Born and raised, I have always been a chopstick user. I am quite adept at using all utensils at the dinner table, but I simply have to say chopsticks are the superior utensils compared to the common fork. Now, it might be a cultural thing and unsurprising coming from me. However, let me cook. The rankings of utensils are as follows: Chopstick, spoon, knife, and fork.
The great thing about chopsticks is their versatility both in the culinary world and the dining world. Chopsticks come in a variety of sizes and altered tips to serve a different purpose. Chinese chopsticks are long, wide, and blunt tips to give that extra range. Chinese generally eat in a setting where everyone is given a bowl of rice, but the meal itself is placed in the center and is shared with everyone at the dinner table. In Chinese culture, it is common to eat in communion with one another and no one dish is meant for one person. The extra length allows you to reach across and grab your favorite item without having to walk over or having to ask and pass it along. A great example is dim sum. Dim sum is a restaurant-based setting where there are a range of many small dishes on a large susan table. If you go to Google images and search “dim sum table” this will give you the visual context.
On the other hand, Japanese and Korean chopsticks have their differences but are usually shorter, and some have ribbed and pointed tips for eating fish. The pointed tips aid in deboning fish with surgical precision and sectioning and skinning the fish. In the kitchen, chopsticks can be used as skewing meat creating handy meat sticks. A more conventional is using it while on the stove to help sauté items like onions and mushrooms without worrying about scratching the pan or melting the chopsticks. Large kitchen-made chopsticks are made for big stew pots meant for both stirring and filtering out items not meant to be eaten.
Chopsticks can also be used in crafts and fashion. You don’t have a hair tie or hair clip? No problem! Chopsticks can be used as a hairpin. You are looking for materials to use in your high school Introduction of Engineering course? Chopsticks are a plentiful option that is lightweight and sturdy for all your educational and make-up tutorial needs.
As for the fork, where there is very little variation other than the material it is made of. Plastic forks are too flimsy and bendy, while metal forks aren’t conventional to carry around. Wood forks are meh, and whoever favors the spork should be excommunicated and sent to space. Forks are just so one-dimensional unlike chopsticks, which are good all-around and can be kept and reused or thrown away. They take up less space, can be made from nearly any material and have great synergy with the other utensils. In unrelated scenarios, imagine that you find yourself lost in the forest. You need to start a fire the old-fashioned way. You can use chopsticks as a tool to start a fire. You cannot say the same with a fork, so chopstick users live in this hypothetical scenario. Also, if you don’t want icky fingers while eating chips, chopsticks are goated. A fork will break everything, and you’ll be sad, depressed, hungry and have Cheeto dust all over your homework, notes, phone screen and laptop. You failed college because you couldn’t submit your FYS paper due to the Cheeto dust clogging the keyboard.
Now with all of the scientific and logical evidence, you must be wondering, “how do I succeed in life with chopsticks?” Easy. Three simple steps, place the first stick like you are holding a dart using your index and thumb, resting on the middle finger. Second step, feed the second stick in the space between the thumb and index finger, rest the stick on the ring and pinky finger. The third step: profit. Enjoy life under a new lens with the best utensil on Earth.
