Because millet porridge was the most common grain-based dish in the ancient world, the spoon became the most convenient tool because it helped people eat the food elegantly. As grain has always been the most significant part of an Asian meal, the tool that transports it best becomes the most essential.
So what changed? As in the case of millet porridge, boiling was the basic cooking method in Asia, and elsewhere. This incidentally is the traditional way to savor Japanese miso soup, though many outside Japan use a spoon today.
As grain food was more important than non-grain food in a meal, chopsticks however were a supplementary implement. The growing appeal of wheat in first-century China was a game changer. This was especially the case after the widespread adoption of the millstone for milling wheat into flour, which helped chopsticks make inroads and undermined the primacy of the spoon.
By the tenth century, wheat succeeded in dethroning millet as the most consumed grain among the northern Chinese, followed also by the Koreans. Wheat-flour foods, such as noodles and dumplings, combined grain and non-grain ingredients in one form, and to eat noodles, chopsticks evidently was the better tool, because the spoon could not easily transport such foodstuffs. Chinese also customarily used chopsticks to eat dumplings. To this day, noodles and dumplings are arguably the favorite wheat flour foods in the region.
Their popularity has turned chopsticks into a popular eating implement than the spoon. Long before this, however, the utensil had already received a celebrity endorsement from none other than Confucius himself.
The philosopher believed that sharp utensils like knives would remind eaters of the gruesome way the meat came to be in the bowl. Chopsticks, on the other hand, had dull ends, thus sparing their users from images of the slaughterhouse. By A. D, chopstick use had spread from China to neighbors Japan and Vietnam, where the design was adapted to local tastes. In Japan, chopsticks were made in different sizes for men, women, and children respectively.
In Vietnam, palm wood was used in favor of bronze and porcelain. While it was Japan that eventually invented the one-use chopsticks in , China was the original source of the ingenious design that has brought angst to many a takeout eater worldwide. We and our partners use cookies to better understand your needs, improve performance and provide you with personalised content and advertisements.
To allow us to provide a better and more tailored experience please click "OK". Sign Up. Perhaps you dabble with the spork, but those seem primarily relegated to elementary school cafeterias and random prepackaged plastic utensils. Enter chopsticks. For those who did not grow up regularly using chopsticks myself included , your first experience with them was likely at your family's favorite Asian restaurant and you probably reserved them for that cuisine and that cuisine only.
Yet, chopsticks date further back than the fork, and our ancestors were most certainly eating far more than sushi with them Eating with chopsticks forces you to eat more slowly and mindfully, which often leads to feeling more satisfied with less food. Consider, for example, the Italian way of eating pasta with a fork and spoon that facilitates a high volume of noodles.
But let's really get into the nitty-gritty of how you can make your food healthier just by changing the way you eat it When you eat more slowly, you also eat with greater intention, ultimately facilitating more deliberate, or mindful eating. Eating this way helps you to savor and appreciate your food. Each morsel receives its due attention.
Often we scarf down our lunch while eyeing our to-do lists and scrolling through Instagram. Chopsticks require more of your attention, bringing you deeper into the present moment. Notice the weight of the food in your hands; this is your nourishment!
0コメント