A handy solution to chopstick shortage from South Asia

Who would not relish a chance to stick it to the Chinese? The Korean-American in the US state of Georgia who saw his chance and took it, therefore, deserves praise. It takes some gumption — and many, many gum trees — to actually start exporting chopsticks to China, a modern day equivalent surely, of carting coal to Newcastle.

At a time when much of the world is flooded by cheap and abundant Made In China goods, may would be heartened by the thought that the Chinese themselves are eating, if not out of America’s hands but at least with American-made chopsticks. Japan is another country in the same soup(bowl) as the wood shortage that drove China to import chopsticks has had a similar impact there, as both nations have a voracious appetite for these disposable implements.

Even an annual production of 60 billion pairs is not enough for China and the Japanese go through some 25 billion themselves, so dwindling wood reserves have made them look abroad or turn to alternative materials such as bamboo or plastic. The easiest alternative, of course, would be the hardest for them to swallow, if not to eat with: western style cutlery or the handy method used by us South Asians, of course.

Giving any handle to western culture in the arena of food would not go down well with them, even though the two nations have adopted western fashion with boundless enthusiasm. And, of course, cutlery (metal or plastic) carries with it the same issues regarding bio-degradeablity and hygiene as chopsticks made with the same material. The most eco-friendly method, it must be said, would be the south Asian hands-on approach. Easy to use, no question of imports, or problems of storage or disposal, and no possibility of a shortage. What could be better?