2024-02-29 06:55:09
A US soldier in Korea is using chopsticks. (Photo not directly related to the article)/Yonhap News
A post written by a netizen who took care of a neighbor’s child following seeing the child holding chopsticks like a fist has become a hot topic online. The post was left saying, ‘I wonder why parents don’t teach chopsticks.’ While many netizens expressed the opinion that “chopsticks are taught at home,” a food culture expert claimed that “chopsticks etiquette is a Japanese culture,” attracting attention. there is.
On the 27th, an article titled ‘Parents who don’t teach their children to use chopsticks’ was posted on an online community. Author A said that while taking care of 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. A said, “(The child uses chopsticks) as if he is holding a stick with his fist,” and “Because he has trouble using chopsticks, he twists and spills his whole body, gets food on his face and clothes, and eats really frantically.”
He continued, “It was unhygienic because he was not good at holding the food, so he caught and put it away several times, so I had to use new chopsticks to serve it to the child’s bowl a few times.” It is said that other customers at the restaurant even pointed out the child’s chopsticks.
Mr. A claimed that although the child’s parents came to the restaurant followingwards, there was no criticism or correction regarding the child’s chopstick use.
Mr. A said, “What is the reason parents don’t teach their children to use chopsticks? “Do you think that children will naturally do well as they grow up?” he said. “It’s not that there is any other meaning, but I’m really curious.”
Many netizens reacted to this post by saying things like, “Proper home education is necessary,” “It’s not for nothing that people learn how to use chopsticks from a young age,” and “It’s not good to see if you can’t correct them when you grow up,” while some netizens said, “Chopsticking is bad enough that it doesn’t just spill the food.” That’s it. Reactions such as “the chopstick use itself is irrelevant” and “the fact that chopstick use with 11 characters is standard is also groundless.”
Chopsticks screening introduced in the interview process for new Sempio employees./Sempio
Controversy over etiquette surrounding correct use of chopsticks has been continuously raised.
Not only are netizens’ real-life concerns frequently posted online, such as ‘My blind date’s poor use of chopsticks is annoying to my eyes’ and ‘I broke off my engagement because I can’t use chopsticks’, but the food company Sempio also reviews ‘the correct way to use chopsticks’ during the interview process for new employees. It was criticized by some as inappropriate.
At the time of introducing the chopstick test, a Sempio official explained the reason, saying, “Chopstick culture is Korea’s basic dining etiquette, a unique food culture, and a basic culture that must be maintained in the future.”
Seonghyup’s ‘Grilling Meat’./National Museum of Korea
Meanwhile, there are claims that chopstick use is far from the dining etiquette of our ancestors.
Joo Young-ha, a food anthropologist and professor at the Central Research Institute of Korea, 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 etiquette 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 ‘chopstick discourse’ that was popular in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s had an influence on Korea. Professor Joo said, “Checking how good someone is at using chopsticks is a custom that came from Japan.”
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