or dinner. Chopsticks turned out to be the ideal tool for taking food from a plate and putting it in your mouth. The second indisputable advantage chopsticks– they are cheap, which means everyone can use them.

Not with chopsticks alone

However, in China and Asia in general, knives were also quite common. At some point they simply disappeared. Historians believe the reason is the teachings of Kong Tzu (the great Chinese sage whom you know as Confucius). He believed that a knife should not be used for meals, saying that a cultured person only takes a knife to war, but in a house where there is peace and quiet, there should be no knives at all. It is worth noting that this “smacks” of truth. Firstly, the quote is clearly in the style of Confucius, and secondly, at one time he had enormous influence on the entire society, including the imperial families. So, if he didn’t like the knives on the tables, he could force the entire multimillion-dollar Ancient China to give them up.

Distribution of "Chinese" chopsticks

Literally for hundreds of years "Chinese" chopsticks spread throughout Asia, including the largest countries of that period - Japan, Vietnam and Korea. However, the Japanese did as always - they took interesting idea and redesigned it completely to suit us. Chopsticks in Japan made only from bamboo, but used exclusively in ceremonial rituals.

When the Chinese Empire began to flourish, Food sticks became one of its symbols. So, the emperor and his family ate with silver chopsticks. This was not only a sign of high position (the emperor was almost God), but also periodically saved the rulers of the empire from assassination attempts - silver reacts to most poisons, however, except for arsenic, cyanide and a few more, the most effective.

Chopsticks today

Many Europeans have no idea why They even eat rice with chopsticks? It would seem that a spoon would be more convenient. In fact, no. Rice in Asia is coarse-grained, which means that after cooking it easily sticks together into lumps, which in turn are more convenient to take with chopsticks.

It is also interesting how Chinese chopsticks entered the Asian technological sphere. For example, if a large company wants to hire a person to work with microcircuits or any other devices that require dexterity and precision, he must pass a special stick test, which will show how well his motor skills and hand coordination are developed.

Hello, dear readers!

We continue to introduce you to the way of life and traditions in Asian countries. Today you will find out why the Chinese eat with chopsticks, when and how they appeared in their kitchen, who adopted this tradition from the inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom, and much more interesting information about this cutlery.

When did sticks appear?

In ancient times, people on Earth, including the Chinese, did without tools for eating, and simply ate with their hands.

It was not very aesthetically pleasing and far from hygienic principles, so over time, various cutlery began to appear. The Chinese began to eat with chopsticks rather than with forks, as is customary here.

At first, chopsticks were used only for cooking. It was convenient to use them to remove a piece of meat or other ingredient from boiling water or scalding oil to take a sample or, conversely, to lower it into boiling water.

For this purpose, chopsticks (or kuaizi, as locals in China call them) began to be used 5,000 years ago. However, kuaizi came to the table of the common people much later.

Confucius, the great Chinese thinker who lived in the 6th-5th centuries, made a significant contribution to their popularization. BC. At his suggestion, sharp metal objects were considered weapons, a symbol of aggression and violence.

Therefore, the knife, which already existed at that time, should not have been on the table of the inhabitants of the country during meals. for a long time experienced hunger and poverty and treated food as sacred. Later, the same attitude arose towards the fork.

Peaceful at first cutlery- kuaizi - appeared on the table of the nobility, primarily in the imperial family, and only in the 5th century AD the common people began to use it everywhere.

Noble people ate with silver chopsticks. It was believed that they could save from poisoning, since silver turned black when it came into contact with poisons, although not all of them.

Due to their cheapness and availability, the poor had wooden sticks, rather poorly processed, so there was a possibility of driving a splinter. Therefore, before starting to eat, the new chopsticks had to be separated and “polished” - rubbed against each other.

Nowadays, the Chinese respect the traditions of their ancestors less, and therefore about a third of them still use the cutlery we are familiar with when eating. But on major holidays, it is customary for families to eat with chopsticks, paying tribute to the customs of their people. A third of the residents always eat with chopsticks, the rest still eat with their hands.

How did it happen

The emergence of something new is always shrouded in legends. Kuaizi was no exception. One legend says that the Chinese emperor named Zhou Wang was once prevented by his concubine Daizi from burning himself with hot food.

She always took samples from cooked dishes, since her master was afraid of being poisoned and was very picky about food.

Zhou-wang, Emperor of China

This time, she was unable to cool the food in advance, and at the last moment she snatched two jade hairpins from her hair, took the piece with them that the emperor intended to eat, blew on it and served the piece to the emperor with them.

He was delighted with her intelligence and wanted Daizi to always feed him this way. Later she was given longer stilettos. This is where this tradition came from - eating with chopsticks.

According to another version, belonging to the northeastern Chinese, their national hero Emperor Shun gave an order to one of his officials to stop the flood.

The official's name was Dayu, which means Great Yu. Previously, he created the first irrigation structures on the Yellow River. The man fought the elements for many days in a row. Finally, he got tired and decided to have lunch.

The hot lunch of rice and meat was soon ready, but Dayu had no time to wait for it to cool down. Therefore, breaking off two small branches, he used them to remove the meat from the pot and ate it, after blowing it.

Shape and material of manufacture

What does this cutlery look like today? The kuaizi are square at one end so that they lie more stably on the table. Towards the opposite end they narrow and become round.

Their length is about 25 centimeters. And those needed for cooking are usually about 40 centimeters and made of bamboo.

There are several materials from which this device is traditionally made:

• tree;
• bamboo;
• bone, including ivory;
• silver;
• bronze;
• brass;
• stainless steel (Korea only);
• plastic.

But in terms of popularity, wooden sticks still occupy the first place. You will see them in most restaurants and cafes.

A pair of sticks is usually not completely separated, so that it is clear that they have not been used before.

How to hold them correctly

For a European who is unaccustomed to it, it is difficult to handle chopsticks. In China, this skill is developed from childhood.

Already at one year old, a baby begins to learn to eat with chopsticks, as they develop fine motor skills of his hands and, as a result, have a positive effect on physical and intellectual development.

It is interesting to know that there is a special test for employment related to handling small parts of microcircuits in the electronics industry. Watching a man wield chopsticksfor foodto evaluate his hand coordination.

With the help of kuaizi, local residents manage not only to hold food and bring it to the mouth, but also to perform more complex actions:

• stir the sauce;
• separate pieces;
• grind food;
• and even use them instead of a knife.

How to hold chopsticks correctly?

The little finger and ring finger are pressed together, and the index and middle fingers are slightly extended.

The bottom stick is placed between the thumb and palm so that its middle part rests on the tip of the ring finger, and the square part is outside the palm.

And the top stick is located on the pad of the middle finger, rests on the middle phalanx of the index finger and is held with the thumb approximately in the same way as holding a pen.

When eating, the lower stick does not move, but both sticks move apart and move solely with the help of the corresponding movements of the index and middle fingers: bent - the sticks move, grab a piece of food, straighten - the sticks move apart, and you put the food in your mouth.

The success of these operations is ensured by relaxation of the hand. You need to perform the movements slowly and calmly.

If you are planning a trip to Asia, it is worth practicing on small elements of food, such as peas or kernels of corn, so that you can then ask for chopsticks instead of a fork in a restaurant and touch the Eastern tradition.

What foods can you eat with chopsticks?

Despite the fact that it seems to us that it is more convenient to eat with a fork or spoon, the Chinese do not think so, because their dishes, according to the method of preparation, are suitable for eating with chopsticks.

The custom of finely chopping food before boiling, frying or stewing dates back to the times when there was little food, but there were many eaters.

There is another reason to cut finely. When to cook open fire, use brushwood, which burns quickly.

Therefore, the cooking time for many dishes is short. And vegetables, mushrooms, meat should be finely chopped so that they have time to cook during this time.

All these small slices are quite convenient to pick up with chopsticks. And the Chinese like their rice slightly sticky. Therefore, the rice breasts are held well on the kuaizi.

What about the soup, you ask? Is it really possible to eat it with chopsticks too? Imagine that this too is eaten with kuaizi, rather than with a spoon.

Large pieces are grabbed and put into the mouth with chopsticks, and liquid part they simply drink it, since the soup is usually served here in tall bowls.

Yes, you can’t eat quickly with chopsticks. But the advantages of this method of eating are obvious: Asians are usually slim, since the signal of satiety reaches their brain before they eat too much.

Chopsticks in other Asian regions

The Chinese, of course, infected their neighbors with their example. In addition to them, this device is used in countries such as:

• Japan,
• Korea,
• Vietnam,
• Thailand.

The Japanese call chopsticks differently: hashi. Here it is customary to decorate these products with mother-of-pearl and various patterns, paint them in different colors and varnish them.

Symbolic gift

Sticks are also an important symbol in the life of eastern peoples. They are usually given as a wedding gift, as a sign of the couple’s inseparability, to babies on the hundredth day of life during the “First Chopsticks” ceremony, when parents give their babies their first taste of rice.

They also produce whole Gift Baskets for the whole family, which can be presented on a suitable occasion: for the New Year, for a tea ceremony and for other occasions.

Etiquette

The use of chopsticks is inextricably linked with Eastern culture. Therefore, it is important to know how to behave when holding them in your hands so as not to get into an awkward position:

• The waiter is not called by knocking chopsticks.
• They are not moved around the table or dug into the plate.
• You need to take the top piece without pricking it.
• The chopsticks are not licked or shaken to cool the food.
• The dishes are moved only with your hands, not with chopsticks.
• You cannot point at anything with chopsticks or wave them.
• Chopsticks are not stuck into food due to certain funeral customs.
• At the end of the meal, they should be placed with the dirty ends to the left on the table or bowl, parallel to the edge of the table.

Sticks and ecology

Using wooden sticks is harmful to the environment. The annual 45 billion pairs of sticks for domestic use in China require more than one and a half million cubic meters of forest, which is about 25 million trees cut down.

Another 180 billion pairs are exported (of which 22 billion are exported to Japan).

To protect the environment, China has had a tax on the sale of disposable kuaizi for 12 years. It is 5%. Beijing hotels have done their bit to protect the environment by refusing to use them altogether.

Conclusion

Friends, all the best!

Guys, we put our soul into the site. Thank you for that
that you are discovering this beauty. Thanks for the inspiration and goosebumps.
Join us on Facebook And In contact with

Traditionally, chopsticks are used not only in China, but also in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. This means that more than a third of humanity eats with chopsticks, and this does not include connoisseurs of oriental cuisine around the world.

website I decided to figure out how this came about ancient tradition and why she is still alive today.

Tribute to the past

Metal chopsticks. Tang Dynasty (618−907), China.

Legend has it that chopsticks were invented by Yu the Great, the mythical ruler of China who allegedly lived in the 3rd millennium BC. e. They say that one day he simply broke off two branches from a tree in order to get hot meat from the cauldron and not get burned by the boiling water. Archaeologists, however, believe that sticks were invented much earlier - near 9,000 years ago. In a unique culture closed from the outside world, the tradition of eating with chopsticks has become so firmly established that it not only remains popular in the 21st century, but also acquires new meanings.

Philosophical approach

If we start from traditional Chinese philosophy, then the fork and spoon are symbols of war, while sticks correspond to the teachings of Zen calling for non-violence. In addition, the two sticks, one held and the other moved, represent the passive yin element and the active yang element.

Even appearance The sticks say a lot: the narrow rounded end is the sky, and the widened square end is the earth. The fingers between the two sticks represent humanity, which feeds on heaven and earth. But that's not all! The traditional length of the stick is 7 Chinese cun (about 23 cm) and 6 fen (about 2 cm) - 7 feelings and 6 desires described in Buddhist theology.

Quality of food intake

While many of us have difficulty mastering chopsticks, the Chinese believe that eating with them is not only convenient, but also extremely healthy. Of course, forks and spoons simplify the process, but eating with chopsticks can take longer. But this is their advantage: chopsticks allow you to eat slowly and deliberately, as a result of which the body absorbs food more easily.

In addition, you will be full earlier and end up eating less, because when spoon after spoon is sent into your mouth, the body simply does not have time to understand that it has received enough and demands more.

How to use chopsticks correctly

1. Hold one of the sticks between the joint of your thumb and index finger. Hold it with your ring finger and thumb, and clasp your index and middle fingers together.

2. Place the second stick parallel to the first - on the phalanx at the base of the index finger, and hold it with your thumb and middle finger (almost like holding a pencil).