Why 1.5 billion people eat with chopsticks | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED series 

😂😂😂

1 - push chopsticks into the nose. 2 - discombobulate.

@@lukakiria527 in summary, discombobulate.. damn 😅😂

@@deepakvpd9535 LoOk Im SoO pRouD I kNOw a comPliCated woRd

EXACTLY!

huh plant joke

@@weebhavv guess you could say that joke wasn't grounded

i dont think your telling the truth...i dont see how that is possible...

😂😂😂

Then we eat you :)

1,5 billion Not million

Bugzy Hardrada So China and all of Justin Bieber’s followers

There's like 3 billion people in China so that's half the population

@Shubham Chauhan Fun fact: the whole of humanity use their hands for eating.

@@RascalCase Burn!!!! Oh my god I'm dead reading your comment

But I heard Indians don't use toilet paper to clean after going to restroom, they use hands to clean. Is it true?

@@PatrickFan123 left hand to clean , right hand to eat Reverse in case of left handers And few or more ppl use jet spray's..so👀

@@PatrickFan123 water

@@PatrickFan123 yes but no. In urban india(where I live) people use toilet paper or just jet water. Idk about rural india but I guess they clean their poo with the hands😕

Thanks for your reply everyone.😁

Soo true.

lol 😂

🤣

Thank you🤖

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Epic comment

Maybe Korean chopsticks are the hardest

I never really thought about it, but I think it’s right!

It's because of the different cuisine. Chinese foods are more oily and hence our chopsticks are thicker (I'm a Malaysian Chinese). Japanese foods contain mostly seafood like fish, so pointy chopsticks are easier to pick up the soft meat. Korean chopsticks are flat so that they can pick up flat things like flat noodles and vegetables (kimchi) easily.

신주현 omg yes, dude metal is so slippery, my dumbass be trying to pick something up, bring it to my plate and then it just falls into the table lmfao and then everyone stares at me.

There's also cooking chopsticks which are very long and used by mothers for punishment. 😆 Japanese chefs use metal chopsticks that look like metal rods with spikes at the end for precision plating. Also, tempura chefs use thick chopsticks that look like drum sticks for mixing and flicking batter into hot frying oil.

Alright chillax

Easy to clean.

India!🙋

Me too!! And I sometimes feel like using utensils to eat rice and stuff messes with my flavors, is it just me?🤔🤔

Depend Kore , Chinese restaurant like Xi'an a gele to utensils e use korte hoy

Do you really use chopstick to eat rice. Haha it's really impossible to eat rice with chopstick in india especially for me.

You actually do your homework!

@@bestquotes2765 I think they eat sticky rice, which is easier to pick up with chopsticks... I could be wrong though

As a Chinese, I still have nightmare picking meat from pork bone in Ganjamtang(not sure if I spelled it right..)

@@bestquotes2765 it's really easy to eat rice with chopstick

something I've been attempting and failing since five

In Vietnam we always eat noodle soup with chopsticks.

I eat soup with forks and I accept the challenge.

Orrrrrr just tilt your bowl

Creepy Girl after centuries of training, I was finally able to use chopsticks to pick up a single green bean

Confucius say man learn meaning of patience when mosquito lands on testicle.

Mr. Miyagi?

Shinchan can do it

@@ultimateeditorz7754 I was thinking that 😂😂

Ok I grabbed fly Fly is ded though

Diamond chopsticks

Jade chopsticks are the thing

Peasants, it's jade chopsticks.

that would give me anxiety lmao

to be honest, gold chopsticks would be horrible. they're way too heavy. i love wood choopsticks :]

It really makes a lot of sense when you think about it too. Selfish people will only think of themselves and not think to help others. Benevolent people will very easily share their food with someone else so the long chopsticks wouldn't be a hindrance to them and the experience is probably very joyful as well. I'm imagining an overall sens of well-being and love as they pass the food to each other.

@@suicune2001 Thanks for explaining the implicit

Chris Machado I’ve heard that story many times, but it’s the first time I hear it with chopsticks, it’s not really an integral part of the story.

It's not how the story goes, and she just used it to make her seem intelligent. Can't feed people with chopsticks that long anyways. The real story is about soups and using ladles. Show off much!

@@poppyflorist no, I heard her version when I was a kid

Yes I use them for Cheetos!!!

“ *The Finger* “ very ominous

big brain

Weird way of saying how all asians are skilled lol.

@@voyagereternal11 im not saying all asians a re skilled

So does that mean it is common for Chinese people to be able to eat rice with chopstick? Or is it actually uncommon? I thought that it had to be common, even though it seems like it would be difficult to me, since rice is so common in the same countries that use chopsticks.

@@Alex-bn3ix Well, yes. It is super common for Chinese to eat rice with chopstick, in fact, it is the main utensil Chinese use to eat rice. Something that a lot of people misunderstood is how do you eat rice with chopstick? Do you pick the rice one by one? The answer is no but sometimes, technically, yes. No because usually chopstick is used to scoop the rice since you can't really pick it up one by one. And sometimes technically yes, because when the rice is cooked it is stick together so the chopstick can also be used as a spoon to eat rice. I see in manga that in Japan usually little kids start using spoon to eat and later on they learn how to use the chopsticks, is mainly the same in China, but from my own experiences, only kids as little as those who can't really eat by themselves use spoon and those who can totally eat by themselves always use chopsticks. First thing they grab from the table to start eating are chopsticks.

@@Alex-bn3ix Btw, apparently the guy who commented before you thinks Chinese are the only Asians in Asia

It's still quieter to use your hands, but there's an utensil for different things.

That depends on if it is made of metal or not. My $0.02: use wooden utensils.

Agree.

Because in their culture, they usually dine together as a family and share dishes. So it's easier for them to pick up small pieces of food. And also the history reason, it's just a tradition. Same as Chinese characters.

Why do americans and other western countries use a fork? Both work. I personally feel like its just two different methods of eating that developed in different places- neither is better than the other, they just correlate to the different cultures they developed in, ya know?

Corinne Hoffmann eating with chopsticks could be smaller portion and thus eating slower and longer which is good for your digestive system

Corinne Hoffmann I think chopsticks are far easier to manufacture than forks, especially pre-industrial revolution, which allowed them to be more common. A quick Wikipedia search indicates that it was the Italians who popularized the use of forks around the 1600s, specifically for the eating of pasta. In a way, the cultures which ate noodles were the first to really start using utensils to eat. The rest of the world seemed perfectly content using their hands.

Would you ever switch over to eating with chopstick or forks? I eat somethings with my hands but not everything.

Hands are the best tool.🖐️ हात सबै भन्दा राम्रो उपकरण हो। 🖐️

@@azatalimov8634 पक्षमा hahah

@@officialspaceefrain i do use spoom, fork and chopsticks. But we are brought up and taught to use hand.

I hate Nepal

That’s also the case for Americans :)

i mean I use both chopsticks and my hands, and things like pho I would use a spoon lol. But yeah for a lot of our dishes they're very hand-orientated, such as Banh Mi

it's just how our ancestors ate.. It's kind of tradition for us.. I just mean people from (Nepal)

​@@apekshyadhakal3067Same in india. Our food is meant to eat using hand ,that's the traditional and most comfortable way of eating ❤.

I would just stab the chopstick into food, turn it around, and then eat it like that. Like a spear.

Good luck with the metal and ivory ones

🤣🤣🤣

This joke is so ignorant that it doesn't even have a passport. .

😂

@@raykusengsky2205 how is it ignorant? He's just saying they are too close to her face when filming.

@@raykusengsky2205 im so ignorant i dont know why an ignorant joke would need a passport

Allison same xD

Why oh why I have never thought of this!

I thought I was the only person who did this!

YOO I ALWAYS DO THIS! Crunchy Jalapeno Cheddar Cheetos with chopsticks is just THE way to do it.

Honestly, I do this with every snack.

Shane McDonald Music do we😂

Shane McDonald Music lol In America you only eat off a spork when your in jail 🤣

@@thedatavampire7383 Or eating a KFC Famous Bowl. Lol

Luis Laureano true that on point buddy!! 🤣

Australians eat with fawks and knoives.

Why's that?

I’m Chinese and I haven’t heard of that

@@mridulsharma7994 knives are instruments that bring hurt and blood while the dining table is a place of unity and prosperity.

@@kushastea3961 Oh. Well when you put it like that... just imagining it is making me feel things. 🥺

@@mridulsharma7994 Never give knives as wedding gifts in a Chinese wedding. Knives symbolize cutting things and separation, not a good gesture for matrimony.

Would really be funny seeing you use your "natural chopsticks" for hot pot then

@@tonyzhu1687 If it is hot enough that you'd hurt your fingers, I reckon it's hot enough not to put it in your mouth🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️😂And for soups and stuff, we use spoons.

@@tonyzhu1687 for hot pot i use the chopstick between my legs

@@amigotroll7772 hol up

I think the story's originally asian, I'm not sure though

In Jewish mysticism there's a story of having everyone in the 'afterlife' seated at never-ending tables, always piled high with food and drink, and everyone's arms are locked out in front of them. In the 'good' room people are inherently selfless, so they feed each other and are happy. In the 'bad' room people are inherently selfish, so they only try to feed themselves and starve.

Well considering that the Asians have been established in their culture & use of chopsticks so much longer then the Eruopeans have been using cutlery its more then likely that yours is "the european version".

I just googled, sources arent quite clear but its attributed to a european Rabbi, the story spread to many different cultures altering the story for example a version where the arms are fixed and the people are using regular cutlery

@@jdkrones1039 we have similar story in Hindu Religion I am not sure about its origin though

Stephen Mason They are, my GF uses them when we bring home popcorn chicken.

Fingers are awesome for that one too!! x

That's funny

I've never gone to a KFC :'(

Why don't your eat with a lobster's arm?

No sir.... 35 times she said chopsticks

1. fearless your estimation is horribly off 2. joshua why would you count the times she said chopsticks

alf , both you jerks just drove me to count how many times she actually said it, twenty-five times. Lol. Not kidding though. Edit: she said chopsticks on average every 7,8 seconds. A bit much.

@@jesusmarywillsaveyou your fault lol

Jesus is a myth!🤗 Every 14th male Jew has been named "Yeshua"...aka Jesus.

In a short video about chopsticks? How strange.

Because.....the chopstick has a similar mechanism to knife&fork. Spoon is used for soups...

María Martínez it’s strange to me because she mentioned fork and knife. Maybe because where I’m from you would have seen more than 100 people using spoon before someone using a knife or fork to eat

@@codeoftee What? Where are you from outside asia that a spoon is more common (100 times more common even) than a knife or fork?

Spoons are for the weak, they deserve to be ignored

For dramatic purposes

So that she looks better on a smartphone screen?

@@midfidelity7180 phone screens aren't smaller or anything. You tend to put your phone closer to your face than a monitor. It ends up being about the same size.

@@befer LOL, you can do the math yourself, but I can help you out. Suppose you have a 27inch display 20 inches away from your eyes. You need to put your 6-inch cellphone screen 4.5 inches away. Only short-sighted people with no glass on them do that.

@@midfidelity7180 this makes no sense. You are wrong, yes it would appear like that if you tried to '' allign it '' but phone screens work differently than normal monitors, it's the way light comes out of these screens, etc. it's not a '' simple math '' problem, really, if you take a look and try to put your phone against your screen, you'll see that it's gonna be *about* the same. for e.g i watch my videos in small window mode, as i feel uncomfortable with full screen, and that's the exact same size when i watch videos on my phone. i know these sentences don't make 100% perfect sense, but i'll try to comeback and re-write them later for now i am very tired, for which i'm sorry i guess

Bullshit. Are you 13 or some deluded overly patriotic 40 year old? It's not that deep.

Un1234l I bet you aren’t Chinese and haven’t even tried to understand the culture. It’s a simple concept. The more you practice something difficult, the more sophisticated and sharper you become. There’s a reason why China has one of the highest average IQ’s. Chinese culture is over 5000 years old, making it meticulous and extremely detailed, thus its people are better critical thinkers. For example, a foreigner might think calligraphy is useless and requires little effort, but there are hundreds, if not thousands of different ways to write the same word, different papers, inks, positions, etc. In ancient times, calligraphy was so important, you could only work for the government if you could write beautifully. Because an experienced eye can see the nature of your heart and how calm your mind is through your words. No where else in the world is handwriting as valued as in china. The culture views life as an art and that includes table manners. If you can eat a single piece of rice one at a time, your mind is definitely clear. In Zen temples, even eating is a way to practice awareness. Meals are silent, and monks often practice trying to make absolutely no noise. This all requires much more thinking than using a spoon. In fact, the western etiquette with a fork and knife also requires more thinking because you have to be aware of your appearance, though it is still a bit easier than using chopsticks. So yes, in a way it is that deep, because it’s one of the oldest cultures.

@@yayalu8650 LOL. It's not that deep. Anyone without dexterity issues can learn how to use chopsticks PROPERLY within an hour or two. That's not a sign of an advanced or sophisticated skill. And you're constantly harping about how superior "Chinese" are when so many other Asians have chopsticks engrained in their culture too. GTFOH. Then you claim I must not be Chinese when 76% of my DNA is Chinese. Stfu.

Un1234l Yeah and you can learn to use a fork within five seconds. You can probably eat with chopsticks after one hour of practice, but can you pick up a slippery pea or guarantee you won’t drop anything? The sophistication also comes more from how elegantly and fluidly you use them. It’s the same concept as how Asian parents tell their kids eating fish makes you smarter. You have to use your tongue to pick out the bones whereas Westerners with their fillet just stick a fork in and shove it down. Do you really think there is no difference? Also as an adult it’s much easier, but using utensils starts from when you are a toddler. A kid that uses chopsticks is probably more likely to improve their motor and thinking skills than a kid that uses a spoon. I’m not saying one culture is better than the other. Its just that the Chinese had nothing else to do so they refined everything to the tea. If sophistication didn’t matter, they would probably settle for the knife and fork. And I’m *so* sorry for my inconsiderate lack of inclusivity. I *really* should have used the word Asians more even though most people know chopsticks originated from China so it makes sense that I’m talking about it so much. In the end, you didn’t understand what I was saying. Honestly I feel like maybe I’m just arguing with a tween based on how you resort to cussing as a last resort.

I believe in your explanation, in fact I myself use chopsticks to test my patience (or something) and when I pick food successfully I feel like I've achieved something in doing so.

Gold

😂😂

Yet he's the one who died like a dog... Shame.

@@norandomness gotta be carefull when collecting eyes i suppose

Phlegethon love this.

man im wheezing

The rest of the world? Are you that dumb? Not every other cultures uses knife and fork, idiot!

Hilarious

@@wisdomelves5838 Yooo. Chill out there brother. Bad day?

Im being rectally force fed. Im locked in Eminems basement. Help

Me too, forks, spoons, knife, chopsticks or hand are all tools, the purpose is to deliver food into mouth.

I was born with my hands and feet swapped, i.e my keyboard and mouse are on the floor(im not very good at fps games as you can imagine) and since its reallly uncomfortable to bring my ankle-wrists to my mouth I've had to learn to eat using my toe dexterity.

The Chinese used knives and forks thousands of years ago

It's so true. Using chopsticks to eat rice is as basic as use clothes to cover the body in east asia

Ok chill guys. Put it in perspective. It is more difficult to eat rice than to pick up a piece of meat. That doesnt mean that it is actually difficult. But it is more difficult. So you need a bit more skill As if she called you all retarded. If anything she says you are skilled. Ffs relax

As someone who only got introduced to chopsticks in my late 20s, has had very little sporadic practice and hasn't really mastered how to use them efficiently even for bigger pieces, I beg to disagree. I'm otherwise fairly dextrous too. I just don't really do chopsticks.

They were smooth? 🤨 They usually compensate for material and shape by adding or cutting ridges for grip. 🤦 You must have had some from a bad designer.

Once you master those metal ones, you'll become an expert in chopsticks. You could cut almost anything with those sturdy metal chopsticks!

As a native chopsticks user , I can tell you yeah , korean chopsitcks are hard to use

And that exactly answers the title, isnt it?

Woahh..

nice

r/cursedcomments

You ever tried a kn--...nevermind

but but ... you can also try balancing/hanging a spoon on your nose But chopsticks are the only kind of cutlery reliable enough for a lobotomy!!

Yep. Not only that you can portion your food better when eating. It's so different eating a spoon full of rice than a chopstick one. I like it because I eat slower and actually enjoy the food. If I have the chance I eat with chopsticks.

Where can I download this book ? Any links ?

@@ekulia You can find it here: www.keepyourbrainalive.com/

Use two straws?

Based on comments, dont think ppl have ever seen someone drink soup with chopsticks!

hahahahahahaha

Lol why not simply dump the soup into your mouth😂

@Sanjay Golla syringe chopsticks?

Cutlery always has a learning curve. Ever hand a baby their first fork or spoon and then wait a year for them start using it without putting it in their hair or devolving to hand-fisting their mashed potatoes? Your way of eating food is "simple" to you because you don't remember the learning process.

Eating with forks and knives might seem simple if you grew up with it but it might have a learning curve if you didn't. Even eating with your hands seems simple but not if you grew up eating with forks and spoons.

Well I don't know how to break this to you... but I have also possibility to eat slower with a fork. Oh and I can also eat faster if I need to. Win win situation. It's like I having a car that goes only 30km/h because im not in hurry, until you have to drive 800km to see your relatives. I also have an ability to control myself.

@@noobwatt no one cares

@@rhettvaughan1937 thanks for reply. That shows you actually care.

@@pushpas.6679 I only care about you bby

@@noobwatt you do have the possibility but that likelihood of actually eating it like that is unlikely because you have the opportunity to eat fast. It's like moving slow but the cars behind you are beeping at you for going too slow so you instinctively go fast where instead there could've been a road where you can casually drive slow. There are some who have the ability to control themselves and there are some who can't help themselves.

Same here in Singapore! My family was really strict with the way we hold our chopsticks, it’s supposed to be a sign of good family upbringing. The irony is, my family was not even highly educated and we were poor! 🤣

鈴木裕也, my grandma didn’t mind, she said as long as you can eat, it’s fine haha

Raven von Frankenstein Japanese chopsticks tend to be shorter in length too, which makes them lighter and easier to use. Chinese ones tend to be longer and heavier (but the length of them can come in useful sometimes). Korean ones are just really tiring to use...

I was born and raised in America and I find it really easy to use the different types of chopsticks used in Japan, China, and Korea. Note: I'm Hmong, not Japanese, Chinese, or Korean.

It's really the same with forks and knives here in my country in the west. If you hold the spoon at the end its seen as bad manners and upbringing. Same with holding the knife and fork in the wrong hand.

If you look closely, Korean metal chopsticks actually got some wrinkles near the tip for anti-slippery. One thing I found out about Korean: they are good in dishwasher. Others soak up when washed, but this one does not.

So Indian Of You😂😂

@@Satyam1906 😑

us the one's that use hands don't have such a legend so I guess we're the only one who won't starve.

@@yte4770 the version of the story i know people don't have elbows but their limbs are normal otherwise. Like stick figure arms.

Marhaban

Maybe you’re an Asian in your last life lol

@@TheHa3ker you're not the first person to tell me this lol

I'm living in Europe (Germany) and here are many chinese restaurants

@@officialspaceefrain marhaban bik 👋

Never knew chopsticks has region difference

yes it is because our Korean people mostly eat kimchi and vegetables every day, so Korean chopsticks are very flat.

@@xieuun Oh i see, it's the shape. I thought you were talking about the material.

What’s wrong with Korean chopsticks? It is more clean than bamboo or any other wooden chopsticks. Shape is various, like round, square, or flat. The things is that flat one which is really common in Korean chopsticks doesn’t exist in other countries.

@@liveonair9798 sorry I didn't mean to insult Korean chopsticks 😅. It's just that the flat chopsticks were so hard to use and I was amazed that my friend (who is Korean) could use them so easily but I personally can't

i dont know about other countries but in vietnam, we sometimes hold a spoon with our right hand and use chopsticks to put food on the spoon. In that way we can eat rice, meat, veggie in one bite. Most people eat Pho this way because they can drink the soup simultaneously.

Use hand.

Bruh you’ve never used chopsticks

@@huonglarne Or you could just... use the spoon. By itself.

MoogieSRO picking up noodles with chopsticks is easier

What's a bad reason to use chopsticks?

@@Alr3m1 you loose mobility with your hand, also you cannot pick up as much food as with a fork/spoon. And for the boiled water part, theres always been wooden forks/spoons/knifes, theres no such thing as the "need" for chopsticks, they are purely cultural.

Sergi Serrano Guillem It's actually a lot easier to pick things up with chopsticks, especially if you don't want to puncture the food.

Sergi Serrano Guillem maybe u just dont know how to use em..............

@@aspergillusoryzae3722 ya, right guys, and also measuring with miles is useful, jokes aside, theres just no design put in two sticks, are u telling me that i can just pick a rock from the street, polish it, and i will have a better hammer than a modern day ironhead? Ur just being delusional here.

where did you find this information?

@@martynakubicz2614 The book from Elias is called „The Civilizing Process“.

thank you very much :) @@carlfromvienna

Correct bro ☺

Try eating a steak with your hands. It just gets dirty

@SATYAM SAXENA Point!

Bushra Umar that makes me very happy to hear that 😊

Ur a Dissapointment Jk

when u realize your asian but packing 9 inches

I am an Indian (Asian) and we eat with our hands (culturally). These days though, I use spoons, forks and chopsticks.

You must be Thai 😂

There are quite a lot of countries in Asia that use spoon primarily, though, like Thailand for example.

Interesting

it's funny how korean ppl love to own everything-

@@haehae5485 idk isn’t that traditional Korean hats tho?? I could be wrong

And it's more easy to eat with a fork or spoon, so worth.

@@14austyboi except cheetos

Yes, i also use chopstick to eat porridge, made life easier.

this. thats why I eat everything everday with chopsticks as a european

i use disposable chopsticks.no washing needed

many African cultures actually use spoons. either carved from wood, but there are also long, thin gourds/calabash that can be dried and cut into a spoon-shape

Me too. (Challenge : Guess my country by my name)

I'm Ethiopian and we mostly use hands to eat

if I hold your hands, you cant eat

@@Hanyamanusiabiasa Malaysia or Indonesia. Google translate isnt sure :P

DeOnn Norton Hawaii has lots of asain tourists the attractions are usually in several languages mostly asain

I wouldn't say that they're universally used over forks. There's a lot of Asian influence, so I suppose you could say that. However, there's also a lot of American and Hawaiian influence. For example, plate lunches with large portions of meat, rice, and veggies is common in HI, and they usually serve it with a fork, but get chopstick options. HI is a huge cultural melting pot.

you're just like me fr hahah. i am eastern european and started to use them when i was about 15 years old maybe. i use them for everything, eating snacks, too. i thought about bringing them with myself when going to a non-asian restaurant, but didn't do that yet, might have to actually do it. glad to know that there's other people that aren't asian and love using chopsticks too!

You know, there is no risk eating with chopsticks in a non-Asian restaurant. People just don't care, and when they do - it has never been aggressive or something. Food in non-Asian restaurants is not always suitable for chopsticks, but you can always cut it small enough to fit right.

@@LukeVilent yeah, i think the same! i consider myself a rather shy person, but i don't feel self-conscious at all when thinking about eating with chopsticks there. i actually asked the waitress once to bring me them when i couldn't eat my salad with a fork lol!

10 years ago in Kyoto, I found a pair of chopsticks which can be separated in half to store in the plastic case and screwed back in to use. Since then I carry around them in my purse, and use them at Asian restaurants. When I assemble them, I always feel like James Bond.

Use you're fingers it is also fun and also surprisingly versatile if you know how to use them and it's reusable, biodegradable, easy to wash, easy to transport, it's hassle-free you won't be charged for extra weight.

@@nitink.a567 nope it's unhygienic

@@Vampybattie Utensils , at the restaurant has been inside somebody else mouth but your fingers isn't. You don't know where all the places that mouth has been . 😅

Henry Drieberg not for long lol

quangluu96 YEAH! That’s what I’m talking about

Exactly. Wtf. You can't eat bread with chopsticks.

Well actually they do have silverware.

I don't see the clickbait in it

That’s not a question

@@themultiverse5447 I disagree, it's the questions of all questions