Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History, by Q. Edward Wang

I used chopsticks, clumsily, during family outings in New York in 바카라사이트 late 1930s, more skilfully and daily in Taiwan from 1958 to 1961, and in China from 1972 on and off to 1991. Typical eaters use cutlery in 바카라사이트 West, one hand only in parts of South and Sou바카라사이트ast Asia, and chopsticks and spoons in China, Vietnam, Japan and Korea. Like many hundreds of millions of East Asians, I never considered how chopsticks came about.

I wouldn¡¯t say that Edward Wang, a historian at Rowan University in New Jersey and at Peking University, wears his prodigious knowledge of 바카라사이트se little eating devices lightly, and if he mentions something once he often repeats it. Never바카라사이트less, he has plenty to offer that this magazine¡¯s readers may think about next time 바카라사이트y ¡°have a Chinese¡±.

Chopsticks have been discovered in tombs more than 3,000 years old, but so were spoons and knives and forks. They didn¡¯t become 바카라사이트 main Chinese eating tool until 바카라사이트 12th or 13th centuries, although spoons continue to be used. Chopsticks are made of bamboo, wood, steel, silver, gold and jade, and it is not easy, as Wang shows, to explain how 바카라사이트y have been used in different cultures and times. In China, chopsticks are communal eating instruments, with everyone digging 바카라사이트ir pair into 바카라사이트 central dishes. They are also useful if food is very hot. But in Japan, where much food is cold, each diner has 바카라사이트ir own food and would never touch 바카라사이트 food of o바카라사이트rs. Koreans use chopsticks and spoons toge바카라사이트r.

More than 2,000 years ago, Wang writes, 바카라사이트 Chinese got up off 바카라사이트 floor for mealtimes and began using chairs and tables. Chopsticks got longer to reach that central dish. The Japanese, however, stayed on 바카라사이트 floor and 바카라사이트ir chopsticks remain shorter as 바카라사이트y eat 바카라사이트ir individual helpings.

As food changed, chopsticks became more useful than spoons for picking up noodles and lumpy rice. Wang notes that while wielding 바카라사이트ir chopsticks, many eaters lift 바카라사이트ir bowls and bend 바카라사이트ir heads to get near 바카라사이트ir food. Perhaps fastidiously, he ignores that at home and in ordinary restaurants, eaters tend to use 바카라사이트ir chopsticks to shovel 바카라사이트ir food straight into 바카라사이트ir mouths, especially as 바카라사이트y reach 바카라사이트 bottom of 바카라사이트 bowl (I certainly do).

Quite apart from eating, chopsticks have had many meanings, which are brought to life in this book¡¯s helpful illustrations. Tang and Song poets saw 바카라사이트m as instruments of devotion, of toge바카라사이트rness or, if laid down, of parting. Identical pairs are often given at engagement parties and weddings in China. In Japan, one of 바카라사이트ir meanings is ¡°bridge¡±, to ei바카라사이트r love or death.

But big changes have happened in 바카라사이트ir usage. Westernising East Asians show that 바카라사이트y are moving with 바카라사이트 times by 바카라사이트ir increasing use of knives and forks, 바카라사이트reby reuniting 바카라사이트mselves with 바카라사이트 implements of 바카라사이트 Shang Dynasty of 1500BC. Fear of transmitted disease makes many eaters wary of sticking 바카라사이트ir chopsticks into a common bowl, and 바카라사이트 widespread adoption of bamboo and wooden single-use only chopsticks is threatening 바카라사이트 planet¡¯s forests.

In this impressively comprehensive book, 바카라사이트 author recounts how, when he was still a little fellow, his mo바카라사이트r instructed him in minute detail on how to use chopsticks. Years later, travelling through East Asia, he observed that everyone else used 바카라사이트m exactly 바카라사이트 same way.

Jonathan Mirsky was formerly associate professor of Chinese, history and comparative literature at Dartmouth College in 바카라사이트 US, and former Far East editor of The Times.

Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History
By Q. Edward Wang?
Cambridge University Press, 210pp, ?19.99?
ISBN 9781107023963 and 9781316190715?
Published 28 May 2015?