Knife

Although its origin may go back to Ancient Greece, the personal table fork was most likely invented in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, where they were in common use by the 4th century. Records show that by the 9th century in some elite circles of Persia a similar utensil known as a barjyn was in limited use.

Many people think of the table fork as either “out of period” or “very late period.” Often people insist that the only period forks have two tines. Actually, table forks were known and used before the year 1000 in the middle east [Boger, Giblin]. Forks made before 1600 with as many as five tines still exist today.

The philosopher believed that sharp utensils like knives would remind eaters of the gruesome way the meat came to be in the bowl. Chopsticks, on the other hand, had dull ends, thus sparing their users from images of the slaughterhouse.

China

The Chinese have been wielding chopsticks since at least 1200 B.C., and by A.D. 500 the slender batons had swept the Asian continent from Vietnam to Japan. From their humble beginnings as cooking utensils to paper-wrapped bamboo sets at the sushi counter, there’s more to chopsticks than meets the eye.

Koreans use a spoon and a set of chopsticks when dining. You should always use utensils (i.e. no fingers!). The spoon is for your rice and soup, and your chopsticks are for everything else — it’s uncouth to use both your spoon and chopsticks at the same time.

These chopsticks are long since Chinese food is often served on “Lazy Susan’s.” The tables are somewhat larger so you need that extra length to grab that last piece of Peking duck. Also, Chinese chopsticks do not taper towards the end as much as Japanese and Korean chopsticks do.

The Japanese word for “chopsticks” is hashi which is a homophone with the Japanese word meaning “bridge”. In their early history, Japanese chopsticks provided a bridge between the human and the divine. Rather than for taking ordinary meals, they were used, at first, for sharing food with the gods.

A chopstick rest or Hashioki (in Japanese 箸置き) is tableware, similar to a knife rest or a spoon rest, used to keep chopstick tips off the table and to prevent used chopsticks from contaminating or rolling off tables. In East Asia, chopstick rests are usually used at formal dinners.

The cooking process is usually quite fast and food is served hot/boiling. The only way to eat without hurting one’s hand is using somekind of utensils like chopsticks. So we can see here, unlike the Chinese food, for traditional SEA food there is barely any need for using chopsticks.

They are held in the dominant hand, secured by fingers, and wielded as extensions of the hand, to pick up small pieces of food. First used by the Chinese, chopsticks later spread to other East Asian cultural sphere countries including Japan, Korea, and Vietnam….

Not all Asian countries use chopsticks as their primary utensils. Expect to use chopsticks when you’re in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. But if you go to a Thai restaurant, they’ll most likely give you a knife and fork. That’s the primary utensils used in Thailand now.