Japanese culture has its own traditions and rules of behavior at the table. For the peoples of other countries, they may not be forbidden, but violating these rules in the presence of Japanese is considered very bad form.
What shouldn't be done with chopsticks?
- Do not stick sticks into rice. This gesture is considered completely inappropriate, since a vertically stuck stick in a bowl with food is associated by the Japanese with the ritual of offering to the dead.
- Do not point with your chopsticks. Pointing at other people with chopsticks is a sign of bad taste.
- Don't use chopsticks like drumsticks. Do not bang your chopsticks around the edges of the plate or on the table just like that or to attract the attention of the waiter.
- Don't lick your sticks. Food should be grabbed from the thin ends of the chopsticks, without holding them in the mouth for a long time or licking them.
- Do not transfer food from one pair of chopsticks to another. It is considered bad form to transfer food from your chopsticks to strangers, since a similar gesture is used in a Japanese funeral ritual, the participants of which transfer the bones of the dead in this way.
- Do not use chopsticks to scoop food off the plate. During a meal, you should not lower your face down and eat in a hurry, raking food with chopsticks, since this behavior is unpleasant for others and resembles the process of eating food by a dog.
- Do not pick on the plate with your chopsticks. You cannot move chopsticks over a plate of food; you need to take pieces from above, choosing them in advance. If you touched a piece of food with chopsticks, then you need to take it and eat it.
- Do not use chopsticks to pull the dishes towards you. Pulling up a plate or other objects on the table with chopsticks is completely unacceptable.
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Do not pinch the sticks in your fist. This gesture is threatening in Japanese culture.
- Don't rub your chopsticks together. If you want to remove chips and splinters from disposable wooden sticks, do it by hand. Rubbing sticks together is not a very polite gesture.
- Don't wave your chopsticks. Do not shake the chopsticks to cool the piece of food sandwiched between them. Also, try to prevent liquid from dripping or dripping from the sticks.
- Do not cross your sticks. Crossing sticks with each other is also part of the Japanese funeral ritual.
- Do not stick your food on sticks. Do not use chopsticks like a skewer or skewer.
- Do not use chopsticks as a knife and fork. The chopsticks must be held in one hand. Do not use them as a knife and fork. All Japanese dishes are served in chunks so that they can be eaten with chopsticks. If you need a knife, ask the waiter for it.
- Don't put chopsticks on the plate. After eating, the chopsticks must be placed on a special stand - hasioki.
