A Brief History of Chopsticks
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 12 Sep, 2025

Is it crazy for an Indian American to love chopsticks so much?

I recently adopted a life hack that has made me immeasurably happier:

I started eating popcorn with chopsticks.

For one, they keep my fingers clean of whatever butter imitation Pop Secret is coated in.  But more importantly, they help stave off my animalistic urge to shove handfuls of popcorn into my mouth at a time, thus prolonging the popcorn-eating experience and allowing me to truly enjoy each kernel. 

To be clear, this applies only to popcorn consumed at home.  I reserve the right to continue acting like a pig in the darkness of a movie theater, often depleting the popcorn tub to half capacity before the trailers have finished.  But that’s neither here nor there.

Lately, whenever I’ve reached into my cutlery drawer for two reusable wooden sticks adorned with beautiful Chinese artwork, I’ve begun to wonder what the background on these utensils is. 

So I thought I’d uncover a few kernels of chopstick history.

The Creation of Chopsticks

Chinese chopsticks tend to be long and blunt so as to reach communal plates of food in the middle of the table

In the same way that one might look at a baseball bat and assume that the first known version was probably just a small tree branch, it would surprise nobody to hear that the first chopsticks were twigs. 

The Chinese were believed to have used these twigs to pull food from boiling pots of water 5,000 years ago.

But while the use of twigs is speculative, the earliest actual proof of chopsticks are from around 1200 BC, during the Shang Dynasty.  Still used in the kitchen rather than at the dinner table, they were about 10 inches long and made of bronze.

It wasn’t, however, until between about 500 and 200 BC that the use of chopsticks as a dining utensil took off.

While food supply itself wasn’t necessarily scarce during that time, population growth made fuel a hot commodity.  Therefore, to conserve time and firewood, food was being cut into much smaller pieces before it was cooked.

Until that point, food in Asia had typically just been eaten with one's hands.  But for those with King Charles-style sausage fingers, the introduction of tinier morsels required a new method of consumption. 

That’s more or less when chopsticks, made of wood, came on the scene as a dining utensil.

Societal Reasons

Japanese chopsticks are short, this, and delicate at the ends

One might naturally wonder why chopsticks were necessary at all rather than, say, forks and knives, which were being used throughout Europe and the Middle East. 

There were of course practical reasons, like the accessibility of two wooden sticks, in contrast to the price of metal and requisite metalworking skills needed to create silverware. 

But there was also a philosophical reason for the use of chopsticks.

This was during the time of Confucius, one of the most famous philosophers in history and still a frequent target of racists who like to do Chinese impressions.  His teachings, known as Confucianism, included a focus on the tenets of righteousness, humanity, and benevolence. 

As such, he was starkly opposed to the presence of knives at the table, which he viewed as a reminder of slaughter and violence.

“The noble man keeps away from the kitchen,” he was believed to have said of knives.

While he didn’t necessarily opine on forks specifically, a fork without a knife is to some degree like one chopstick without the other.  Therefore, neither knives nor forks were typically present at Chinese tables.

Confucius’s utensil preferences were also born not just of a distaste for knives, but an appreciation for chopsticks as well.  

Meals themselves were to be places of harmony, respect and refinement.  Chopsticks, which required two separate but identical pieces to work in tandem, would become symbols of harmony.  Their use ultimately represented a more civilized way of life. 

Today, thousands of years later, Chinese chopsticks have not evolved substantially. They remain blunt and about 10 inches long, a requisite length for diners to reach a communal dish in the middle of the table, tracing back to the original belief that Chinese meals should be harmonic. 

Although over the past few decades, as health consciousness has risen, putting one’s personal set of utensils in a shared dish has become less common.

Beyond China

Thai chopsticks have traditionally been silver, bronze, or stainless steel

Today, chopsticks are of course common at most Asian restaurants, not just Chinese. 

That’s because around the year 500 BC, when chopsticks were a staple across Chinese dining tables, China also happened to be a dominant power in East Asia.  Therefore, nearby countries typically followed their lead. 

And as with most shared traditions, over time, other countries would put their own twist on the utensils to fit their own basic needs.

In Thailand, along with Laos, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Cambodia, chopsticks are used in tandem with other utensils like forks and spoons.

In Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, however, chopsticks play arguably as big of a role as they do in China. 

Japan’s adoption of wooden chopsticks came at the same time that they picked up other Chinese practices like an adherence to Confucian political and family models. 

Compared to Chinese chopsticks, a Japanese pair is shorter and tapered to a fine point.  Imagine using them for a lightweight morsel of sashimi rather than, say, a chunk of mongolian beef.

Korea adopted chopsticks from China along with the practice of Buddhism and Chinese characters, also known as hanja.  Rather than wooden, Korean chopsticks are typically made of stainless steel. 

The prevailing theory is that when the utensils first made their way to Korea, by way of Chinese cultural exchange, they were used primarily by the upper class.  The upper class opted for silver and bronze not only because of their regality, but a belief that they were easier to clean and thus more hygienic. 

Eventually, as their use became more mainstream, stainless steel took the place of more expensive materials.

Lasting Impact

We may be inclined to think of chopsticks as the cheap, splintery utensil haphazardly thrown into a bag of Chinese takeout alongside a fortunate cookie.  But that’s like equating Steak-Ums to a steak: Chopsticks are often so much more than the bare minimum.

They have come to take on symbolic meanings like oneness and harmony.  As two equal halves that form a whole, they’re considered a fitting wedding present in Chinese culture. 

They’re also given as New Year’s and baby shower gifts…which is, again, more symbolic than practical, given the low likelihood that they can be used to feed milk to a newborn.

Plus, they serve non-culinary purposes: Viral TikTok videos show women how to style their hair using chopsticks. 

But don’t be tricked by the classical waltz known as chopsticks, so named because playing it requires striking two keys at a time by making a chopping motion.  Much like the villain Khan in the Star Trek franchise, the song’s name is the entire extent of its connection to Chinese culture.

As a South Asian, and therefore a member of a culture that eschews typical Western cutlery, I feel a particular affinity for chopsticks, even if they aren’t my own culture.  

I truly feel a sense of comfort eating with them.  Aside from the soothing rhythmic motion that comes from using chopsticks properly, the feeling of having to work slightly harder to pick up each piece allows me to enjoy it more, not unlike how a beer tastes a letter extra refreshing on days I’ve worked out.  

While learning to use chopsticks may have seemed like a pain as a child, now, as an adult, the idea of eschewing them for Western cutlery when Asian food is involved feels as blasphemous as using a fork and knife for a slice of pizza.

And, truthfully, my feelings may get a little hurt if my server at a Chinese restaurant doesn’t automatically assume that I want a pair of chopsticks.  

Fortunately, those situations give me the opportunity to confidently ask “Could I please get a set of chopsticks?” as if to say “I’m not like other American customers. I get it.”

However, I’m still not sure if they’d be touched or appalled to hear about my latest popcorn eating technique.