Quick test
Here are six different, yet common ways people hold chopsticks
Can you spot the correct method?
You probably narrowed it down to these two
And you'd be right, they're very similar
but it's this one that is correct
If you hold your chopsticks like this.... give yourself a pat on the back
If not, that's ok too, because it's probably more common than you think
Observing your own chopsticks grip, you may have wondered WHY you chose the method that you did
Why you ended up holding it like this
this....
or even this
I'll be getting into that soon, but first, some context
Around the world, 40% of us use our hands to eat, 30% use knives and forks
and the remaining 30% use chopsticks
Most chopstick users are from East and Southeast Asia
with China, Korea and Japan being the big three
Actually, China and Korea often pair chopsticks with spoons
so it is really only Japan where everything is pretty much eaten with chopsticks
Despite this, many Asian people, and even Japanese people, hold their chopsticks incorrectly
According to Meiji University in Tokyo, over two-thirds of people above the age of 30
did not or could not hold their chopsticks correctly, and it gets even worse for the younger generation
If you're a Westerner struggling with chopsticks, perhaps you don't need to feel too bad
On the other hand, if you want to master using chopsticks to this level....
you might want to start practicing the right way
Ok, now let's get into WHY?
Using chopsticks would have come naturally to some of you, but not so much to others
Your ability or inability can be due to a combination of factors
Here's the first one, Initial Hunger
The first few times you used chopsticks, how crazy hungry were you?
Were you so hungry that you didn't really care how you grabbed the food
so as long as you could shovel it into your mouth?
Or were you only kinda hungry
not minding the 20 or so seconds it may have taken to figure out the most efficient technique?
Whatever the case, it's likely some variation of your initial chopstick grip
has stayed with you till today
The next one plays an even bigger role, Finger Dexterity
Some people just find it easier to move their fingers in all directions, and with coordination
That's my hand there...kinda freaky
See if you can do this
Straighten out your fingers, and have your index finger
sit on top your middle finger like that, then straighten out the joint
Easy?
Ok, then move it one finger down
Do the same with the middle finger, sitting on top your ring finger, straighten out the joint
If you found this movement hard, then holding your chopsticks the correct way
might have been a challenge
If you want, you can move one finger down yet again, your ring finger on your pinky
This last one doesn't really affect your chopstick skills, but it is fun to try
By the way, these movements do get easier with practice
If you're a pro, try switching hands
By this point, I have to stop recording for 5 minutes because of cramps
I'm back, moving on to the next one, Pencil Grip
Quite often, the way you hold a pencil or pen influences your chopstick grip
This may seem obvious as it is well-known that you're supposed to hold the top chopstick
similar to a pencil, with the bottom stick sliding in this position
Only the top one should be moving
But what happens if your pencil grip is wrong to start with
Maybe you hold it like this... or like this
In this case, there's a chance it will be reflected in your chopstick grip
Left-handers have it the worse though
Writing has always been an issue for various reasons, and as such
you can expect many lefties to have wackier chopstick styles
Parental Guidance is also a factor
How obsessive were your parents at making sure you held the chopsticks correctly?
If you have the classic Asian parents, you may have been constantly reminded
They also probably made you feel bad for using your left hand
But as a result, you likely ended up holding your chopsticks quite well
although possibly having developed parental issues along the way
Anyway, conversely if your parents didn't really care about this kind of stuff
you might have grown up in a family of rather liberal chopstick users
This last one, you might not have thought of, but the TYPE of chopsticks you are used to
could have shaped your technique
The three main types of chopsticks are Chinese, Japanese and Korean chopsticks
with South East Asian chopsticks being quite similar to the Chinese
The Chinese chopsticks are the thickest and longest of them all
often made with bamboo or melamine, and with a thick flat tip
You can see these melamine ones in most Chinese restaurants
The chopsticks are bulkier to handle and the material is very slippery and smooth
which can sometimes make grabbing food a challenge
So if these are the chopsticks you're familiar with
your chopstick grip may have adjusted for these shortcomings
Perhaps you position the sticks wider to create more pressure when grasping the food
Or you hold the chopsticks higher which can be more difficult to handle
but distributes the melamine weight more adequately for the fingers
On a side note, and this is for any type of chopstick
you may see many non-Asians or chopstick newbies going the other end
as this gives more control, despite the poor weight distribution
I should mention that one benefit for the larger Chinese chopsticks
is that you can grab more food at once
Japanese chopsticks are smaller and lighter in comparison
They are often made of wood, and here you can see it tapers into a point
This allows for a higher level of precision and versatility
It is said that it was designed this way to pick out tiny fish bones from whole fish
Whatever the reason, the Japanese chopsticks, with all its advantages
may have an unexpected downside
One might not always feel the need to hold chopsticks correctly, as a poor technique
can still get the job done
Especially since in Japanese cuisine, food is often prepared bite-sized, perfect for chopstick use
Korean chopsticks are the most difficult to use
They are flatter, have a blunt tip, and are made of stainless steel (metal)
which makes it quite heavy and frictionless
I'm not as familiar with these chopsticks, so I'm not exactly sure of the relationship
with different grips
but in South Korea, as with most places, you will see a fair number of people holding it incorrectly
On a side note, if you're from Singapore or Malaysia
you'll notice many people don't see this as the correct method
Instead, it's something like this
I'm not sure how it evolved that way, but if you have any insight on the matter
let me know in the comments
Ok let's go back for a second, back to the myriad of ways people hold their chopsticks
You may be wondering, how your chopstick method stacks up with everyone else's
Is it closer to this end.... or do you hold it like a dork
I will be analysing the 10 most common incorrect ways to hold chopsticks in a future video
so make sure you're subscribed to get that
But if you want to know the 10 reasons why Asians don't get fat
you can find that out by clicking the video on top
otherwise click the one below if you prefer something else
I hope you enjoyed this topic, and if you have any questions or thoughts
let us know down below
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