What's with the chopsticks?

So...chopsticks.

I've never been good at it. I've always been much better at spearing my food with them or using rubber bands and rolled up straw to make a spring loaded one.

These days, I'm used to fork in my right hand, a knife on the left side of my plate should I need to cut something.  A spoon is something I use to eat soups and stews out of a bowl.

Then in my current situation, I observe people use the spoon on the right hand primarily and the fork is a secondary device on the left hand.  Rarely is a knife used.

Being immersed and familiar with all three situations above, I have a theory.

In China, where chopsticks were invented (as early as 3000 years ago), the foods are traditionally cooked after being cut fairly small.  Was the food cut in bite size pieces first or was the chopstick invented first? I believe the food was cut in bite size pieces first. Food cooks faster when cut smaller and with the resources of China at the time, it makes sense to me that they would find ways to preserve cooking fuels.  Thus, the culture of China (and the other countries it permeates) is such that they use chopsticks to eat.

The US learned its use of knife and fork roughly in the 19th century from its European ancestors (who learned it in the 18th century).  With slight differences (the way the utensils are held and whether to switch hands after cutting the food or not), a knife and fork works well for the kinds of food eaten in the US.  Roasts of beasts, dollops of mashed potatoes, apple pies, are all best eaten primarily with a knife and fork.  Except maybe peas.  The spoon is relegated to bowl food duty such as soups and stews.

Indonesia, having been a colony of the Dutch for over 350 years, learned the use of knife and fork. Being in close proximity of China and a center of trade in Asia, it also learned how to use chopsticks. But we will focus on how their knife and fork use is different than another colony of a different European country.  Indonesia uses the spoon on the right hand with a fork on the left to "spoon" small pieces of food on to the spoon.  This is because rice is its staple food, 3 or more times a day.  Eating rice with a fork is rather difficult, as would the chopsticks.  In the past, Indonesia eats with its hands, and it is still acceptable today even in restaurants serving traditional foods.  But the use of a spoon in the right hand is definitely necessitated by the fact that eating rice is much easier with a spoon than a fork or chopsticks.

So this case supports my larger, encompassing theory about cultural behaviors. Often cultural behaviors has its roots in a particular need.  The types of food eaten, which is driven by resources available in the region, necessitates different eating utensil behaviors.  When cultural behavior is taken out of context of its place, time and people, the behavior can become inappropriate in its new environment.  This is when we, the cultural behavior practitioner, must change and adapt.  This is when we, the cultural behavior recipient, must understand the origin and be patient with the practitioners as they learn to adapt.  This is mutual respect for both cultures, the guest and the host cultures.