Chop Sticks and Chinese culinary art

["S. L . Lee" <sllee@asiawind.com>]

Justin,


There are 3 tools for dining : chopsticks, fork and hand.

The invention of chopstick could be traced to Xia dynasty which has no
written record. The chopsticks made with wood in this era could be broken or
rotten by now. Leaving that out, the word 'chopstick' first appeared in
Chinese documents of West Zhou dynasty (1100 - 771 BC). Three bronze sticks
about 20 cm were found in a  bronze coffin in a tomb in Yunnan. By carbon
dating, they were 2500 years old. This is the earliest evidence of
chopsticks.

By the way, forks were also found in Gansu province, dated 4000 years ago.
It has 3 prongs just like the fork we use today. So, forks were not invented
in Europe in 16-17th century. Some how  chopsticks were regarded more
civilized (less dangerous than the pointed fork) and versatile. Chopsticks
have since been passed on to other cultures like Japan, Vietnam, Korea, etc.

The first 'wok' is more difficult to determine. The primordial form may be
just a fire pit.  The first evidence for human made fire is dated 170,000
years ago in Yunnan (Yuanmou apeman).

Since your questions are both related to food preparation, I might add that
the culinary art in China was well developed in the Shang (1600-1100 BC) and
Zhou dynasties already. Bronze utencils of different sizes and shapes under
different names are commonly found in burials. There are more than dozen
wine vessels for different purposes. Dining etiquette is also recorded for
this time. In the Book of Rituals, it is well documented when chopsticks
should be used and when not. Confucius's famous book "Lun Yu" recognizes the
importance of eating meat that is not contaminated or fouled.

SL Lee