The Interesting Feature of Korean Chopsticks is that Those Are Made of Metal.

The Interesting Feature of Korean Chopsticks is that Those Are Made of Metal.
2007-07-13
Chopsticks are one of most unique culture in East Asia. Chopsticks have amazingly long history comparing with a folk. Ancient Chinese used chopsticks 3000 years ago and those were made of bronze. Chopsticks were introduced to Korea 1800 years ago and to Japan 1400 years ago with rice. A folk, however, has been used in Europe since 14th century.

All of Korean, Chinese and Japanese use chopsticks when they eat a meal. In a point of Western people's view, they seem to use same chopsticks but it is not true. You can find that each country use different chopsticks in different ways if you look at it carefully.

First, Chinese one is longer thicker than others. They use chopsticks to pick side dishes but they use it toughly as compare with Koreans. They bring a rice bow close to face by hand and scrape boiled rice to their mouth by chopsticks. Chopsticks in China are usually made of wood or plastic.

Japanese use the shortest one among three countries. The shape of them is a cone and they usually use wooden chopsticks. They normally use those to pick something such as boiled rice, noodles and so on. Besides they also eat boiled rice holing a rice bow by another hand.

The most interesting feature of Korean chopsticks is that those are made of metal. Of course, Korean also use wooden and plastic one. The length is longer than Japanese one and shorter than Chinese one but Korean one is the heaviest. Korean never eat boiled rice holding a rice bow by another hand. Korean use both of chopsticks and a spoon when they eat boiled rice. As a result, Korean are accustomed to using chopsticks more delicately and widely. Korean can pick up small things using chopsticks and even tear something. Some people believe that Korean can make sophisticated products because they use metal chopsticks.

These differences come from each county's own culture. Japanese and Korean eat short grain in rice but Chinese usually eat long grain. Shot grain is much more adhesive than long grain. Therefore Korean and Japanese can pick up boiled rice easily by chopsticks and do not need to bring a rice bow close to face. Traditionally, it is a very superficial action to hold a rice bow in Korea but eating boiled rice by spoon is superficial in Japan.

As author mentioned above, Korea, Japan and China have similar and different culture like chopsticks. If you try to find common and different feature among those culture, you can learn Korean, Chinese and Japanese culture more easily and enjoyably. By Sung-Joon Hwang, VANK Columnist황성준 칼럼니스트