How to use chopsticks
1. Hold one chopstick
Hold one chopstick between your thumb and middle finger. Position the chopstick so that it lies at the base of your thumb (on the joint) and on the lower joint of the third finger. This chopstick shouldn’t touch the forefinger.
2. Place the other chopstick
Place the other chopstick between your thumb and forefinger. Hold the upper chopstick as if it were a pencil, held between your middle finger and forefinger, and use the tips of the thumb to keep it in place.
3. Hold the food
Make sure the tips of the chopsticks are always even, and the same length.Keep the first chopstick stationary as you practice moving the second chopstick toward the stationary one. Use this technique to hold the food. firmly as you lift it toward your mouth.
Chopstick bad manners
With regard to chopsticks, the following are to be avoided. Most of these are actually common sense, and would probably hold true for western utensils too. Nevertheless, it’s comforting to have it laid out clearly.
1.”Planting” your chopsticks
(Tukitate-bashi) – Sticking the chopsticks upright in the middle of the food.
2.Handling dishes with chopsticks
(Yose-bashii) – Using your chopsticks on dishes to pull them closer and push them away.
3.Passing food with chopsticks
(Awase-bashi) – Passing food from your chopsticks to somebody else’s chopsticks. Transferring directly is how bones are passed as part of Japanese funeral rites.
4.Indecisive chopsticks
(Mayoi-bashi) – Hovering around over the dishes with your chopsticks while struggling with indecision about what to take.
