Chopsticks for the win, or a poor pre-wheel invention?

[Jon]

So we have chopsticks vs knife and fork. But there are a lot of folks in Asia using chopsticks! Are they in fact better for eating with than knife and fork or is this one of those inventions that form part of the culture and hence hard to eradicate from use, despite their clear inferiority?

Is this pre-wheel, post-wheel? Did chopsticks come first or knife and fork?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I'm thinking that "eating sticks" are pre-wheel AND pre-fork but that is based on logic and gut instinct. Fire is pre-wheel and so is cooking. So logic tells me that the first person to cook something probably burned the crap out of his/her hands, invented new swear words, and started using sticks to pick up hot objects. But a sharp knife (as a spearing implement) would also do the trick. I'm just thinking that we had sticks (and sharp sticks) before we had knives.

The one thing you omitted from the question probably pre-dates either knife OR fork. Where is the SPOON in all of this?

 

[Jon]

I think my initial analogy was opaque. Let me clarify. Once we discovered the (round) wheel, there was no going back. It was clearly the superior means of mobility for many things. Gone are those old square wheels! So, my thoughts were that perhaps chopsticks were embedded in Asian culture because no one had thought of the knife and fork before. Or, could it be that indeed the chopstick is better than the knife and fork? (Clue: I use chopsticks with nearly everything!)

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Other than a tendency to splatter my shirt when I drop my food 'cause the sticks slipped, I enjoy using them. But then again, I so rarely miss my mouth with WHATEVER implement is at hand that it hardly matters. One might argue that knives and forks work better when eating a huge platter of steak or chicken or pork, simply because we tend to frown on grabbing the whole chunk of meat but only biting off a piece at the time. At least my wife does, but we won't talk about what I used to do as a bachelor...

 

[Jon]

I enjoy eating a nice curry with my chopsticks. But since there is plenty of sauce there, I tend to take my top off in case I drop a chunk of chicken followed by a splash. Please note, I am a bachelor!

One argument in favour of chopsticks is you only use one hand. That is twice as efficient. Someone asked me the other day if I use them to eat a steak and the answer is no!