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Do you eat (East) Asian food with a fork or spoon rather than chopsticks?
- Thread starter DiipuSurotu
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A spoon + fork combo is common in some South East Asian countries. Probably one of the most efficient ways to each rice based dishes. You use the fork as a sort of shovel for food into the spoon.
Chips. Popcorn. Snacks, etc... anything that leaves your fingers greasy. Chopsticks are the superior tool.
This right here. Use the utensil that makes sense. If you are trying to pick up rice on a plate, you are just making it harder on yourself.
Typically I have a small bowl of rice that I use and shovel the rice to my mouth with chopsticks and pick up the side dishes with. If I'm given a plate of rice, I would use a spoon.
Depends on the dish. I think western people try too hard to use chopsticks when it isn't really necessary. Eating gyudon in yoshinoya with chopsticks only to look around and see everyone else using a spoon because it's way easier and these are just tools meant to help us.
I just use whatever I have or am provided. I feel like if you're looking down on people for not being "authentic" for eating a certain way is... not a thing a good person does, let's say. It's food at the end of the day and it's meant to keep us alive. The bonus is that it tastes good. Everything else is vapid superiority complex stuff.
I use chopsticks for basically all Asian food that was originally intended for it. Then again, I've used chopsticks for so many years now that it's second nature anyway, so I'm not handicapping myself by doing this.
OP
OP
I use chopsticks when I want to, because I want to. I like using them. If other people want to use a fork then cool? I realize there are some people who treat it as some sort of litmus test or something but who cares about that entire mindset? People will purity test over anything and everything they can. I don't worry about it.
Yes. Whenever I go to an asian restaurant I'll always ask even if everyone else is using chopsticks. Don't really care if my boomer relatives comment on it. It is easier for me to eat with.
Do you pickup stuff with your fingers or just stab everything with your nails when you want to grab something? 🤓
I do if the dish is meant to be eaten with chopsticks, but I'm not gonna use chopsticks for dishes meant to be eaten with a spoon for example.
I do truly hate chopstick snobs and their gatekeeping ass, though.
I do truly hate chopstick snobs and their gatekeeping ass, though.
Yup, can't use chopsticks. Even after finally learning how to use them it's incredibly uncomfortable. A few grabs with the sticks and my hand is already in physical pain.
The only time I think about it as a conscious choice is when I'm out to dinner with the in-laws. That's because she really likes for me to use chopsticks, so I always make sure to do it, but the Korean insistence on metal chopsticks is super-hard mode for my uncoordinated ass. It took years to where I could manage the metal ones with any competency.
Otherwise, if someone hands me a fork or chopsticks, I'll just go with whatever I have on hand without a second thought.
Otherwise, if someone hands me a fork or chopsticks, I'll just go with whatever I have on hand without a second thought.
I'll use chopsticks for solid chunks of food or things like sushi but I can't eat rice or noodles with them. Years ago I guess I managed like the most basic dexterity to be able to pick a large object up with them but was never able to progress to smaller items or slippery ones.
At home, I usually use a fork. At restaurants where chopsticks are offered, I generally eat with the chopsticks. When travelling to places like Taiwan, Japan, or HK, I definitely eat with the chopsticks... there aren't really fork options at some non-touristy places, and when there is, it's the only cloudy fork they have in the entire place.
Note, there are still times, even after using chopsticks for years, that I still find something that's hard to pick up and I get pissed off and stab the fucker. This generally bothers other people.
Note, there are still times, even after using chopsticks for years, that I still find something that's hard to pick up and I get pissed off and stab the fucker. This generally bothers other people.
Yeah, this came off as an either/or that wasn't my meaning. My point was more that not everything has to be 100% chopsticks.
Depends on what utensils I have access to.
At home, we have one set of chopsticks, so for like noodles one person will need to use a fork if we don't have any disposable ones. (We should get another set, but my partner wants a fancy metal one which we haven't seen in stores.)
At a restaurant I'll eat with whatever I'm given.
The one dish I have a little trouble eating with chopsticks is rice. It's fine if it's a small amount, but I must be doing something wrong because my hand cramps eventually.
At home, we have one set of chopsticks, so for like noodles one person will need to use a fork if we don't have any disposable ones. (We should get another set, but my partner wants a fancy metal one which we haven't seen in stores.)
At a restaurant I'll eat with whatever I'm given.
The one dish I have a little trouble eating with chopsticks is rice. It's fine if it's a small amount, but I must be doing something wrong because my hand cramps eventually.
From and spoon is definitely easier, but I use chopsticks anyhow (partially because the wife prefers them too, but also so I can keep my skills up for visiting in-laws). I actually probably use chopsticks more frequently than silverware these days.
Where's the "It depends on the dish" option? Some dishes are significantly easier to eat with chopsticks than a fork. Some work better with a fork. Some work best with a spoon.
I use the appropriate utensils provided when I'm at a restaurant, and go with a spoon and fork at home usually. I do own chopsticks for certain meals, however. I've definitely requested a fork specifically when having some noodle soup sometimes, too.
I grew up on using a spoon and fork for everything, so it's just embedded in me to defer to those, unless it isn't an option.
If you're close to any Asian grocery stores, there's a good chance they would have it. I've also been looking to pick up a metal pair, but haven't gotten around to it, and my wooden set have been enough for my needs so far.
I grew up on using a spoon and fork for everything, so it's just embedded in me to defer to those, unless it isn't an option.
If you're close to any Asian grocery stores, there's a good chance they would have it. I've also been looking to pick up a metal pair, but haven't gotten around to it, and my wooden set have been enough for my needs so far.
I'm assuming this is referring to food which is traditionally eaten with chopsticks (so not things like Japanese curry), in which case yes I do. I'm lucky that we had chopsticks at home growing up, despite not having any Asian heritage, so I don't remember ever not knowing how to use chopsticks.We never actually cooked Asian food (that I can remember anyways), but it was used for takeout (takeout was always served in proper plates and eaten with proper utensils, hence the need for our own chopsticks).
It was funny the first time I saw people eating with chopsticks at an Italian restaurant when I first moved to Tokyo.
It was funny the first time I saw people eating with chopsticks at an Italian restaurant when I first moved to Tokyo.
Thats why the topic specifically mentions "East Asian"... But yeah, its true most westerns don't know that about Southeast Asia, which mostly use the fork+spoon combo if they're not just using their bare hands (with the spoon as the primary way of scooping/cutting food and the fork serving as a shovel). Typical white people conflating all of Asia as a single entity as usual.
While forks are still used in East Asia itself, most traditional meals still rely on chopsticks there.
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We just got like a 20-pack from the local Asian grocery.
I prefer the metal cause we can just toss them into the dishwasher and never worry about them breaking down.