Yup, I'm pretty decent with chopsticks. Though my right hand doesn't like he claw motion you have to make, so it ends up hurting after a while. I tell it to suck it up though so it can become more cultured/pretentious.
Here's my quick tip for anyone who thinks they have the basics down but are struggling to grip the food properly: hold the chopsticks very high up (towards the end farthest from the food you are picking up). That seemed counter-intuitive to me at first but you have a much stronger grip and much greater control when you hold them high.
Good news - it's perfectly acceptable to do this! As is drinking from the bowl with soup, and loudly slurping your noodles. The Japanese see this as an enthusiastic appreciation of food and it is perfectly polite. Just don't use your chopsticks to point at anything, that's like slapping someone's mother in the face.Originally Posted by sharkythesharkdogg
They're easy enough to use for me.
The only time I'm probably overly rude with them is when I scoop food from the bowl directly into my mouth. Soup is one thing, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to hold your rice bowl under your mouth and still attempt to pick up the item with your chopsticks and place it in your mouth.
....but that can get tiresome when you have the last little bits of your meal left in the bowl. I've seen plenty of native Japanese bend the rules on stuff like that, so I don't feel too bad when I do it myself.
Especially when it's a pretty casual setting.
The trick is to get the right rice. Most western food (and bad Japanese food) uses quite long grain rice that isn't very sticky. Good Japanese style rice (I dunno about Chinese or other chopstick using countries) is short grain and super sticky, which makes it rather easy to pick up with chopsticks.
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