Is There a Proper Technique to Maintain Chopsticks? 10 Consultants Agree on What Truly Issues

I can not recall a time in my life once I did not know how you can use chopsticks. I am Chinese language, and for so long as I can keep in mind, they have been my go-to utensil for cooking, consuming, and serving. As I’ve grown older, I’ve observed that folks have a tendency to carry their chopsticks in a different way, with many not sure of how you can use the utensil successfully. Some attempt to use them like a fork and knife to separate giant items of meals, others stab their meals with their chopsticks, and a few even hook their fingers round every chopstick.

However is there a proper or unsuitable approach to maintain chopsticks? The reply is not as easy as you suppose it could be. If you happen to’ve ever felt self-conscious about your chopstick expertise, you are not alone—and you’ve got come to the appropriate place. Learn on for the right etiquette and recommendations on how you can maintain chopsticks so you are not dropping meals left, proper, and middle.

The “Proper Manner” to Maintain Chopsticks

Many individuals think about the “customary grip” probably the most correct approach to maintain chopsticks: You retain one chopstick between your pointer and center finger, then prop up the opposite chopstick along with your ring finger. The underside chopstick stays stationary, and you progress the chopstick on prime to grip meals. This methodology presents you probably the most management, permitting you to select up small or slippery meals simply. It is also probably the most ergonomic approach to maintain chopsticks, because it reduces pressure in your fingers and wrist, making it probably the most comfy approach to decide up meals.

Though the usual grip is usually really useful as one of the best ways to carry chopsticks, most individuals maintain chopsticks the way in which their mother and father taught them, and there is numerous variation amongst folks from chopstick-wielding cultures. Although my dad and I each use the usual grip, my mother and my sisters use what many Chinese language folks name the “lazy methodology,” which includes gripping the chopsticks like a pencil, inflicting them to criss-cross like scissors. Whereas this methodology works for many individuals and there are many people who swear by it, it might make it tougher to select up small morsels of meals, together with grains of rice. 

I spoke to a number of of my colleagues in our Folks Inc. Asian American Pacific Islander affinity group about whether or not there was a proper or unsuitable approach to maintain chopsticks. Most individuals mentioned no—they felt it was extra a query of private desire and what works greatest for the person to eat with out dropping meals. “I prefer to suppose that the ‘proper’ approach of holding chopsticks offers a safer and cleaner approach of consuming,” says Chris Yong, a senior information engineer. “If you happen to maintain the chopsticks too low, you would possibly get your hand soiled. If you happen to maintain them too excessive, you would possibly pressure your hand. If you happen to cross the chopsticks, it would trigger a clumsy grip, and meals would possibly slip out.” 

There’s actually no proper or unsuitable approach to grip your chopsticks, and the way in which many individuals accomplish that comes down to private desire and the way their households taught them. The place folks typically go unsuitable is in chopstick etiquette: the way you organize your chopsticks or use them.

It Comes Right down to a Query of Etiquette

Despite the fact that they mentioned there wasn’t a unsuitable approach to maintain chopsticks, each Yong and Jackie Napalan, a senior supervisor in product assist operations, agree that etiquette issues. “I believe the identical guidelines ought to apply for Jap tradition as for Western tradition,” Napalan says. Westerners have guidelines round how you can maintain a fork or set a desk correctly, so why should not the Easterners?” Our affiliate editor, Jess Eng, agrees. “No matter approach somebody picks up their meals is okay with me,” she says. “I solely get squeamish when folks put chopsticks into rice straight up.”

Finally, most individuals I polled agreed that it was vital to be aware of how you employ chopsticks and to keep away from frequent fake pas, equivalent to sticking them upright in a bowl of rice—which resembles the burning incense supplied as an providing to the deceased throughout Chinese language funerals and the chopsticks which are introduced to Korean households throughout cremation ceremonies for choosing out the bones from ashes. Pointing with chopsticks and passing meals with them are additionally no-nos. And, as tempting because it is likely to be, strive to not fake to be a walrus by sticking chopsticks within the sides of your mouth to make “tusks.”

The Backside Line

There could also be a “customary” and “lazy” approach to maintain chopsticks—there are additionally many hybrid approaches. Nonetheless, so long as you possibly can comfortably and successfully grip the meals and are respectful of cultural traditions and others round you, there’s nothing unsuitable with holding the utensil nonetheless you like. Do what works for you—so long as you accomplish that politely.

September, 2025