SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Lounge    Is anyone else here hopelessly inept with chopsticks?
Page 1 2 3 4 
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Is anyone else here hopelessly inept with chopsticks? Login/Join 
Little ray
of sunshine
Picture of jhe888
posted Hide Post
I can use them easily. I can't catch a fly in mid air, but if my target isn't moving, I can handle it.

One common error is to try to hold them too close to the points. But if you have watched videos, you probably know this already.




The fish is mute, expressionless. The fish doesn't think because the fish knows everything.
 
Posts: 53414 | Location: Texas | Registered: February 10, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
Or try this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12160...11ef8d014c4945ffe314


Light bender eye mender
___________________________________________________________
Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may. Sam Houston
 
Posts: 418 | Location: Central Texas | Registered: July 29, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
Just remember, when eating with chopsticks, the rice goes in the bowl, everything else is on a plate and you eat over the bowl which you're holding in your other hand.

If you strictly try to eat off a plate, you're gonna end up chasing your meal around the plate.
 
Posts: 15195 | Location: Wine Country | Registered: September 20, 2000Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie
Picture of Balzé Halzé
posted Hide Post
My daughter appears to have the technique down perfectly.



~Alan

Acta Non Verba
NRA Life Member (Patron)
God, Family, Guns, Country

Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan

 
Posts: 31171 | Location: Elv. 7,000 feet, Utah | Registered: October 29, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
I Deal In Lead
Picture of Flash-LB
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Beancooker:
When my (Korean) wife and I first got together almost 18 years ago, I couldn’t do much with chopsticks. I used them more like a prongless frog gig. Now, I can eat anything I want with them. In most cases they are easier to use then a fork. It’s like wooden fingers, instead of a four pronged spear.

The two things I can say about chopsticks, it takes a lot of practice and it’s a huge help to have a seasoned user available to watch and correct your mistakes. Watching that guy’s video, most of what he says is correct. Finger placement can be different for everyone. Here are a couple pictures of how I hold chopsticks. It’s different than the video, or how my wife holds them, but it works for me. The lower stick stays stationary, and the stick controlled by my index finger, is the only one that moves.





That's exactly how I do it also.
 
Posts: 10626 | Location: Gilbert Arizona | Registered: March 21, 2013Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
I used them in Korea and had a set made with Ivory and a case but lost them many years ago while moving.

Now I use a fork.


*********
"Some people are alive today because it's against the law to kill them".
 
Posts: 8228 | Location: Arizona | Registered: August 17, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
I have no desire to learn. With Chop Sticks how do you cut a steak? How do you eat mashed potatoes? How do you eat a baked potato? Etc.


__________________________________________________

If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit!

Sigs Owned - A Bunch
 
Posts: 4376 | Location: Nashville, Tennessee | Registered: December 16, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Fighting the good fight
Picture of RogueJSK
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Anush:
I have no desire to learn. With Chop Sticks how do you cut a steak? How do you eat mashed potatoes? How do you eat a baked potato? Etc.


How do you eat soup with a fork? How do you eat pudding? How do you eat chili? Etc.

You don't. You use a spoon.

Just like with spoons/forks, it's not an either/or. The Chopstick Police aren't going to bust down your door and make you throw out all your forks if you buy some chopsticks.

Believe it or not, you can have both chopsticks and forks on hand at home, and just select whichever is better suited for that particular meal. Wink


...Or just get you a set of Sporksticks, that way you'll be prepared no matter what! Big Grin

 
Posts: 33463 | Location: Northwest Arkansas | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of Keystoner
posted Hide Post
I watched the video. How do you keep the bottom chopstick stable without using the middle finger to braced it against the ring finger?



Year V
 
Posts: 2694 | Registered: November 05, 2012Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Retired, laying back
and enjoying life
Picture of low8option
posted Hide Post
Another one who uses the Beancooker chopstick method. I can use some of the other methods but his method seems more natural for me.



Freedom comes from the will of man. In America it is guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment
 
Posts: 886 | Location: Northern Alabama | Registered: June 21, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The Joy Maker
Picture of airsoft guy
posted Hide Post
I have no problem using them. My coworker took me out for sushi once because I never had it, by the end of the meal I was picking up the little scallops that had fallen off the rolls like a pro.

My girlfriend on the other hand, can't work them sticks to save her life, so I bought her these. Sjhe thinks they're hilarious and loves to pull them out when we get sushi.



quote:
Originally posted by Will938:
If you don't become a screen writer for comedy movies, then you're an asshole.
 
Posts: 17157 | Location: Washington State | Registered: April 04, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Casuistic Thinker and Daoist
Picture of 9mmepiphany
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I just can’t operate the damned things. If I try to pick up a morsel it’s unlikely to make it to my mouth. More likely to fall back. Or the sticks will suddenly slip past each other, flipping the morsel to the table top – or the floor. Sigh.


From your description, it sounds like you are holding your chopsticks too tightly and trying to apply pressure to insure food is securely being held in place. One of the "tricks" to easy manipulation of chopsticks is balance. The more pressure you apply with the top stick the more likely you are to lose control of the lower stick. That is what causes the tips to slip pass each other...you've changed the alignment. The further from the tips that you hold the chopsticks the better your control will be

It is a lot like hitting a good drive in golf. You have to align correctly and then let the club swing without trying to "powering" it.

Neither of my first two Occidental girlfriends cold use chopsticks when we first met. I was able to teach them both, using a method similar to that in your video, during our first meal and they were able to pick it up pretty quickly




No, Daoism isn't a religion



 
Posts: 14290 | Location: northern california | Registered: February 07, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Casuistic Thinker and Daoist
Picture of 9mmepiphany
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Keystoner:
I watched the video. How do you keep the bottom chopstick stable without using the middle finger to braced it against the ring finger?

It is braced with the first knuckle of the ring finger and the last knuckle, away from the tip, of the index finger on one side. Applying pressure from the other side with the second segment of your thumb. It is lateral, side-to-side, pressure on the stick.

Trying to brace it with the tip of the middle finger causes loss of control of the top stick.

A common mistake when folks use chopsticks is they think you are trying to pinch the food with both sticks...like using pliers. The bottom stick is just the base/foundation that the top stick pinches the food against




No, Daoism isn't a religion



 
Posts: 14290 | Location: northern california | Registered: February 07, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Get my pies
outta the oven!

Picture of PASig
posted Hide Post
My stepmother used to have us picking up marbles with chopsticks as kids to train us how to use them. Once you figure out that the bottom one never moves and the top one basically pivots open and closed to the bottom one, it's pretty easy.


 
Posts: 35166 | Location: Pennsylvania | Registered: November 12, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
Picture of myrottiety
posted Hide Post
I got pretty good with them. A chick I dated forever ago was big into Thai boxing. So she was big into Thai food. She used chopsticks so to impress I learned quickly.

I remember someone watching me eat steamed rice with chop sticks and they just proclaimed: "HOW?!" Big Grin




Train how you intend to Fight

Remember - Training is not sparring. Sparring is not fighting. Fighting is not combat.
 
Posts: 8974 | Location: Woodstock, GA | Registered: August 04, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
If you see me running
try to keep up
Picture of mrvmax
posted Hide Post
The last time I felt a need for chopsticks was when I was a child. In my adult life, not once have I ever said to myself, I wish I had chopsticks to eat with.........
 
Posts: 4302 | Location: Friendswood Texas | Registered: August 24, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
I'm right handed, but I can use chop sticks better with my left hand.

I hold very similar to how beancooker shows in his pics. When tips are matched up when closed before picking up, I find it easier to grasp the morsels.
 
Posts: 1641 | Location: Lehigh County,PA-USA | Registered: February 20, 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Casuistic Thinker and Daoist
Picture of 9mmepiphany
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by mrvmax:
The last time I felt a need for chopsticks was when I was a child. In my adult life, not once have I ever said to myself, I wish I had chopsticks to eat with.........

It is easier to eat pasta with chopsticks...whether you are a picker or a shoveler

I also recently learned that they are also handy when eating salads




No, Daoism isn't a religion



 
Posts: 14290 | Location: northern california | Registered: February 07, 2003Reply With QuoteReport This Post
A day late, and
a dollar short
Picture of Warhorse
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by ersatzknarf:
We use them daily and for pasta, they can't be beat!

I also learnt whilst living as a student in Japan. One of our teachers made certain we became proficient.

The key is holding the bottom one rock steady against your ring finger, using the v of your thumb. The top one is held as one would a pencil.

Yes, practice is your friend and you can master it. Don't bother with the kiddie practice ones that are spring loaded at the top, just get some break apart ones and keep trying.

I've found that it's better to hold them more towards the rear and that helps with leverage and comfort; holding them too close to the front is probably why it's not working well to hold things.

Once you can pick up a grain of rice, without thinking, you are there.

Just zen out and go for it! Big Grin

I can vouch for ersatzknarf as a true master of the "knitting needles"! Wink


____________________________
NRA Life Member, Annual Member GOA, MGO Annual Member
 
Posts: 13729 | Location: Michigan | Registered: July 10, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Ammoholic
posted Hide Post
Practice.

Thinking about it (which I don’t do when doing it), I believe the base of the thumb holds the lower chopstick in its fixed position. Almost all movement is in the index and “social” finger. If the tip of the thumb moves, it isn’t much.

I’m not sure when or how I learned it,but 9mmepiphany is absolutely right. It isn’t about death gripping with the sticks, it is just enough pressure and more balance.

I was totally hopeless initially, then at some point it just clicked. A knowledgeable instructor probably would have brought the click along a lot sooner. Smile

It isn’t rocket science and a whole lot of people have learned to do it, some of them probably not as smart as you are. Give yourself some time to practice at home, not under pressure, and just play with it, seeing what works for you and what doesn’t.
 
Posts: 7221 | Location: Lost, but making time. | Registered: February 23, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
  Powered by Social Strata Page 1 2 3 4  
 

SIGforum.com    Main Page  Hop To Forum Categories  The Lounge    Is anyone else here hopelessly inept with chopsticks?

© SIGforum 2024