Why the hate for chopsticks? Just get rid of all utensils and shovel everything into your mouth. Or use your fingers, really. You really need to get over this Western tradition thing of not touching your food. The dexterity of hands > utensils in general

#76 lol maybe your chopstick skills need honing. if you can actually use chopsticks, you can pick up anything (other than soup... but forks would fail there too). it's more versatile than a fork, and simpler too. I prefer chopsticks to using my hands since it gives me extra length too--handy for picking at food across a wide table!

unless you're taking stuff from plates to your own plate/bowl, there's really no need to pick stuff up; most asians i know just simply scrape the stuff into their mouths using the chopsticks. also in regards to 'It's time for people to get rid of their stupid traditions and just start using the spork for everything.' chopsticks aren't a stupid tradition. just because YOU think so, and just because YOU don't know how to harness the awesomeness of chopsticks, doesn't give you a right to call them 'a stupid tradition'. come back when you actually know what you're talking about.

That's a stupid comment, because there's heaps of stuff sporks are crap for. Like, cutting up a steak? Or drinking soup? Don't make stupid comments.

sure there is a 'proper' way they teach white people, but if you can eat with it then it's all good. I admit the way I hold chopsticks is not 'proper', but I can pick up things with more accuracy than those newbies who hold it the 'right' way. practice man, lifelong practice. I can also hold it the 'right' way, but 'my' way is more familiar.

Fair enough, but this topic has come up several times when I've been eating with Asians. It's not just a matter of being proper. They mention it because they notice I'm having no trouble eating something that they can't pick up, or they have to push it into something else to get a hold of it. I prefer chopsticks for pretty much anything except steak and soup. The food just drops onto the tongue and so there is less of a metal experience in the mouth.

velvel - that's the same with almost anything though. If you do it the 'wrong' way for long enough, it becomes easier than doing it the right way. The two experiences in my life that stand out to me are how to hold a pencil, and how to bowl a tenpin bowling ball. I used to hold my pencil 'wrong' but holding it 'right' felt really weird to me and I couldn't control the pencil properly, because I'd been doing it differently for ten years. But after practicing and practicing with the 'right' way, I can do it fine; and it's actually better than the way I used to do it, coz my hand doesn't cramp up as fast and my handwriting is neater. Similar story with bowling. The way I used to bowl was 'wrong'- I wouldn't bowl with my thumb leading (which is how you're supposed to). When my dad started teaching me the right way, I totally sucked. My score dropped and I didn't have as much speed. But again, after practicing the 'right' way, (and I still haven't mastered it) I'm actually beginning to get better scores than before. It's probably the same with chopsticks. You use them one way for years and that is what's familiar to you, so if you tried to use them the 'proper' way you feel like a total klutz. But if you practiced it I'm sure you'd eventually get a handle on it, and who knows, maybe eventually you'd find it easier. But it doesn't really matter; as long as the food gets into your mouth :P