Kuaizi

One of the staples you will find in any Chinese restaurant nomatter how Americanized it may seem are chopsticks. Known as kuaizi or in ancient times zhu, Chinese people have had chopsticks in their history for more than 3,000 years.

Chopsticks are categorized based on the material they are made out of. Five different types of materials are used: wood, metal, bone, stone and compound chopsticks. In Chinese homes, wood and bamboo are the most common.

Chinese chopsticks can be differentiated from other countries chopsticks due to their square shape where they are held, and the round tip where the food is picked up.

In older Chinese culture, it was viewed as improper to hold chopsticks in the left hand, even for left-handed people. It is a good thing those rules have loosened, or being left-handed like myself would have left me in a tricky situation.

While I have grown up in and around Chinese restuarants, I can share a few etiquette tips I have picked up over the years.

Stabbing your food with chopsticks in unacceptable.

Banging and making noise with chopsticks, despite children's antics, is considered rude.

Do not use chopsticks to toy with your food.

And one final chopstick etiquette I always found interesting: it IS acceptable to pick up your rice bowl and shovel rice into your mouth with chopsticks. Using a spoon is considered rude.