Is it pretentious to use chopsticks?

[Tanin]

I'm better with chopsticks then I am with a fork... and I'm white.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Learn to use chopsticks to impress your Asian girlfriend's parents.

It's all going great until you accidentally fling a chop stick into her dad's eye.

 

[terry78]

I was just going to go the Wayne's World 2 route.

 

[Soapy]

Chopsticks are just better for certain foods. I tried to eat sushi with a fork once, it wasn't pretty.

 

[Victarion]

So long as you're not geeking out about Girugamesh, Naruto and Sephiroth, you have my permission to use chopsticks.

 

[John Locke]

If the restaurant provides them then no. But if it doesn't and you bring a pair then yes. Very yes.

 

[KevanG]

If they're available and the food is right I do. My dad spent a good amount of his younger days traveling all over europe and asia. My sister and I learned how to use chopsticks very early on.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

I know I kind of get a little annoyed when people don't at least TRY to eat with the "proper" utensils when dining Persian cuisine, so I always make an effort to eat with a knife and fork at white folks' diners/restos or chopsticks at east Asian restos.

 

[NickNitro]

Question for members, is using chopsticks when eating at an East Asian restaurant pretentious?

Assuming you're not East Asian, and the restaurant isn't in East Asia, obviously.

Unless you whip out chopsticks to eat a steak at a friends place, or something no its not at all. I always use chopsticks at Asian restaurants and I'm white as bad place.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Wait, are we talking about wood/plastic chopsticks or Mimosian antimatter chopsticks?

 

[KevanG]

Couldn't we call an axe a chopstick?

 

[Piper Maru]

Just use a shovel.

 

[The Question]

Its funny you brought this up because China is starting to tell Chinese people to use a knife and fork.


From The Telegraph

Another solution is non-disposable chop sticks. They do make them.

 

[enterthemadness]

Question for members, is using chopsticks when eating at an East Asian restaurant pretentious?

Assuming you're not East Asian, and the restaurant isn't in East Asia, obviously.

It's a sign of respect and it takes a while to eat all of the food.


-_- however I quit eating meat, so I don't care. I use fork now. Nom, nom, nom, on me noodles and pineapple.

 

[Manic]

I'll use a pair of chopsticks at an Asian restaurant right up until I need to eat the rice. Then I bust out the fork.

Have you ever seen the proper way to eat rice with chopsticks? You basically have to hold the dish up to your face and shovel it down your gullet. Easy to do when your rice is served in a bowl, but insanely difficult if your whole meal is on a single plate.

 

[Piper Maru]

Just bury your face in that dish an go to town on that rice. Show no mercy.

 

[Raiden]

I'll use a pair of chopsticks at an Asian restaurant right up until I need to eat the rice. Then I bust out the fork.

Have you ever seen the proper way to eat rice with chopsticks? You basically have to hold the dish up to your face and shovel it down your gullet. Easy to do when your rice is served in a bowl, but insanely difficult if your whole meal is on a single plate.

I can eat a bowl of rice using chopsticks without the need to bring the bowl to my face. But then again, I'm a black belt when it comes to using chopsticks.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I can eat a bowl of rice using chopsticks without the need to bring the bowl to my face. But then again, I'm a black belt when it comes to using chopsticks.

It's probably sticky rice.

 

[Piper Maru]

How do you folks feel about rice pudding?

 

[Suirou]

I just do it because i feel like it's a sign of respect.

If you want to use forks because you don't know how to use chopsticks then go ahead, I am not going to make fun of you for it. One of my friends like to stab his foods with his chopsticks - so many nasty looks were shot at our general direction. xD

 

[Darthphere]

I use chopsticks sometimes but my friends are always like "You're holding them wrong." And I'm like "I'm holding this sushi roll and it got into my mouth, how am I holding it wrong?" It's like when people think there's a right way and a wrong way to hold a pencil.

 

[bionics]

Only if you make a big deal out of it or act like you're "more authentic" than people who aren't using them.

They can be a lot of fun once you get the hang of them though... especially on a date. (I've lucked into two or three of those in my lifetime.)

 

[Destructus86]

I wanted to use chopsticks...then I realized I don't want to work for my food and just like shoveling it in large portions into my face hole.

 

[Nave 'Torment']

Well since i'm speaking from a south-east asian country -- i gotta say that we don't have chopsticks even when we're having chinese food. Just forks. Spoons. And the culture here is about digging in and using your hands to eat, in fact some of the food is downright impossible (or just weird) to eat without using your hands.

I'd always go for eating the food the way it was meant to be eaten but at the end of the day, it shouldn't be pretentious if you're using chopsticks because that's what you prefer. I prefer using spoon and fork even when I'm having Bangladeshi meals and I get scoffed at from everyone. I use it coz I'd rather not use my germ-infested hand. If you prefer chopsticks use it. Damn what others think. It's only pretentious if you're using chopsticks to look cool while you're eating.

And who the **** does that.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I use chopsticks sometimes but my friends are always like "You're holding them wrong." And I'm like "I'm holding this sushi roll and it got into my mouth, how am I holding it wrong?" It's like when people think there's a right way and a wrong way to hold a pencil.

Well, authentic Japanese people don't eat sushi with chopsticks. In Japan it's the original finger food.

But I think your friends are just messing with you.