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Indulging in a delicious Oriental meal with chopsticks is no less than an art! Every food culture has something unique about it, right from the mix of spices and flavours to dining etiquettes, but sometimes adapting the food culture and norms may seem a bit tricky. Well, do you often find yourself struggling with a pair of chopsticks, while indulging in your meal at a swanky restaurant? Well, we have got you covered, here are a few simple steps to master the art of eating with chopsticks.
The first step!
It is certainly a challenge for the beginners, but gradually the art of eating with chopsticks becomes easy and interesting. After all it is all about expressing gratitude to the food culture. To begin with, if you have wooden disposable chopsticks that are served at most Chinese or oriental cuisine restaurants, just snap them up into two separate chopsticks.
Begin with holding the first stick
Just hold one stick, using your dominant hand, then place the narrow end the way you use a pencil or pen. Next, adjust the chopstick in a way that only a small portion (an inch) of the chop stick is sticking out and this will help in holding and lifting the food. Make sure that the thicker end is sticking out of the area between your thumb and forefinger to give you the right grip. The lower portion of the thumb helps in stabilizing the chopstick.
Next, put the narrower end in a way that it rests on the inner part of your ring finger. This will let rests of fingers free from holding the chop stick. Make sure that the first stick that you hold is your base stick and must not move else the food will lose its grip.
Holding the second stick with perfection
Unlike the first stick, grasping the second stick is a bit more tricky as it ensures that the food is nicely picked up and moved to the mouth.
To begin with this, make sure that the thicker end of the second stick lines up with the thicker end of the first stick, so that a small portion is left out to about an inch between forefinger and thumb.
Next, focus on the narrow end so it passes gently just below the tip of your thumb, just make sure that it passes your thumbs tip and between your middle and index finger. Once you are comfortable holding the sticks, the next step is all about picking up the food and indulging.
Grabbing the food comfortably
Once you hold both sticks properly and are comfortable. Next is to move the food from the bowl or plate using the chopsticks. While moving the food from the plate, keep the first stick still and move the second stick by using the top part of your thumb, but make sure that the bottom part of the second stick is in a fixed position as it is holding on to the first stick. The index finger and middle finger help in pushing against the thumb to tighten or loosen the stick to grab the food and take it to the mouth.
Grabbing a bite
As a beginner you can try and practice managing the sticks by squeezing and releasing the chopsticks before you try it at a swanky restaurant. Practicing makes it easy to grab the food easily.
To pick the food, position the food between the sticks by making the gap wider and slowly lower the second chopstick and squeeze the food and take the food to the mouth. Whenever you try eating with chopsticks try eating or picking big size foods like sushi, dimsums or prawns, this will make you a pro at it!
