Before today, I would have said I was an intermediate chopstick user: I could get a meal down, but I still preferred a fork. But all this time (not much time at all, really), I’ve been eating the Chinese or Japanese way… or at least the way they do it in the US.
In Korea, though, they use metal (actually, stainless steel) chopsticks. And the chopsticks are smaller. And flat instead of round or square. Who knew?
So, since I’m heading to Korea hopefully within a month or so, I figured it might be a good idea to get some practice with their chopsticks. My goal is to have the general technique down within three days. That actually seems long to me, but it includes the time it’s going to take me to round up some Korean chopsticks. (As of Day 1, I don’t know where to get them.)
Beyond the chopsticks themselves, the Korean technique is different from the Chinese and Japanese techniques, at least that’s what I think I’ve learned so far.
I started learning late in the day, with two unsharpened pencils, so I don’t have much to report so far. Tomorrow, though…
For now, maybe check out this instructional video. I like it just for the kids’ expressions while the mother is trying to teach. Classic.
