I watch a bit of Korean TV and movies and after a while you notice small things. Such as how Koreans use chopsticks. There are some very different views compared to other Asian cultures and most definitely compared to Western chopstick use.
- Unlike most other East Asian cultures, it is considered ill-mannered to use chopsticks to eat rice, the spoon is used instead. The Korean spoon, which has a thin and shallow bowl, is likely evolved for this purpose.
- It is considered uncultured and rude to pick up a dish or a bowl to bring it closer to one’s mouth, and eat its content with chopsticks (except certain noodle dishes like naengmyeon). Dishes are to be left on the table at all times, and a spoon is used alongside chopsticks, if the food lifted “drips”.
- When laying chopsticks down on the table next to a spoon, one must never put the chopsticks to the left of the spoon. Chopsticks are only laid to the left during the food preparation for the funeral or the memorial service for the deceased family members, known as jesa.
