Your Basic Guide on How to Use Chopsticks for Beginners!

Mastery will take time and for some, this challenge might seem daunting but worry not! Here’s our basic step-by-step guide on how to use chopsticks!

With the world opening up to the wonders of Asian cuisine, the idea of being able to experience an authentic Asian dining experience has become more and more appealing. However, for the uninitiated, there is one last hurdle that you must overcome if you want to get the most out of your Asian food trip, and that is to be able to eat using chopsticks! Despite being more widely used in Asian countries, chopsticks are a utensil that is very versatile and very portable. It’s like taking a fork, spoon, knife, tongs, and whisk then compacting them into two wooden or metal sticks!

STEP ONE: GETTING YOUR CHOPSTICKS READY

When learning how to use chopsticks, you need to have your own pair! Many cutlery stores now sell a wide variety of chopsticks so you can get ones that are made of metal, plastic, and even traditional wooden ones. These tend to already be separated and do not need to be taken apart.

But for those who are using chopsticks that come from their local Chinese take-out place, you need to know how to take unstick the chopsticks from each other. Simply hold them by their ends and slowly split them apart, just like how you would rip apart a wishbone. Be careful of splinters though!

STEP TWO: HOLDING THE CHOPSTICKS

Whether you are right or left-handed, you need to hold your chopsticks in your dominant hand. It is advised that you hold it loosely as gripping it now will make it harder for you later to control.

Chopstick number one:

Take one chopstick and place it on the valley between your pointer finger and your thumb. Rest the body of the chopstick against the upper portion of your ring finger; this leaves your middle and pointer finger free. This end must not move when you are picking things up with your chopsticks.

Chopstick number two:

Take the second chopstick and line it up with your first chopstick. Slowly move it so that it will be placed between your pointer finger and your middle finger.  Make sure that your middle finger is supporting the chopstick from below while your thumb grips its side. Your pointer finger is will also be placed above this chopstick.

When eating this chopstick will do most of the moving so get acquainted with this position!

STEP THREE: MOVING THE CHOPSTICK

Since only the second chopstick will do the moving, you need to learn how to move it properly! To open it up, use your pointer and middle finger to move it upwards. Try moving downwards to close the chopsticks!

STEP FOUR: PICKING THINGS UP

Now that you know how to move your chopsticks up and down, try practicing the movement on any foodstuffs like grapes, raisins, and orange slices to see how good your grip is. Position your hand so that the space between your chopsticks is wider than the piece of food you want to pick up. Then, just like how you closed your chopsticks, lower the second chopstick and lightly squeeze your practice food. Remember, chopsticks act like some sort of a pincer where you have to make sure that your food is in between the sticks. The heavier the object is, the more you have to adjust your grip so start with small light things first! Also, if you have a hard time controlling your chopsticks, make sure that the ends are even! Good luck and happy eating! 
If you want to practice your newly gained chopsticks skills and have your own Asian food trip, you can try to check out our highly-praised chopsticks at the Panda Prime store!