Eating Utensil Etiquette - Chopstick Etiquette

Chopstick Etiquette

Forbidden is:

• Placing the chopsticks straight up in a bowl of food; their resulting placement would resemble the twin incense sticks presented as an offering to the dead in East Asian cultures and would thereby remind observers, especially recently bereaved ones, of a funeral and the associated loss
• Pointing or gesturing with the chopsticks in hand
• Sticking the chopsticks into the food
• Licking the chopsticks or biting the food off the chopsticks
• Offering table members a taste of your meal using the chopsticks
• Accepting a bowl using the hand you use to hold your chopsticks
• Taking the food from the dish with the back of the chopsticks (not used for eating) to put it into your own bowl.
• Taking food from the far side of a dish.

Obligations are:

• Placing the chopsticks next to each other on the especially intended holder when you pause or finish eating
• A bowl of soup or rice can be picked up to decrease the distance between food and mouth (to prevent spilling).
• Taking the food in each dish starting from the side nearer to you.