I was shocked to find it's a faux pas to rub disposable chopsticks to remove potential splinters. I was taught this is what you're supposed to do with disposable chopsticks.

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raised_by_foxes 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's rude if it's a nice establishment, as it conveys your belief that the chopsticks are of low quality. So that's what you're signaling with that. If everyone already knows they are cheap (e.g. disposable), then have at it.

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triceratops 7 hours ago | parent [-]

If a nice establishment has splintery chopsticks maybe they should look in the mirror.

	▲	helterskelter 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Probably it's rude to do it automatically with every pair of disposable chopsticks and not just the crappy ones.

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dmit 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I once witnessed a local admonish another (younger) local for exactly that at a bar. He replied with a bratty "Not my fault they're using crappy chopsticks..."

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tanjtanjtanj 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I ate at a very nice restaurant (think The Menu) in Kagaonsen last week and the main course was served with lacquered chopsticks but another course was served with disposable chopsticks and the waiter actually broke them and rubbed them together for me. I think the social faux pas is making a show of doing it.

	▲	fwipsy an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Perhaps they did that because they knew some people would be too polite to?

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radley 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I agree. I always have to do it, except at the rare restaurants. Not just splinters, but rough edges too.

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WorldPeas 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

right? What's the right way? I don't want splinters on the most sensitive surface in my body..

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cthalupa 8 hours ago | parent [-]

The splinters come from where they break apart and there's not really any reason to have that part of the chopsticks touching your skin.

But you move away from break apart disposable chopsticks in Japan long before you get to high etiquette dining. In my experience, basically every restaurant in Japan that isn't of, like, fast food tier, provides actual chopsticks instead of disposable ones.

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waffletower 7 hours ago | parent [-]

I had mostly disposables but they were actually lathed wood. The crude rectangular cut chopsticks are terrible -- usually not for splinters, but they often break imperfectly, leaving you with two sticks with different lengths.

	▲	floren 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		For those cheap chopsticks, I've found the best way to break them is to grasp them at the very tips, then move your two hands away from each other briskly without twisting, just straight apart. I haven't had many break badly since I started doing this.

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4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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