Chopsticks VS Fork & Knife

During a lunch at a nearby Chinese Restaurant, while some of my Swedish colleagues were practicing their chopstick skills, suddenly one of my colleagues asked me:”Are you eating with chopsticks at home?”

Since his tone was weird and had a slight clang of indignation I decided to give him a thorough answer.

I said; “yes, we eat Chinese food with chopsticks and western food with fork and knife. Why do you ask?”

The guy looked at me; I could se his eyes rolling and hear the wheels spinning in his head.
He asked: ”Why do you eat with chopsticks when you have fork and knife?” Followed by: ”Fork and knife is so much better than Chopsticks.”

“Are they?” I asked back.

He looked at the chopsticks in his hands and looked back at med and said: “Isn’t it obvious?”

The guy was trying to make an understatement. Maybe something like; aren’t you aware that chopsticks are one step behind fork and knife in the evolution of human eating tools. First we used our hands, and then came chopsticks and on top of the chain there was the fork and knife.

“Eating with chopstick can sometimes be easier than eating with fork and knife.” I said.

The indignation increased. “You can’t seriously mean that chopsticks are more practical than fork and spoon. You can’t cut with them and you must drop a lot more food eating with chopsticks compared to eating with fork and knife.”

“I am serious” I said. “If you eat Chinese food, cooked the Chinese way, with the bowl lifted up in your left hand and the chopsticks in your right hand it can be very suitable and practical.”

“Ha, you just say that because you are married to a Chinese” he replied.

“No, I say that because I mean it” I countered.

Actually this guy was my nearest boss and I didn’t like him very much. I enjoyed arguing with him.

So I continued: “Do you have a problem with that?”

Now I really triggered him off.
“I think its so damn stupid, why can’t people adjust to the customs in the country they live in. Why not accept the traditions and ways we have here in Sweden, is there something wrong with them?"

I waited some seconds to let his words sink in a bit deeper in our audience.

Then I said: “Tell me frankly; if you meet a Chinese girl, you marry her and you move to China with here, would you give up eating with fork and knife?”

He looked at me and realized I got him.

Chopsticks VS Fork and Knife 1-0