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Western foods that would be easier to eat with chopsticks
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rumdiary

Joined: 05 Jun 2006

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:05 pm Post subject:

Triban wrote:

wishfullthinkng wrote:

Triban wrote:

wishfullthinkng wrote:

AmericanExile wrote:

In a world where forks and tongs exist, why do people cling to inferior technology?

I suppose it is like juggling. It feels like an achievement, but it has no real value.

if you can catch a fly in the air mr. miyagi style with a fork i will renounce chopsticks.

in all seriousness though, eat a chinese soup dumpling with a fork and tell me how that works out for you and your superior technology.

That's why we also have spoons.

spoons are universal (more or less). the post i was responding to was dealing with forks and tongs, not spoons.

....are you dense? In the west we separate foodstuffs by fork and spoon. Yes they are universal but they are a part of our consumption arsenal. What is the point of referencing a food that no one would dream of using a fork to eat anyway? Also, I have eaten dumplings/mondu easily with a fork.

Also, I think wrapping spaghetti around a fork is much easier and less messy than using chopsticks and slurping it. Salads and tomatoes are easily speared. Before you say something, I have been using chopsticks all my life.

I am usually the one using chopsticks and my K-GF is the only with the monopoly on forks because she says it is easier. Case closed.

I'm mostly on board with you. Salad is really the only exception. An normal dinner salad with iceberg lettuce is easy to spear with a fork but when you have mixed greens and stuff like baby spinach it's not crisp enough to spear easily.

AmericanExile

Joined: 04 May 2009

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:13 pm Post subject:

UknowsI wrote:

AmericanExile wrote:

My statement wasn't silly. It was dead accurate. The only thing sticks are useful for is cooking marshmallows, and chopsticks won't get the job done.

You can buy extra long chopsticks to use with a frying pan. These are the chopsticks I use to cook my marshmallows. They are generally not made of metal, so mine has become slightly burnt after cooking 2 packs of marshmallows with them, but they are still perfectly usable.

These very large chopsticks can be very useful for frying. It is by far the best tool I have found to turn bacon and also work very well for food like sausages. So add bacon to the list of things which are both easier to cook and eat with chopsticks.

There is no such list. Tongs are best for bacon. Get out of the stone age and enter the iron age.

UknowsI

Joined: 16 Apr 2009

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:03 pm Post subject:

AmericanExile wrote:

There is no such list. Tongs are best for bacon. Get out of the stone age and enter the iron age.

Maybe I'm just not very good at using tongs. Using a BBQ tong for flipping bacon is for me much slower than using chopsticks. I guess a specialized bacon-flipping-tong might be better than chopsticks, I just haven't seen one yet.

UknowsI

Joined: 16 Apr 2009

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:04 pm Post subject:

AmericanExile wrote:

There is no such list. Tongs are best for bacon. Get out of the stone age and enter the iron age.

UknowsI

Joined: 16 Apr 2009

Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 11:05 pm Post subject:

AmericanExile wrote:

There is no such list. Tongs are best for bacon. Get out of the stone age and enter the iron age.

interestedinhanguk

Joined: 23 Aug 2010

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:19 am Post subject:

NYC_Gal 2.0 wrote:

I eat Chinese soup dumplings with a spoon. That's the way my Chinese friends ate them, so I followed suit.

how do they get the dumpling from the serving dish to the spoon?

Steelrails

Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:21 am Post subject:

Any small food that squirts if you pierce it with a fork is better eaten with chopsticks. Cherry tomatoes come to mind. Any food that crumbles apart or crunches or flakes into a mess if you stab it with a fork is better eaten with chopsticks. Just because you suck at using something doesn't make it stupid. I prefer forks for spaghetti, pizza, curry and obviously, steaks. Pasta especially. I prefer the twirl to the shovel. Although for ramyun I prefer the shovel to the twirl. Udon I like the spoon + chopstick method. I want some broth + noodle.

AmericanExile

Joined: 04 May 2009

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:42 am Post subject:

UknowsI wrote:

AmericanExile wrote:

There is no such list. Tongs are best for bacon. Get out of the stone age and enter the iron age.

Why would you use a BBQ tong? They come in different sizes. So really, you aren't familiar with western utensils.

Tongs are superior because sometimes you need to push the bacon down. You need more surface area than chopsticks provide.

Chopsticks are nothing more than sticks whittled down to be straight and smooth. Forks and tongs are newer superior inventions. They are forward progress. They are computers and chopsticks are typewriters. Who uses typewriters? Luddites.

I know there are those who believe they are just different because they are from a different culture. No. Stone roads are better than dirt roads. Cement roads are better than stones roads. It isn't cultural. It is a utilitarian reality.

There are those who think using them makes them superior in some way. It doesn't. It makes you a luddite.

There are those who really seem to believe they are easier somehow. This I find curious. I wonder if it is cognitive dissonance. I wonder if it is lack of familiarity with western utensils. I wonder many things. I believe you are sincere. I also believe people can convince themselves of just about anything.

My Korean coworkers use chopsticks to cut and eat cake. "It is easier." They make a total hash of the cake. Not to mention I don't want you touching food I might eat with something that has been in your mouth. That is why we use a knife. I go out to have meat with my people, and some of them use their chopsticks to turn the meat instead of using the tongs. It is disgusting.

I've seen both sides. I've made my decision. Not different. Better.

Privateer

Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:49 am Post subject:

Salad. Not spaghetti. I find eating noodles with chopsticks awkward and it makes my hand hurt.

interestedinhanguk

Joined: 23 Aug 2010

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:54 am Post subject:

AmericanExile wrote:

My Korean coworkers use chopsticks to cut and eat cake. "It is easier." They make a total hash of the cake.

It all comes out the same color.

interestedinhanguk

Joined: 23 Aug 2010

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:55 am Post subject:

Steelrails wrote:

Any small food that squirts if you pierce it with a fork is better eaten with chopsticks. Cherry tomatoes come to mind.

fingers.

northway

Joined: 05 Jul 2010

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:44 am Post subject:

UknowsI wrote:

AmericanExile wrote:

There is no such list. Tongs are best for bacon. Get out of the stone age and enter the iron age.

Not to mention that those tongs are generally metal, which is hell on teflon.

AmericanExile

Joined: 04 May 2009

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:59 am Post subject:

northway wrote:

UknowsI wrote:

AmericanExile wrote:

There is no such list. Tongs are best for bacon. Get out of the stone age and enter the iron age.

Not to mention that those tongs are generally metal, which is hell on teflon.

Yes, which is why there are plastic tongs or metal tongs with plastic tips. Technical innovation. A tool for every job. The right tool is a wonderful thing.

NYC_Gal 2.0

Joined: 10 Dec 2010

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:24 am Post subject:

interestedinhanguk wrote:

NYC_Gal 2.0 wrote:

I eat Chinese soup dumplings with a spoon. That's the way my Chinese friends ate them, so I followed suit.

how do they get the dumpling from the serving dish to the spoon?

Touch�.

I don't eat it with chopsticks, though Wink

tefain

Joined: 19 Sep 2007
Location: Not too far out there

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:51 am Post subject:

AmericanExile wrote:

I know there are those who believe they are just different because they are from a different culture. No. Stone roads are better than dirt roads. Cement roads are better than stones roads. It isn't cultural. It is a utilitarian reality.

Better greatly depends on the utility.
A stone road is in no way better than a dirt one if I'm riding my bicycle or walking.
A cement (asphalt?) road is smoothest, but I'd much rather drive on a stone road in winter.

AmericanExile wrote:

There are those who really seem to believe they are easier somehow. This I find curious.

Why is this curious? If people have been doing something everyday for most of their lives, it would naturally be easy for them.

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