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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't remember that I ever saw anybody sell
or use wooden (or bamboo) chopsticks in Korea except disposable ones exclusively
used in Chinese or Japanese restaurants. They used metal ones in
Korean restaurants as well as at home. In each household every member
has his or her own set of silver ( brass if they cannot afford silver) spoon and
chopsticks. I still keep my tiny childhood spoon in the kitchen drawer. The
first time I saw wooden chopsticks was sometime in the 60s through the
classic movie "the Good Earth" and watched with curiosity the scene the
heroine was washing a few sets of chopstics by rubbing and rolling between her
palms. Korean chopsticks are hard to roll because they are heavier and
one end where you grab is typically made flat. I found bamboo
chopstics were extremely convenient to use and have been using them since I
came to US 24 years ago.The reason Koreans use metal ones is - this
is pure guess - perhaps Koreans use spoon a lot and they always made spoon
from metal, and naturally chopsticks, too. Japanese on the other hand, do not
use spoons. They use chopsticks to have even soup. Also Japan produces more wood
than Korea...so they have wooden chopsticks. Chinese...maybe they have more
bamboos?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sung Cho</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>E-mail: <A
href="mailto:minandsung@sbcglobal.net">minandsung@sbcglobal.net</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=levko@zahav.net.il href="mailto:levko@zahav.net.il">Alon
Levkowitz</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws
href="mailto:Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws">Koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, February 16, 2003 12:29
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [KS] A chopsticks question</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">A chopsticks question.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">I know that my question is not ‘high politics’ but I
hope that someone in the group could assist me. Is there a difference between
wooden and metal chopsticks? What I would like to know is- if there is a
cultural difference, do for example Korean use one kind and other nations use
a different one and why.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Thanks</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal dir=ltr
style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Alon</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Alon Levkowitz<BR>Tel/Fax-
972-3-6133045<BR>Email: <A
href="mailto:levko@inter.net.il">levko@inter.net.il</A></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>