notbob wrote on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:46:19 GMT:

>> I don't think I'd tip a large pho bowl in a restaurant or at
>> home but I have drunk Japanese soup in public in traditional
>> style from the small bowl .

> As a past denezin of many pho holes, I can attest to the fact
> that the Vietnamese do not tip their bowls. They use
> chopsticks and Asian-style spoons to consume the luscious pho
> nectar.

> One thing I've learned after using and observing Asians use
> chopsticks:
> oldtimers do not use the isoscles triangle technique taught to
> newbies on so many websites, but rather a scissors technique.
> They cross the sticks and catch the food in the closing
> squeeze of the crossed tips. It's harder to learn the
> manipulation, but once mastered, seems to be the easier and
> more relaxed method.

That's really interesting! Do you know of a video that shows the
scissors technique, especially in slow motion? I can't really go and
stare at oriental people in restaurants, especially with my poor
eyesight :-) The triangle method that I know is the one that seems to
appear in all the online videos about learning to use chopsticks.. You
are even cautioned *not* to cross the sticks in videos that I have seen.

--

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not