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Chopsticks are shaped pairs of equal length sticks that have been used as the traditional ancient kitchen and eating utensils in virtually all of East Asia for over six thousand years. Chopsticks were first used by the Chinese and later spread to countries, through cultural influence or through Chinese immigrant communities, such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos, and Myanmar, as well as in areas of the United States,[1] especially California and Hawaii,[2] and cities in Canada and Australia with Chinese communities. Chopsticks are smoothed and frequently tapered, and are commonly made of bamboo, plastic, wood, or stainless steel. They are less commonly made from gold, silver, porcelain, jade, or ivory. Chopsticks are held in the dominant hand, between the thumb and fingers, and used to pick up pieces of food.
The English word "chopstick" may have derived from Chinese Pidgin English, in which "chop chop" meant "quickly".[3][4] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest published use of the word is in the 1699 book Voyages and descriptions by William Dampier: "[T]hey are called by the English seamen Chopsticks".[5]
The Chinese term for chopsticks is kuaizi (Chinese: 筷子). The first character (筷) is a semantic-phonetic compound with a phonetic part meaning "quick" (快), and a semantic part meaning "bamboo" (竹).[6]
In ancient written Chinese, the character for chopsticks was zhu (箸; Middle Chinese reconstruction: d̪jwo-). Although it may have been widely used in ancient spoken Chinese, its use was eventually replaced by the pronunciation for the character kuai (快), meaning "quick". The original character, though still used in writing, is rarely used in modern spoken Chinese.
For written semantic differentiation between the "fast" (快) versus "chopsticks", a new character was created for "chopsticks" (筷) by adding the "bamboo" (竹) radical (⺮) to it.[7]
In Japanese, chopsticks are called hashi (箸). They are also known as otemoto (おてもと), a phrase commonly printed on the wrappers of disposable chopsticks. Te means hand and moto means the area under or around something. The preceding o is used for politeness.
In Korean, 저 (箸, jeo) is used in the compound jeotgarak (), which is composed of jeo "chopsticks" and garak "stick". Jeo cannot be used alone, but can be found in other compounds such as sujeo (), meaning "spoon and chopsticks".
In Vietnamese, chopsticks are called "đũa", which is written as 𥮊 with 竹 trúc (bamboo) as the semantic, and 杜 đỗ as the phonetic part. It is an archaic borrowing of the older Chinese term for chopsticks, 箸.
Chopsticks were invented in ancient China as early as the Shang dynasty (1766-1122 BCE) and possibly even earlier during the Xia dynasty.[8] The earliest evidence were six chopsticks, made of bronze, 26 cm (10 inches) long and 1.1 to 1.3 cm (0.43 to 0.51 inches) wide, excavated from the Ruins of Yin near Anyang (Henan) and dated roughly to 1200 BCE; those were supposed to be used for cooking.[9][10][11] The earliest known extant textual reference to the use of chopsticks comes from the Han Feizi, a philosophical text written by Han Fei (c. 280-233 BCE) in the 3rd century BCE.[12]
The first chopsticks were probably used for cooking, stirring the fire, serving or seizing bits of food, and not as eating utensils. Chopsticks began to be used as eating utensils during the Han Dynasty. Chopsticks were considered more lacquerware friendly than other sharp eating utensils. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that chopsticks came into normal use for both serving and eating. They then acquired the name kuaizi and the present shape.[13]
To use chopsticks, the lower chopstick is stationary, and rests at the base of the thumb, and between the ring finger and middle finger. The second chopstick is held like a pencil, using the tips of the thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and it is moved while eating, to pull food into the grasp of the chopsticks.[14] Chopsticks, when not in use, are placed either to the right or below one's plate in a Chinese table setting.[15]
Saibashi (菜箸; さいばし) are Japanese kitchen chopsticks used in Japanese cuisine. They are used in the preparation of Japanese food, and are not designed for eating. These chopsticks allow handling of hot food with one hand, and are used like regular chopsticks.[16] These chopsticks have a length of 30 cm (12 in) or more, and may be looped together with a string at the top. They are made from bamboo, but for deep frying, metal chopsticks with bamboo handles are preferred, as the tips of regular bamboo chopsticks discolor and get greasy after repeated use in hot oil. The wooden handles protect against heat.
There are several styles of chopsticks that vary in respect to:
Chopsticks are used in many parts of the world. While principles of etiquette are similar, finer points can differ from region to region.
In Korea, chopsticks are paired with a spoon, and there are conventions for how these are used together:[27]
The most widespread use of disposable chopsticks is in Japan, where around a total of 24 billion pairs are used each year,[28][29][30] which is equivalent to almost 200 pairs per person yearly.[31] In China, an estimated 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are produced yearly.[31] This adds up to 1.66 million cubic metres of timber[32] or 25 million fully grown trees every year.[31] In April 2006, the People's Republic of China imposed a five percent tax on disposable chopsticks to reduce waste of natural resources by over-consumption.[33][34] This measure had the most effect in Japan as many of its disposable chopsticks are imported from China,[31] which account for over 90% of the Japanese market.[30][35]
American manufacturers have begun exporting American-made chopsticks to China, using sweet gum and poplar wood as these materials do not need to be artificially lightened with chemicals or bleach, and are appealing to Asian consumers. The USA also has a relative abundance of wood, reducing the number of trees that are cut down in Asia.[36]
The American-born Taiwanese singer Wang Leehom has publicly advocated use of reusable chopsticks made from sustainable materials.[37][38] In Japan, reusable chopsticks are known as maihashi or maibashi (マイ箸, meaning "my chopsticks").[39][40]
A 2003 study found that regular use of chopsticks by the elderly may slightly increase the risk of osteoarthritis in the hand, a condition in which cartilage is worn out, leading to pain and swelling in the hand joints.[41] There have also been concerns regarding the use of certain disposable chopsticks made from dark wood bleached white that may pose a health risk, causing coughing or leading to asthma.[42]
A 2006 Hong Kong Department of Health survey found that the proportion of people using distinctly separate serving chopsticks, spoons, or other utensils for serving food from a common dish has increased from 46% to 65% since the SARS outbreak in 2003.[43]
South Korea, Tokyo, Hokkaido, Australia, China
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Food, Shinto, Japanese cuisine, Buddhism, Korea
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