Why is chopsticks called chopsticks

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The First Chopsticks. Silver Chopsticks — How did Chopsticks begin? Disposable Bamboo Chopsticks. In the Japanese became the first to create the now-ubiquitous disposable set, typically made of bamboo or wood. Wealthy diners could eat with ivory, jade, coral, brass or agate versions, while the most privileged used silver sets.

It was believed that the silver would corrode and turn black if it came into contact with poisoned food. Throughout history, chopsticks have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with another staple of Asian cuisine: rice. Naturally, eating with chopsticks lends itself to some types of food more than others. The starches in these rices create a cooked product that is gummy and clumpy, unlike the fluffy and distinct grains of Western long-grain rice.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Live TV. Chopsticks, the eating utensils of choice in parts of Asia, have no such scandalous past, although their history is just as interesting. In fact, it was the ancient philosopher and vegetarian Confucius's disdain for another common utensil, the knife, that may have helped cement the chopsticks' role as China's preferred food-conveyance implements and ensured countless embarrassing Western date moments in future millennia.

According to the California Academy of Sciences, which houses the Rietz Collection of Food Technology , chopsticks were developed about 5, years ago in China. The earliest versions were probably twigs used to retrieve food from cooking pots. When resources became scarce, around BC, crafty chefs figured out how to conserve fuel by cutting food into small pieces so it would cook more quickly. This new method of cooking made it unnecessary to have knives at the dinner table—a practice that also jibed with the non-violent teachings of Confucius, as expressed in one of his numerous quotable quotations: "The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen.

And he allows no knives on his table.