Curious About…Chopstick Etiquette.
Last week in Japan was about studying the subtle details of everything, from handing over a business card (text pointed towards the user, ponder theirs for a second, do not carelessly place it in a pile on the table) to the depth of a bow (not too shallow which is dismissive, not too deep which is too formal and reverent) and to struggling to not make a fool of myself with chopsticks, which even though I grew up with, I still feel clumsy using. It’s a complex minefield, and I thought it might be useful to chart a course through it and figure out the dealbreakers and rules that can be bent.
The English word “chopstick” seems to have been derived from Chinese Pidgin English, a pidgin in which “chop chop” meant “quickly.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest published use of the word is in the 1699 book “Voyages and Descriptions” by William Dampier, where it says: “They are called by the English seamen Chopsticks”.
The first big etiquette no-no? Never, never stick your chopsticks into your food. This is bad because it’s the way a bowl of rice is offered to the spirit of a dead person, at their deathbed or in front of their photograph on the household Buddhist altar. Crossing your chopsticks on the table or food is also considered to be a no-no for the same reason, but placing them the upright-in your rice thing is considered the worst.
Passing food from chopstick to chopstick is also forbidden. Similarly, when a person dies and is cremated, their bones are passed from chopstick to chopstick as a part of the Buddhist funeral ritual. You should also not pick one one piece of food with two pairs of chopsticks (held by two people).
Finally, one I do myself all the time, hence the scolding, is taking food from a communal dish with your chopsticks. If you are served family-style, it is bad etiquette to use your own chopstick to pick up food directly from it. This is considered to be unsanitary. You should use the supplied serving utensils. If there are no serving utensils, you should turn your chopsticks the other way and use the fat or unused ends to pick up the food.
What Of It? To me, Japanese culture can be summarized in one word: nuance. The subtlest of details mean a lot and often harken back to ancient traditions, containing within them intense meaning with the most subtle of references. The elevation of the everyday and often mundane transforms things from a simple gesture to the artful.
I Am Curious about traditions and how they travel through time, about the concept of cultural nuance and the art of the elevated subtle gesture.
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