What's most amazing (if the label is accurate) is that they were actually made in the USA. I realize it's only chopsticks, but who knew we still manufactured anything?

I was 23 years old before I figured out how to use chopsticks with my left hand, and now I find out this still isn't good enough. I refuse to adjust. I will continue being rude. If being a lefty is wrong, I don't want to be right.

I wonder why we've Americanized Chinese food but insist on using the authentic utensils.

Probably started by some guy showing off for his date.

We insist on using chopsticks when they aren't authentic, too. Thai food should be eaten with a fork, not chopsticks.

I like chopsticks, not everyone chooses to use them in asian restaurants.. some even choose to use them with thai food where its not really appropriate. There is no better way to eat pho in my opinion though big slurrping bowls of noodles with chopsticks. Sometimes even use them around the house, but my mother obsessed on asian food growing up so I have proper spoons too.

1. Because it can be (but isn't always) fun.

2. Because some people like to show off with things like that.

I fail to see what could possibly be rude about fashioning a chopstick rest with the wrapper.

Did you get a fortune cookie? My favorite fortune ever was "Life is a struggle." A coworker liked that so much she used it on a needlepoint pillow she made.

Well,I had to check the the link to Wikipedia and then noticing the ring on the right hand, and had to query ring finger. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_finger

(My attempt at linking failed, sorry)

I guess the use of a particular ring finger is one of those inscrutable questions also.

I always suspected a secret code.

do you get paid for this?

My favorite fortune ever was "Life is a struggle."

A great saying, but not a fortune. Very few fortune cookies seem to contain actual fortunes nowadays. Usually sayings, aphorisms, etc.

the left hand is not for food. left handed people are marked by the devil.

do you get paid for this?

Jealous, aren't you?

Hal - I agree about the fortune cookies not containing actual fortunes. I always feel cheated somehow when I get a non-fortune-containing cookie.

Having said that, my mother recently got this "fortune": "He who laughs last is laughing at you". I thought that was funny.

There's a website, something like misfortunecookies.com, that has hilarious misfortune cookies. A couple years ago I sent a bag of them to my brother for his birthday, who did not comment - but he's still speaking to me.

I've always thought chopsticks an elegant, refined food delivery system. I assumed they uphold an aesthetic, like any table manner, meant to impart restraint and dexterity onto a mammalian impulse. Now I see the pic of the guy shoveling noodles. I don't think he's changed my mind. But he does remind one of the finitude of technology.

And don't forget the "lucky" numbers on the back of the fortune.

Sinister - I once ate dinner with a muslim friend, who caught me eating with my left hand, and very sternly told me not to do that. I thought it was ridiculous.

I am right-handed, but due to several childhood and early adulthood incidents of broken right arm/wrist, I tend to use both hands interchangeably now for many things.

Have I had dinner with that "friend" again? No.

Don't be too hard on your friend Lj. Right hand etiquette is hardwired into many many cultures. Regarding food it is quite serious because the left hand is used for bathroom things. It's not random.

I am naturally left-handed but the nuns in schools forced me into writing with my other hand. Sinister and gauche have bad connotations, that's my little joke. Look at the dictionary roots. Left is always wrong. poor Flanders

Diners didn't "Amerericanize" Chinese food. So what's wrong with diners taking authentization into their own hands whilst chefs do what they do?

I got one of "those" e-mails that get passed around offices showing a closeup of a wooden chopstick under a microscope. The thing was totally bug ridden. I really could have Snopesed it but, I don't like using them anyway so now I had a viable excuse not to and always ask for a fork or use my fingers (with eggrolls and sushi, not noodles!)

t@t and I wish:
I'll bet EL wishes she got paid for this, too. If you have a full-time job and then take on another major task that now causes you to work weekends and vacations, but you aren't paid any more than before, are you being paid for that task?
Let me ask you this: would you be willing to pay for this blog? $25 a year subscription? $10?
EL, can you put up a tip jar wherein all the proceeds go to you? Might be interesting to see what happens.

Hal, you are right, as ever.

As you wander through life, you learn there are certain things you were never meant to do. The first time I attempted to use chopsticks, I scattered lo mein all over the table. On the next attempt, I more or less assassinated General Tso. After my spring roll rolled across the floor while my wife kindly tried to hide her mirth, I knew that any future attempt to use chopsticks could only result in hunger and derision. But I envy the culinary cognescenti who can casually pick up a pair of wooden wands and spear a sliver of sweet and sour pork.

I guess it depends on how you were raised. If the only utensils you were given from your youngest days were chopsticks (Do they make 1/4 and 1/2 size chopsticks, like they do violins?) you would become proficient very quickly. BTW I, too, am not.

My favorite fortune, which is pinned to the bulletin board above my desk, is "You can depend on the trust of the collective."

I have no idea what it means, but it sounds vaguely threatening.

MAG, that is why some of us practised in private for years before venturing out where people could see our stick-fu.

I am enjoying your imagery, too. I think I saw a kung fu film where a general was assassinated with chopsticks.

My wife and I were dining at a Thai restaurant on Charles Street a few years ago and an single diner sat nearby reading an out of wown newspaper. When his food arrived, he chastised the server and demanded chopsticks, which were graciously brought to the table. Thai people use forks and knives.

Esquire Rule No.569: There is no shame in using Western utensils for Eastern cuisine.

I used chopsticks for the first time on my first date with the woman who would later become my wife. So, I may have proved Lissa's point.

Two pair of chopsticks live in my desk, both in tidy bamboo boxes. I do wash them after each use, but I figure -- like cutting boards -- the wood will act as its own germicide.

I use mine for far more than oriental food. I find that a salad is easier to eat with chopsticks than with a fork, for example.

For the sake of fun, my parents bought my sister and I (automatic) chopsticks when we were children. It consisted of a standard pair of chopsticks attached at the top with a clothespin like attachment. This smart contraption provided for an impossible to fail use of the utensil. I could never use real ones, but my sister mastered using them quite early.

EL, I just got chased off of the doggy blog and I'm askeered. I promise I'll never go back.:-)

Jon Parker,
Resistance is futile.

RayRay - how did you get away? Were you off your leash?

RayRay - What is the world did you do over there. I'll have to go a see for myself. Everytime I have visited, they all seem very nice and civil. Unless the topic of fining for off leash dogs come up! Oh, and cleaning up after your dog. Talk about the you know what hitting the fan!

Thai people eat their cuisine with a fork and a large spoon. When I see someone break out the chopsticks at a local Thai restaurant, it doesn't bother me. What does bother me is ordering pad thai from what I thought was the best local Thai restaurant only to be served a pile of mushy overcooked noodles. I am craving Thai food from a Bangkok street vendor so bad right now....

Eat with your right hand and wipe with your left hand.

But is it immoral to use chopsticks at your desk?

Trixie,

You are exactly right. They were both the topic of discussion.

Trixie, there is some foaming at the mouth going on over at the bow wow blog on the subject of whether Obama PROMISED to get a shelter dog and is therefore not to be trusted ever again.

Bucky and Trixie,
Yeah, it was the discussion about leashes and poop. I don't mind having my opinions challenged, but some of the people were rather condescending. I'll stay here where civility reigns. :-)
Oh, and uh, bacon. ( the requisite food reference) :-))

Ah, politics as defined by pooches. I get it now!

It isn't politics as defined by pooches, it is politics as defined by selfish dog owners.

It isn't dog hating to wish to see people obey the leash laws (which protect dogs as well as humans) and clean up after themselves and their dogs. It is basic "living with others" skills.

It is basic "living with others" skills.

Ding-We have a winner! Good point Lissa! You should post that over there and see what happens.

I'm staying here so I don't get bit or pooped on.

you eat much more slowly, therefore filling upon less food with chopsticks. And why does everyone feel the need to mention that Thai do not use chopsticks?

I already did, PCB Rob. And in other places. Remember the drive-by 5 minute hate against me a few months ago? That is one of the results.

I had forgotten about that Lissa. That was rather harsh.

Lissa - Very well put! And please don't let ignorant comments from others deter you from expressing yourself. You always have insightful (and witty!) viewpoints to share.

Hmmm, my fortune cookie post seems to have gone to the Comment Graveyard (over 24 hours ago). Here's take 2:

The best fortune I ever saw was "The greatest danger may be your stupidity." My friend laminated it and now carries it around in his wallet. It's quite appropriate.

I don't know where these missing comments go, but I sometimes suddenly get a bunch that were all posted at the same time only about two days later. If so, I'll post it. But wise to repost it just to make sure. EL

Oops. It was actually greater danger, not greatest.

Forgive me if I am a little slow for catching on...But do you realize that all the raised hackles and foaming mouths surrounding the leashing laws is being argued on a blog titled "Unleashed". Am I the only one that finds that ironic?

Perhaps the oldest, and still the best fortune cookie fortune is "Help, I'm a prisoner in a Chinese fortune cookie factory."

"Help, I'm trapped in a discussion of leash laws!"

Shall we put it to a vote? Cat people or dog people? Naw ...

I've always thought chopsticks an elegant, refined food delivery system.

When I have eaten among Chinese people - and I am dreadful with chopsticks so I have to do the goofy blonde bit which, I find, has an upper age limit for effectiveness that I have long passed, although I continue to work the shtick - I have been over whelmed at how noisy and unelegantly they eat, with the bowl held right up next to their mouths, shoveling with the sticks and slurping.

My favorite cookie fortunes:

You will be advanced socially, without any special effort. I hope money comes with this advancement.

The skills you have gathered will one day come in handy. Still hopin' for money.

Trixie, I don't like the name of that blog, and it is one of the reasons I seldom go there. Unfortunately, it isn't the only place having that "discussion." The name just makes it sound like a club for the uncivilized.

Dahlink, I have two cats and a dog (or they have me, as the case may be). Companionship should not be a zero sum game.

(good one, sean. I feel that way since moving here.)

Companionship should not be a zero sum game.

What does that mean?

meow, I'm a dog person and a cat person. It is possible.

Not so fond of lizards, though. Don't dislike them, just don't want one.

"meow" wrote:

Companionship should not be a zero sum game.

What does that mean?

In this case, it means that liking cats doesn't require hating dogs, or vice versa.

I like traveling, [flying, backpacking] with chopsticks. I use them to cook pasta, because it's easy to use them to fish out a noodle to check to see if it's to my liking. However, I don't use them to eat chinese food. A fork is easier to handle the rice, unless they give you sticky rice.

Lissa, I've never wanted a lizard either, but I have a feeling that if I did have one I'd end up becoming attached to it.

And wanting to see the dog on a leash doesn't make one a dog-hater.

True, Hal. When I lived in India, I became quite attached to the wall lizards.

Swerving back to the original topic, one of the best uses of chopsticks was the time my husband lost a stirring magnet in some chemical brew. His lab partner was Korean, and he simply produced a couple of glass wands, and using them chopstick style, easily retrieved the missing magnet. Ta da!

And wanting to see the dog on a leash doesn't make one a dog-hater.

Like puppy-hater Lissa?

Hal,
I know someone who has a lizard for a pet and they are rather high maintenance.

Laura Lee,
That is so true. I like dogs a lot but when someone's "friendly" 150 lb dog that I have never met is running full tilt at me, I don't like it at all.

jean,
from what I understand, the Chinese make their rice sticky so its easier to pick up with chopsticks.

When I was in the Navy, I was in a Chinese restaurant in Bahrain (this is no lie, the menu was in three languages) we were given only chopsticks. It was my first time with chopsticks and I tried, really. I didn't do that bad with the big stuff, the smaller stuff was harder. Now I know why the Chinese eat Homer Simpson style, close to the face and rapidly.

By the way, the food was excellent.

K9 -- time to mosey along back to your kennel, there's a good dog.

"Perhaps the oldest, and still the best fortune cookie fortune is 'Help, I'm a prisoner in a Chinese fortune cookie factory.'"

And, of course, the Republican operative who managed to slip some fortune cookies reading "Nixon will win" onto the Hubert Humphrey campaign train in 1968.