Chopsticks:old oriental way of eating or viable survival skill?

savagesicslayer

savagesicslayer

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I was wondering how many of you know how to eat with something that's not hand of cutlery related?I've used chopsticks for years now and it has come in handy in the woods.
I was on our yearly 4 day hiking trip one year and we stopped for lunch and I couldn't find my cook set(a stainless knife,fork and spoon that snap together).The guys found this quite funny so I improvised a set of chopsticks from some branches and chowed down.Some of the boys thought it looked easy and tried it and made one heck of a mess of themselves.(my turn to laugh).
Have any of you ever used chop sticks or something like them in the woods?
 
Well, forgive me for my bluntness, but I wouldn't call it a survival skill. ;) I can eat with chopsticks somewhat respectably, but in a survival situation without proper utensils what would prevent me from using my bare hands? That's what I've always done. And if I had a knife with me, I'd just make some spoons and forks out of wood.
 
I'm uncommonly good with chopsticks. In the absence of metal utensils they're a reasonable way to go.
 
If I had to use chopsticks to eat I would starve. I can't use them. When I chose foods to take camping. I chose items that do not require utensils of any kind to
eat. ( finger foods) I don't take foods like beans or rice or any types of soups and foods containing sauces. I do my best to pack light most of the time. Whatever I can leave behind the better. Whatever foods I can place on a stick and cook over a fire are my best choices.

The more skills you have can make life a little easier outdoors. So being able to use chopsticks can defiantly be a plus.
 
With a little bit of patience and practice, it is easy to carve proper English forks and spoons from soft woods like willow or cedar. This can usually be accomplished while waiting for the fire to catch and water to boil. For some reason, my wife kept the last one I made from cedar while camping. Dunno why. I usually toss them in the fire when done and make new ones for the next meal or trip. I haven't the skills to use chopsticks. I'd put my eye out if I didn't spill my food first.:o
 
I alway have to request a fork when I go eat Asian food. The waiter told me once and he was from china "a fork is better you eat more faster." my party all thought this was funny. :D
 
I usually used field-made chopsticks while I was in Boy Scouts a couple of decades back. It just made sense to use something that worked so well, required no extra weight, and could be tossed into the fire instead of cleaned (with precious water) when you're done.
 
Then there's always your knife blade. I still chuckle at Patrick McManus' joke, in his book A Fine and Pleasant Misery (great camping humor), that "Baff mast pime ig bead feas mid miff pife" translates into "That's the last time I try to eat peas in the dark with my hunting knife."
 
I prefer to use chopsticks for eating- even beyond oriental food. My parents bought their farm from a Japanese couple and they taught me how to use chopsticks when I was very young. Keeps your fingers from getting burnt in the bush- good thing in my books- and much easier than making a spoon.
 
I prefer my Spork. I've known how to use chopsticks since I was a child. Good easy thing to learn. Still I would rather whittle a spoon.
 
I have a good friend who is Korean and she says I eat with chopsticks "properly," i.e., the way you're supposed to eat with them.

It is true you can't eat soup with a stick! But you don't need a spoon if you have a mouth without a hole in your lip. :D

My favorite outdoor eating utensils have always been the USGI Fork, Knife and the small shovel they call a Spoon. I am incredibly fond of my Light My Fire brand SuperSpork - basically the same SuperSpork on CountyComm's website but I bought mine at REI almost a year ago.

All of that having been said, why do threads like these always turn into Groups A., B. and C?

A. = Cool Idea
B. = Idea is Dooky-Squirts!
C. = Ignorant and Apathetic - "I don't know and I don't give a Dooky-Squirt!"

:D

For those incredibly skilled with sticks, try to start carving forks and spoons. For those that resemble a Richard Pryor skit on chopsticks ("I seent a Chinese man eat with two sticks, SWEAR TO GOD! Didn't drop a g*ddam speck...a [expletive deleted] lose three pounds of food with a knife and fark...") In other words, TRY TO DO IT ALL! You never know when it is going to come in handy! The concept someone put forth ealier about incinerating your utensils instead of wasting precious water on them is a very good point. Anyway, DO IT ALL! You're going to end up being so much more skilled in the end then you can sit and say, "I don't care, because I can use it all and carve them all, etc., etc., etc." You can even say "etcetera" if yanto. :D
 
D. The way things are headed in 'Mereky, we'll all be eatin' wit' chopin sticks 'for long!:D
 
If my a$$ was hungry enough, I think I'd go with my hands and knife, but I like to prepare. I think that the chopstick idea is a good one, and a plus is that I know how to use them. Taking the time to make a fork and spoon would make my stomach complain, but it would be something fun to do.

Besides, chopsticks are easy, look for two twigs and strip off the outer layer, that's it.
 
Ill use my fork and knife if I have it , if I dont , Ill use a fork like thing I make , or chopsticks or fingers , whatever is easiest for the food at hand..

I dont do soup unless Im looking at having to stretch what I have for a lot longer than I had anticipated .
 
Don Rearic said:
All of that having been said, why do threads like these always turn into Groups A., B. and C?

A. = Cool Idea
B. = Idea is Dooky-Squirts!
C. = Ignorant and Apathetic - "I don't know and I don't give a Dooky-Squirt!"
Click to expand...

Well, it isn't exactly a survival skill, but speaking of "Dooky-Squirts", chopstick skills come have come in quite handy when trying to determine what species produced a particular scat. Sometimes we have to take the scat apart in order to see if there are insect parts, seeds, bones, etc in it and being able to break a nearby stick in half and use the pieces like chopsticks is a lot more effective than flailing at the sample with one stick in each hand like some of my fellow trackers do.

"Dooky Squirts". Heh.
 
The scene in Kill Bill Vol. II comes to mind when Black Mamba remembers her days of training and using chopsticks on shaky fingers.

I love using chop sticks at home. One thing that comes to mind though is that food has to be prepared chopstick ready. That means dicing up food so that it can be eaten readily with chop sticks. Somehow, I'm have trouble seeing someone trying to poke off meat from rabbit on a spit with their sticks.

Rice - no problem! Creating sticks are super simple, they can be used to stir things. If you have some clean ones already made up in your pack, you can use them as a splint for broken fingers, spare dry tinder, tent pole repair (the splint part again), a not so sturdy tent peg - maybe for guy lines if needed, scratching your back (okay forks work well here too), make-shift hotdog stick (hey it has happened to me - I couldn't find a stick) and other uses.
 
I learned to use them when I was 5 living in Okinawa. I guess I never saw the big deal one way or another. I prefer forks and spoons, but if you like them, go for it.
 
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