The first examples of chopsticks are dated back to around 1200 B.C. They were discovered in the Henan province of China, which is also where early versions of writing utensils were found.
Apparently Chinese ancestors were the first who invented chopsticks. They did this by discovering that using two twigs is better for reaching into pots full of hot water or oil, rather than using hands or fingers.
According to the California Academy of Sciences, which houses the Rietz Collection of Food Technology, chopsticks were developed about 5,000 years ago in China. The earliest versions were probably twigs used to retrieve food from cooking pots.
The Chinese have been wielding chopsticks since at least 1200 B.C., and by A.D. 500 the slender batons had swept the Asian continent from Vietnam to Japan. From their humble beginnings as cooking utensils to paper-wrapped bamboo sets at the sushi counter, there's more to chopsticks than meets the eye.
Prior to 300 CE, the Ancient Chinese used sticks and bones, and later, knives and forks as tools to cook food. However, much like people elsewhere in the world, they used their fingers as tools to eat food. In Northern China, the Ancient Chinese used spoons and chopsticks as eating utensils between 300 – 600 CE.
Traditionally Thais ate food with their hands (known as perb-kaao). In more traditional households, the custom of food being eaten with the right hand while seated on mats or carpets on the floor customs is still found today.
Legend has it that due to the enormous population growth in ancient China, the demand for resources necessitated meals to be prepared quickly without wasting precious fuel. To facilitate quicker cooking meat/vegetables were pre-sliced into smaller pieces, making the knife/fork unnecessary as a dining tool on the table.
The first examples of chopsticks are dated back to around 1200 B.C. They were discovered in the Henan province of China, which is also where early versions of writing utensils were found.
Well, the oldest official records of chopsticks being used in Japan is from the Kojiki, written in 712AD, but they probably made it over there even sooner than that. Chinese culture made its way over to Japan through Korea earlier than that, and the chopsticks were sure to have been one of the things that made it over.
Using chopsticks to eat is a long tradition in Vietnam and other Asian countries like China, Korea, and Japan.
Wheat flour foods, such as noodles and dumplings, combined grain and non-grain foods in one form, and to eat noodles, chopsticks clearly were the better tool, for the spoon could not lift them. Chinese also customarily have used chopsticks to eat dumplings.
If you're planning on visiting or working in Japan, you'll probably need to use chopsticks at some point. Chopsticks or Ohashi (お箸), as they're known in Japan, are an integral part of Japanese culture. Using them well will win you friends, whilst using them wrong can even offend people.
Wheat-flour foods, such as noodles and dumplings, combined grain and non-grain ingredients in one form, and to eat noodles, chopsticks evidently was the better tool, because the spoon could not easily transport such foodstuffs. Chinese also customarily used chopsticks to eat dumplings.
Both at home and in restaurants, Filipino people tend to prefer a spoon over a fork and knife, whether or not they're eating soup. The origins of this boil down to the convergence of colonialism and tropical climate. Despite the nation's proximity to China and Japan, chopsticks never took on with the population.
Actually, the Chinese were taught to use chopsticks long before spoons and forks were invented in Europe (the knife is older, not as an instrument for dining but as weapon).
Metal utensils are said to be more hygienic, as they are easier to clean at a higher temperature. Particularly, metal chopsticks are ideal for picking up sizzling hot meat from the grill at the Korean BBQ table. Yet, metal is more slippery than wood and can be a challenge for foreigners, as it demands more precision.
The monks believed the new trend of eating meat was “destroying the soul of the Japanese people.” For both religious and practical reasons, the Japanese mostly avoided eating meat for more than 12 centuries.
In 675, the use of livestock and the consumption of some wild animals (horse, cattle, dogs, monkeys, birds) was banned in Japan by Emperor Tenmu, due to the influence of Buddhism. Subsequently, in the year 737 of the Nara period, the Emperor Seimu approved the eating of fish and shellfish.
Expect to use chopsticks when you're in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. But if you go to a Thai restaurant, they'll most likely give you a knife and fork.
Chopsticks are the most popular form of utensils in China. However, anything western is usually eaten with a fork and knife.
Residents of the People's Republic of China produce 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks each year, or 130 million pairs each day, according to Los Angeles Times, which reported on the story earlier this week. The problem?
Researchers suggest that hemp paper like that found in the tomb of second-century A.D. emperor Wu Di—too crude and rough for writing—was used in the bathroom instead. By 1393, rice-based toilet paper was mass-produced for the Chinese imperial family.
What Did People Use Before Toilet Paper? Paper itself is said to have contributed to a Golden Age in China, with the pulp making process attributed to a chap called Ts'ai Lun (pictured right), a Chinese court official who mixed mulberry bark, hemp, and rags with water.