Wednesday, August 1, 2007

All you need to know about Chopsticks

7 days to go! Still need to finish some assessments, but i can already start getting prepared for the traveling. Today i cooked myself some noodles, and guess what, i just ate them with chopsticks.
I do have some experience using these eating utensil, but i need to get faster! It is not so easy, specially when the food is almost finishing.


Did you know that?
> Chopsticks should not be left standing vertically in a bowl of rice or other food. Any stick-like object pointed upward resembles the incense sticks that some Asians use as offerings to deceased family members; certain funerary rites designate offerings of food to the dead using standing chopsticks.
> Chinese traditionally eat rice from a small bowl held in the left hand. The rice bowl is raised to the mouth and the rice pushed into the mouth using the chopsticks. Some Chinese find it offensive to scoop rice from the bowl using a spoon. If rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the West, it is acceptable and more practical to eat it with a fork or spoon.
> In China alone, an estimated 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are used and thrown away annually. This adds up to 1.7 million cubic meters of timber or 25 million fully grown trees every year. Uau!