Chopsticks
Chopsticks
!Various chopsticks, from top to bottom, with 12-inch (30.5 cm) [ruler at top for scale:](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Many-chopsticks.jpg/500px-Many-chopsticks.jpg)
Chopsticks
Chopsticks are smoothed, and frequently tapered. They are traditionally made of wood, bamboo, metal, ivory, and ceramics, and in modern days, increasingly available in non-traditional materials such as plastic, stainless steel, and even titanium. Chopsticks are often seen as requiring practice and skill to master to be used as an eating utensil. In some countries, failing to follow etiquette in their use is frowned upon, though such feelings are generally lesser than they once were.
As cooking utensils
The first chopsticks were used for cooking, stirring the fire, serving or seizing bits of food, and not as eating utensils. One reason was that before the Han dynasty, millet was predominant in North China, Korea and parts of Japan. While chopsticks were used for cooking, millet porridge was eaten with spoons at that time. The use of chopsticks in the kitchen continues to this day.
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