The home in 50 objects from around the world #50: chopsticks

“I find chopsticks frankly distressing,” wrote Bill Bryson in Notes from a Small Island (1995).“A pair of knitting needles is no way to capture food.” Tsung-Dao Lee, the 1957 Nobel laureate for physics, held a different view, praising their versatility: “Chopsticks are an extension of human fingers. Whatever fingers can do, chopsticks can do too.” (The contrasting attitudes might just reflect the speaker’s dexterity — or not — in snatching up a mouthful of chow mein.)

Originating in China, early chopsticks were made from twigs and animal bones; examples dating back more than 7,000 years have been unearthed at Neolithic sites in Jiangsu province. Before their arrival at the dining table, though, chopsticks were used for stirring and retrieving food from a pot rather than eating. Meals were usually consumed with a spoon.

They became the preferred utensil as diet evolved. Rice, noodles and dumplings came to replace the staple millet, often eaten as porridge, and proved easier to manipulate with chopsticks than a spoon.

Later, the Chinese philosopher Confucius may have influenced their uptake. When fuel shortages led to the practice of cutting food into small pieces so it cooked more quickly, knives were no longer required at the table. This gelled with the non-violent teachings of Confucius: “The honourable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. He allows no knives on his table.” 

In Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History (2015), Q Edward Wang traces their spread across Asia; more than a fifth of the world’s population use them today. Cultural differences are explored: in China, for example, chopsticks are about 27cm long in order to bring food from the middle of a table to one’s bowl, while Japan’s shorter version is better suited to the individual bento box meal.

The English word derives from the Chinese Kuàizi, meaning “quick” and “bamboo”, while the expression “Chop! Chop!” is thought to be the Chinese pidgin English for “Quickly! Quickly”. 

Etiquette in some countries decrees that chopsticks should never be stuck upright in a heap of rice, as they resemble incense sticks on a burial mound. In others, newly-weds are often gifted a pair as symbols of love and partnership.

Quotidian contemporary chopsticks are usually made of wood, bamboo or plastic but traditional versions may be in porcelain, jade or ivory. In 2020, a couple paid $2mn for a charity dinner, which they ate with diamond-encrusted chopsticks worth $34,000. Definitely not ones for the dishwasher.

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