How to Use Chopsticks
with
Rhonda Parkinson
Do you fumble every time you try to pick up food with chopsticks? Find out the simplest way to use chopsticks and you'll be a pro in no time!
Transcript: How to Use Chopsticks
Hi, I'm Rhonda Parkinson, your Guide to Chinese Cuisine on About.com and I'm here to help you learn how to use chopsticks.Whether you're dining out at a Chinese restaurant or enjoying takeout at home, Chinese Food just tastes better with chopsticks. We'll go over the basic steps and then try them out at a Chinese restaurant.
Chopstick Intro
Here we have a pair of Chinese chopsticks. You can see the chopsticks taper to a blunt end. It's the blunt end that's used to pick up food.Positioning Chopsticks
Take a chopstick and place it in your hand so that it's resting comfortably between the tip of your fourth finger, the ring finger, and the hollow gap between the thumb and second finger. Keep the fourth finger straight. Now take the other chopstick and place it on top between the tip of the thumb and the tips of the second and third fingers. You'll notice your fingers are curled. You'll want your fingers placed about the middle of the chopsticks, neither too low nor too high.Holding Chopsticks
Make sure the ends of the chopsticks are even and do not cross. Now to pick up a piece of food, move the top chopstick outward. Put the chopsticks around the food, in this case we're imagining there's a piece of food, and bring the top chopstick back. The top chopstick does all the work while the bottom chopstick remains stationary.Let's try that again. Move the top chopstick outward, grab the food, and bring the top chopstick back.
Chopsticks in Action
Now that you know the basic technique, let's try it out at a Chinese restaurant. When you're using chopsticks for the first time, it's easiest to start with dishes where the food is cut into roughly bite-size pieces, like moo goo gai pan, ginger beef, or sweet and sour pork. Hold your chopsticks in the correct position, move the top chopstick outward, place the chopsticks around the food and move the top chopstick back. Then it's easy to raise the food to your mouth.No Chinese meal would be complete without a bowl of steaming rice. Fortunately, Chinese steamed rice is quite sticky, which makes it easy to pick up. Also, steamed rice is served in a small bowl. It's okay to pick up the bowl while you're eating to bring the rice closer to your mouth.
Chopsticks are really very easy to use. All it takes is a little practice and you'll soon be an expert. To learn more about this topic, visit us on the Web at chinesefood.about.com.