I have no problem using knife and fork and spoon. They are actually easier to use than chopsticks. I was able to use fork and spoon at 5, but it took me 3 more years before I could use chopsticks properly.

My dad told me when I was 8, while eating at a Chinese restaurant, I needed to learn how to use chopsticks. He was interacting with Japanese, Korean and Hawaiian airlines. I learned for the next Chinese restaurant trip, brought home some chopsticks to practice.

Anecdotally I’ve heard from Asian friends that no, it’s not the same. Chopsticks are objectively more difficult to use. Though to someone who is taught from a young age, they may not perceive a difference in difficulty between the two. But I would think that learning to use chopsticks later in life is more difficult than learning to use Western cutlery, regardless of the culture of the person learning. Just a guess, though.

I don’t have a problem using chop sticks. Impresses the heck ut of the grandkids.

I just wolf it down with whatever is at hand. A stick by any other name, is still a fork. As my old pappy used to say.

This had splayd me for quite some time until I discovered that as long as I held the spoon and fork at the big end I was ok, I just use them like regular chopsticks eschews your uncle.

LOLL!

I would think Asians would be more studious in seeing how cultured cutlery users hold their utensils properly. I see grown men (there must be women, too) here in the US who hold a spoon and fork like a shovel.

@kritiper I remember how panicked I was when I first got to use a knife. I was afraid I couldn’t do it the right way :(

@kritiper “I see grown men (there must be women, too) here in the US who hold a spoon and fork like a shovel.”

Ino right, but I like dining at hillbilly hotdogs and divers diners, drive-ins and dives. And I’m a dab hand when I have to staunch the blood due to my knife-fighting ineptitude with the cutlery. I’m just glad I bought that ambidextrous spork.

@doyendroll They eat with their hands, right?? Proper cutlery handling etiquette shouldn’t be an issue there…