Asian cuisine has found its place on the streets of Melbourne’s suburbs, bringing with it an array of new and unfamiliar smells, tastes and reactions. All somehow work to tantalise the taste buds.
With authentic Asian becoming more and more popular, the need to encapsulate the
total traditional Asian experience is a must –and that includes using chopsticks.
But discarding conventional cutlery may seem a little more intimidating when you think of replacing them with two sticks.
Misconceptions of chopsticks stem from those who struggle to manoeuvre fingers into unknown positions in the hope of scooping fluffy grains of rice into your mouth.
Yet chopsticks allow diners to fully embrace and experience Asian cuisine.
And they also add to the pleasure of dining out.
How to hold chopsticks:
1. Relax your dominant hand and place the first chopstick in the valley between your index finger and thumb, balancing it on your ring finger.
2. Place the second chopstick in the valley between your index finger and thumb, alongside the first chopstick, but rest this one on your middle finger.
3. Use your thumb, index and middle fingers to grasp the second chopstick a bit more tightly.
4. Keep the bottom chopstick still and allow the index and middle fingers to do all the work. Using your index and middle fingers move the top chopstick up and down to open the chopsticks.
5. Once you feel confident, delve into the deli
ciousness which awaits.
Eleanor Tabone
