It seems like I learn a new way that I am "supposed" to eat every time I eat with someone new. While these are always wonderful forays into the various adventures of culinary delight and education, I can't help but wonder how I could ever take in such complex ideas when I was growing up. Sure, it may not seem too complex when you look at it (hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills aside), but that simple motion of bringing a spoon or fork to one's mouth with food still in place takes much more conceptualizing than one may think!
Of course here, it is spoon and chopsticks! You may think that this would be a problem for me, but it is really quite easy once you get used to it, and I seem to have gotten the hang of it quite quickly. The problem comes when you have to decide when you should use the spoon, when the chopsticks, and when your hands. Is it alright to lift the bowl or not? Sure, please do...if it's soup.. lifting the bowl of rice may lead to a ban on eating rice for you (probably not that serious, but still considered quite rude). This is why Koreans generally eat their rice with spoons!!
When I do have the rare occasion to use a fork, I find that I would rather not. They have become more troublesome than chopsticks for the most part. It is difficult to relearn how to negotiate the fork so that the food doesn't fall all over the place; chopsticks are much more efficient! I may have to start carrying around my own set again when I get back home or wherever I happen to end up next. The metal Korean chopsticks are apparently the most difficult to learn how to use, but still my favorite overall....
I should be back in the US come December: I hope I don't have to learn how to eat all over again!!
Of course here, it is spoon and chopsticks! You may think that this would be a problem for me, but it is really quite easy once you get used to it, and I seem to have gotten the hang of it quite quickly. The problem comes when you have to decide when you should use the spoon, when the chopsticks, and when your hands. Is it alright to lift the bowl or not? Sure, please do...if it's soup.. lifting the bowl of rice may lead to a ban on eating rice for you (probably not that serious, but still considered quite rude). This is why Koreans generally eat their rice with spoons!!
When I do have the rare occasion to use a fork, I find that I would rather not. They have become more troublesome than chopsticks for the most part. It is difficult to relearn how to negotiate the fork so that the food doesn't fall all over the place; chopsticks are much more efficient! I may have to start carrying around my own set again when I get back home or wherever I happen to end up next. The metal Korean chopsticks are apparently the most difficult to learn how to use, but still my favorite overall....
I should be back in the US come December: I hope I don't have to learn how to eat all over again!!
Yet the Chinese can put the bowl near their mouth and shovel in the rice with the chopsticks. I wonder about the Japanese.
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