筷子是怎樣成為亞洲主要餐具的

Stephanie Vermillion 顏丹

While they may seem like a tool that distinguish sushi regulars from novices3， chopsticks entered the world well before California rolls and bento boxes. The utensils earned their place at the Chinese dinner table around 400 C.E.， but appeared in China well before that—around 1，200 B.C.E.

雖然筷子看起來像是區分壽司?？秃托率值墓ぞ?，但在加州卷和便當盒出現之前，筷子早就在這個世界出現了。這種餐具在公元400年左右的中國餐桌上就贏得了一席之地，但它在很久之前——大約在公元前1200年左右，就已經在中國出現了。

Fast forward 3，000 years， and more than 20 percent of the worlds population relies on chopsticks for eating. China alone goes through 45 billion disposable4 pairs per year. So how did two sticks start a massive5 mealtime revolution6？

快進三千年后，世界上有超過20%的人口用筷子吃飯。僅中國每年就用掉450億雙一次性筷子。那么，兩根棍子是如何開始一場大規模的用餐革命的呢？

Chopsticks Started out as Cooking Tools

China was the first to experiment with chopsticks nearly 3，000 years ago. But at that time， they werent used as eating utensils. The Chinese used them for cooking since they could safely dip them into boiling pots of water.

筷子起初是烹飪工具

中國是第一個從近3000年前就開始使用筷子的國家。但在當時，它們并沒有被用作餐具。人們用筷子來烹飪，因為他們可以安全地把它們浸在煮水的容器中。

Not All Chopsticks Are the Same

Chopsticks are different throughout Asian cultures. Chinese chopsticks， for instance， are long and thick to facilitate7 dining around the table.

In Japan， where bamboo chopsticks were adopted in 500 C.E. for religious ceremonies， chopsticks have evolved8 over time. Theyre now particularly fine-tuned9 for one of Japans main foods： fish.

Japanese chopsticks are short and sharp， mainly because the Japanese are good at eating fish， and it is easy to remove fish bones with sharp chopsticks. The Japanese usually eat individual portions rather than shared dishes. Thats why their chopsticks dont need to be so long.

While ubiquitous10 now， disposable wooden chopsticks were first invented by the Japanese in 1878. In ancient times， the upper class in China and Japan used ivory11， jade12， coral and silver chopsticks. They believed the latter would turn black if it came into contact with poisoned food. Now， China uses bamboo for chopsticks since its so easy and inexpensive to obtain.

Head over to South Korea and chopsticks look a bit different. There， chopsticks are flat and typically made of metal. Thats because South Koreans love barbecue. The metal chopsticks wont burn when diners are grilling13 their meat tableside.

不是所有的筷子都是一樣的

筷子在整個亞洲文化中是不同的。例如，中國的筷子又長又厚，方便人們圍著餐桌用餐。

在日本，公元500年的時候，人們在宗教儀式上使用竹筷。隨著時間的推移，竹筷在逐漸改進。它們現在特別適合用來吃日本的主要食物之一：魚。

日本筷子又短又尖，主要是因為日本人擅長吃魚，用尖頭的筷子很容易把魚骨去掉。日本人通常單獨吃一份食物，而不是共享菜肴。這就是為什么他們的筷子不那么長的原因。

一次性木筷是日本人在1878年發明的，現在它已經無處不在。在古代，中國和日本的上層階級使用象牙、玉石、珊瑚和銀制的筷子。他們認為銀筷子如果接觸到有毒食品就會變黑?，F在，中國用竹子做筷子，因為竹子很容易獲得，而且價格低廉。

去韓國看看，他們的筷子看起來有點不一樣?！?br>