Same rice, different utensils

White Rice

Most people I have met think of rice as an Asian food. However, I found that rice really is a universal food. Africans eat rice. Americans eat rice, Asians eat rice. Maybe the difference is how we cook the rice and the utensils with whcih we use to eat it.

I had talked earlier about Koreans and Chinese using chopsticks to eat rice, but Koreans don't lift the bowl off the table, unlike the Chinese. In South-East Asia, we either use a fork and spoon to eat rice off a dinner plate, or use our hands, like the Indians. Westerners I know use a fork to eat rice. I have tried many times, but I can't get used to that. My American friend, who lived in Cambodia for many years, held up a dinner spoon and remarked, "This is a much better shovel!" I agree. Eating rice with a fork just doesn't do the job. The rice grains keep falling off the tines. A spoon keeps the rice together until it gets into my mouth.

For cultures that use their hands to eat, they are differences too. Indians use the whole hand, including the palm. The scoop up the rice with food and gravy, then squeeze the rice into a ball to get the gravy out. The lump then goes into the mouth. The hand is covered with gravy.

Malays use only the thumb and first two fingers of the right hand. The left hand is used for unclean things.

Sticky rice ball

Lao people eat sticky white rice, rather than normal white rice. They too use only the thumb and first two fingers of the right hand. The sticky rice is pinched off the large amount, then pressed together into a small ball. Dip the ball into the plate of food, picking up some food (meat, vegetables, fish, etc), then put it into your mouth.

However you choose to eat rice, it will still end up in your mouth. Just enjoy the local way of eating! And if you can speak a bit of their language, you will enjoy the meal even more!

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How do you eat rice?

Gillian Chung is from Hong Kong. Her latest boyfriend is Korean American. Language of communication: English. Similarities: both Asian, both eat rice. Yet, Gillian said there's a little cultural divide between them.

Take, for instance, mealtimes on dates with him. She said: "Koreans don't raise their rice bowls when they eat as that's impolite to them. I'm still not used to that and feel as if I've incapacitated one hand." (Straits Times Life!, 20 March 2013)

So we thought that all Asians eat rice from a bowl using chopsticks. That's where the similarities end. How we eat tells where we have come from. I am Chinese. I can eat rice from a bowl with chopsticks, but I don't raise my bowl to my mouth and shovel the rice in. My mother told me often that was how low class people ate rice. Rich and refined people used their chopsticks to pick up a lump of rice grains and place it politely in the mouth. But I held the rice bowl in my left hand and used the chopsticks with my right hand. Till today, if I'm eating anything from a bowl, I will hold the bowl in my left hand and bring it up to about neck level. My grandmother and mother always said, "Bring the food to your mouth, not your mouth to your food." In other words, bring the bowl close to your mouth. Don't bend over to bring your mouth as close to the bowl on the table as possible.

However, I don't do that if drinking Western soup! The bowl stays on the table. Only my right hand moves, using the soup spoon. Now, I've learned that Koreans do the same. Leave the bowl on the table. Use only the chopsticks.

I just learned something new today. Next time I eat Korean food, I need to remember to eat Western style but use chopsticks to pick up my food.

Happy learning another culture and language!

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Does eating fat kill you?

Here's some fun facts that a friend sent me:

1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
CONCLUSION: Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

I did say food unites us across the globe! Here's to eating what we enjoy!

Enjoy learning a new language today!

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