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I was shocked to find it's a faux pas to rub disposable chopsticks to remove potential splinters. I was taught this is what you're supposed to do with disposabl

I was shocked to find it's a faux pas to rub disposable chopsticks to remove potential splinters. I was taught this is what you're supposed to do with disposable chopsticks.

WorldPeas 7mo ago
right? What's the right way? I don't want splinters on the most sensitive surface in my body..
- cthalupa 7mo ago
  The splinters come from where they break apart and there's not really any reason to have that part of the chopsticks touching your skin. But you move away from break apart disposable chopsticks in Japan long before you get to high etiquette dining. In my experience, basically every restaurant in Japan that isn't of, like, fast food tier, provides actual chopsticks instead of disposable ones.
  - waffletower 7mo ago
    I had mostly disposables but they were actually lathed wood. The crude rectangular cut chopsticks are terrible -- usually not for splinters, but they often break imperfectly, leaving you with two sticks with different lengths.
    - floren 7mo ago
      For those cheap chopsticks, I've found the best way to break them is to grasp them at the very tips, then move your two hands away from each other briskly without twisting, just straight apart. I haven't had many break badly since I started doing this.
      - fghorow 7mo ago
        (Mode I) So fracture mechanics does have its uses, eh?
dmit 7mo ago
I once witnessed a local admonish another (younger) local for exactly that at a bar. He replied with a bratty "Not my fault they're using crappy chopsticks..."
raised_by_foxes 7mo ago
It's rude if it's a nice establishment, as it conveys your belief that the chopsticks are of low quality. So that's what you're signaling with that. If everyone already knows they are cheap (e.g. disposable), then have at it.
- triceratops 7mo ago
  If a nice establishment has splintery chopsticks maybe they should look in the mirror.
  - helterskelter 7mo ago
    Probably it's rude to do it automatically with every pair of disposable chopsticks and not just the crappy ones.
  - rtpg 7mo ago
    I go to your house to have food. You give me a fork and knife. I go to your kitchen to wash the fork and knife for good measure.
    - vel0city 7mo ago
      You come to my house to have food. I serve the food on obviously unclean dishes. Is that not rude as well? Do you just use the obviously dirty, nasty, used dishes out of not wanting to appear rude? Do I just use chopsticks that will put splinters in my mouth just to not appear rude?
      - rtpg 7mo ago
        In your metaphor the equivalent would be that you see that the chopsticks have splinters and are cleaning it But everyone I met who does splinter cleanup does it _every time_ even without a cursory inspection. So the metaphor is… maybe more apt that you are cleaning a plate despite not seeing whether it’s clean or not first
- deleted 7mo ago
radley 7mo ago
I agree. I always have to do it, except at the rare restaurants. Not just splinters, but rough edges too.
tanjtanjtanj 7mo ago
I ate at a very nice restaurant (think The Menu) in Kagaonsen last week and the main course was served with lacquered chopsticks but another course was served with disposable chopsticks and the waiter actually broke them and rubbed them together for me. I think the social faux pas is making a show of doing it.
- fwipsy 7mo ago
  Perhaps they did that because they knew some people would be too polite to?
- AdamN 7mo ago
  You know you're at a fancy restaurant when the waiters have an entire dish emulating what the poors are eating. Reminds me of a restaurant I used to really like in NYC called 'Peasant' :-/
  - tanjtanjtanj 7mo ago
    The dish was not emulating anything like that, it just required a second set of chopsticks.
deleted 7mo ago
[deleted]
apparent 7mo ago
I had a friend from Korea who thought it wasn't necessary/was improper to rub chopsticks together. This wasn't a matter of offending the restaurant, since we were eating in a university cafeteria. I always rub mine together, but I suppose it would be interesting to know if you didn't, how often would something bad happen? Is it more likely to hurt your mouth or your fingers?

I was shocked to find it's a faux pas to rub disposable chopsticks to remove potential splinters. I was taught this is what you're supposed to do with disposable chopsticks.

WorldPeas 7mo ago

right? What's the right way? I don't want splinters on the most sensitive surface in my body..

cthalupa 7mo ago
The splinters come from where they break apart and there's not really any reason to have that part of the chopsticks touching your skin. But you move away from break apart disposable chopsticks in Japan long before you get to high etiquette dining. In my experience, basically every restaurant in Japan that isn't of, like, fast food tier, provides actual chopsticks instead of disposable ones.
- waffletower 7mo ago
  I had mostly disposables but they were actually lathed wood. The crude rectangular cut chopsticks are terrible -- usually not for splinters, but they often break imperfectly, leaving you with two sticks with different lengths.
  - floren 7mo ago
    For those cheap chopsticks, I've found the best way to break them is to grasp them at the very tips, then move your two hands away from each other briskly without twisting, just straight apart. I haven't had many break badly since I started doing this.
    - fghorow 7mo ago
      (Mode I) So fracture mechanics does have its uses, eh?

dmit 7mo ago

I once witnessed a local admonish another (younger) local for exactly that at a bar. He replied with a bratty "Not my fault they're using crappy chopsticks..."

raised_by_foxes 7mo ago

It's rude if it's a nice establishment, as it conveys your belief that the chopsticks are of low quality. So that's what you're signaling with that. If everyone already knows they are cheap (e.g. disposable), then have at it.

triceratops 7mo ago
If a nice establishment has splintery chopsticks maybe they should look in the mirror.
- helterskelter 7mo ago
  Probably it's rude to do it automatically with every pair of disposable chopsticks and not just the crappy ones.
- rtpg 7mo ago
  I go to your house to have food. You give me a fork and knife. I go to your kitchen to wash the fork and knife for good measure.
  - vel0city 7mo ago
    You come to my house to have food. I serve the food on obviously unclean dishes. Is that not rude as well? Do you just use the obviously dirty, nasty, used dishes out of not wanting to appear rude? Do I just use chopsticks that will put splinters in my mouth just to not appear rude?
    - rtpg 7mo ago
      In your metaphor the equivalent would be that you see that the chopsticks have splinters and are cleaning it But everyone I met who does splinter cleanup does it _every time_ even without a cursory inspection. So the metaphor is… maybe more apt that you are cleaning a plate despite not seeing whether it’s clean or not first
deleted 7mo ago

radley 7mo ago

I agree. I always have to do it, except at the rare restaurants. Not just splinters, but rough edges too.

tanjtanjtanj 7mo ago

I ate at a very nice restaurant (think The Menu) in Kagaonsen last week and the main course was served with lacquered chopsticks but another course was served with disposable chopsticks and the waiter actually broke them and rubbed them together for me. I think the social faux pas is making a show of doing it.

fwipsy 7mo ago
Perhaps they did that because they knew some people would be too polite to?
AdamN 7mo ago
You know you're at a fancy restaurant when the waiters have an entire dish emulating what the poors are eating. Reminds me of a restaurant I used to really like in NYC called 'Peasant' :-/
- tanjtanjtanj 7mo ago
  The dish was not emulating anything like that, it just required a second set of chopsticks.

deleted 7mo ago

[deleted]

apparent 7mo ago

I had a friend from Korea who thought it wasn't necessary/was improper to rub chopsticks together. This wasn't a matter of offending the restaurant, since we were eating in a university cafeteria. I always rub mine together, but I suppose it would be interesting to know if you didn't, how often would something bad happen? Is it more likely to hurt your mouth or your fingers?