Stephanie Vermillion 颜丹

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.

虽然筷子看起来像是区分寿司常客和新手的工具，但在加州卷和便当盒出现之前，筷子早就在这个世界出现了。这种餐具在公元400年左右的中国餐桌上就赢得了一席之地，但它在很久之前——大約在公元前1200年左右，就已经在中国出现了。

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？

快进三千年后，世界上有超过20%的人口用筷子吃饭。仅中国每年就用掉450亿双一次性筷子。那么，两根棍子是如何开始一场大规模的用餐革命的呢？

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.

筷子起初是烹饪工具

中国是第一个从近3000年前就开始使用筷子的国家。但在当时，它们并没有被用作餐具。人们用筷子来烹饪，因为他们可以安全地把它们浸在煮水的容器中。

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样的

筷子在整个亚洲文化中是不同的。例如，中国的筷子又长又厚，方便人们围着餐桌用餐。

在日本，公元500年的时候，人们在宗教仪式上使用竹筷。随着时间的推移，竹筷在逐渐改进。它们现在特别适合用来吃日本的主要食物之一：鱼。

日本筷子又短又尖，主要是因为日本人擅长吃鱼，用尖头的筷子很容易把鱼骨去掉。日本人通常单独吃一份食物，而不是共享菜肴。这就是为什么他们的筷子不那么长的原因。

一次性木筷是日本人在1878年发明的，现在它已经无处不在。在古代，中国和日本的上层阶级使用象牙、玉石、珊瑚和银制的筷子。他们认为银筷子如果接触到有毒食品就会变黑。现在，中国用竹子做筷子，因为竹子很容易获得，而且价格低廉。

去韩国看看，他们的筷子看起来有点不一样。……