A US soldier in Korea uses chopsticks. (Photo not directly linked to the article)/Yonhap News
A post written by a netizen who took care of a neighbor’s child after seeing the child holding chopsticks as a fist has become a hot topic online. The post was left saying, ‘I wonder why parents don’t teach chopsticks.’ Although many netizens expressed the opinion that “chopsticks are taught at home,” a food culture expert claimed that “chopsticks manners are Japanese culture,” attracting attention. There are.
On the 27th, an article entitled ‘Parents who don’t teach their children to use chopsticks’ was posted on an online community. Author A said that while looking after a neighbor’s child, an 11-year-old elementary school student, for half a day, he went to a restaurant with the child and saw the child using chopsticks.
Mr. said A, “(The child uses chopsticks) as if he were holding a stick with his fists,” and “Because he has trouble using chopsticks, he twists and spills his whole body, having food on his face and clothes, and eats very wildly.”
He continued, “It was unsanitary because he wasn’t good at holding the food, so he grabbed it and put it away several times, so I had to use new chopsticks to serve it to the child’s bowl a few times. ” Other customers in the restaurant even reportedly pointed out the child’s chopsticks.
Mr A claimed that, although the child’s parents came to the restaurant afterwards, there was no criticism or correction regarding the use of the child’s chopstick.
Mr A said, “What is the reason parents don’t teach their children to use chopsticks? “Do you think children will naturally do well as they grow up?” he said. “There’s no other meaning, but I’m very curious.”
Many netizens responded to this post by saying things like, “We really need home schooling,” “It’s not for nothing that people learn how to use chopsticks from a young age,” and “It’s not good see if you can’t use chopsticks when you grow up,” while some netizens said, “Chopping is bad enough that it doesn’t just drop the food.” There we are. Reactions such as “the use of a chopstick itself is irrelevant” and “the fact that the use of a chopstick with 11 points is standard is also unfounded.”
Chopsticks screening was introduced in the interview process for new Sempio./Sempio employees
Ethical debate regarding the correct use of chopsticks has continually been raised.
Not only are netizens’ real-life concerns often posted online, such as ‘My blind season’s poor use of chopsticks is tiring to my eyes’ and ‘I broke off my engagement because I can’t use chopsticks ‘, but the food company Sempio also reviewed ‘the correct way to use chopsticks’ during the interview process for new employees, and was criticized by some as inappropriate.
At the time of the introduction of the chopstick test, a Sempio official explained the reason, saying, “Chopstick culture is Korea’s basic eating etiquette, a unique food culture, and a basic culture that must be maintained in the future.”
Seonghyup ‘Grilled Meat’./National Museum of Korea
Meanwhile, there are claims that using chopsticks is far from the eating habits of our ancestors.
Joo Young-ha, a food anthropologist and professor at the Korea Central Research Institute, said, “If you look at records on chopstick etiquette, there are almost no records related to it in the late Joseon Dynasty.”
Lee Deok-mu’s ‘Sasojeol’, which records the manners of a scholar’s family during the Joseon Dynasty, records attitudes when eating food, but does not mention how to use chopsticks. Also, in Seonghyeop’s ‘Grilling Meat’ painting, which depicts people eating meat while sitting around a brazier in the 19th century, you can see our ancestors making an ‘X’ shape with their chopsticks.
Furthermore, academic circles claim that the ‘discourse chopstick’ which was popular in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s has influenced Korea. Professor Joo said, “Checking how well someone is using chopsticks is a custom that came from Japan.”
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