Why 1.5 billion people eat with chopsticks | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED series

Transcriber: TED Translators admin

譯者: Charlotte Chen 審譯者: Harper Chang

It is such a sort of instrumental part

說到餐具，筷子是我們烹飪詞彙中

of our cooking vocabulary, in terms of the utensils.

不可或缺的工具

這就感覺，有趣耶

And it was like, that's interesting,

there are people who live without chopsticks.

還有人活著不用筷子的

[Small Thing.]

[小事情]

[Big Idea.]

[大學問]

Chopsticks are a pair of two long sticks

筷子就是兩根長長的棍子

used to eat things with one hand.

一隻手拿著它們來吃東西

Holding chopsticks is a little bit like holding a pencil,

握筷子就像是握住一支鉛筆

except that you have two of them

只差在筷子是兩支

and you move them together in a pincer movement.

而且你要同時控制它們，像是鉗子一樣

Most of them are made out of wood. They're also made out of plastic, bamboo,

筷子大部分是木製的 也有塑膠或是竹子做的

玉、金、銀，甚至象牙做的都有

jade, gold, silver and even ivory,

though I think that's not so cool anymore.

不過這年代用象牙已經不酷啦

Chopsticks are really well designed for eating small bits of food.

筷子真的是很好的設計 讓人可以方便夾取較小的食物

They're good for picking up noodles.

可以很輕易地夾起麵條

If you're skilled, you can eat rice,

如果你熟練了，就可以用筷子吃飯

pick up dumplings, pieces of meat.

夾水餃或是肉塊

There are some no-nos with chopsticks.

使用筷子的時候也有些禁忌

You should not use the chopsticks like drumsticks,

你不可以把筷子用得像是鼓棒

which I know is tempting.

我知道這滿吸引人的

You don't want to stick chopsticks into a bowl of rice face-up.

你也不該把筷子直直地插入米飯中

And the reason for that is it actually looks like a bowl of incense,

不能這樣做的原因是，這行為很像上香

so it sort of echoes death.

有點死亡的意味

Chopsticks are used in a huge portion of the world,

這世界很多地方都使用筷子

across much of Asia, about 1.5 billion people

在亞洲，約略有 15 億人口

are covered in the chopsticks sphere.

都是用筷子的

Different cultures have slightly different variations of chopsticks.

對於不同的文化 筷子也就有些微的差異

Chinese chopsticks will tend to be long and round,

華人的筷子是又長又圓的

Korean chopsticks are flatter and often made of metal

韓國的筷子則是扁平、用金屬製成的

and Japanese chopsticks tend to be round

而日本也比較傾向圓的

and very, very pointy.

而且非常非常地尖

While chopsticks are actually really commonplace

在當今的美國社會

in American society today,

筷子已經非常的普遍了

there was definitely a time in the late 1800s

但是在十九世紀末

where this idea that Asian men,

由於亞洲人使用筷子吃飯

because they ate rice with sticks,

were of a different quality than American men,

便被認為與美國人有極大的不同

who ate proper meat with a knife and fork.

因為美國人是用刀子和叉子吃肉的

But when China and the United States

但當中國與美國

began their diplomatic engagement in the 1970s,

在 1970 年代開始展開外交合作

Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger,

尼克森、季辛吉等人

had to practice eating with chopsticks.

就開始學習用筷子吃東西

What's been really interesting to see

這是非常很有趣的

is that as Asian cuisine has moved from the East into the West,

當亞洲菜漸漸地從東方傳去西方

chopsticks have become part of the experience.

筷子便成為了用餐體驗的一部分

There's evidence of chopsticks as long ago as the Shang dynasty,

有關筷子的記載可回溯至商朝

which is about 3000 years ago,

大概是三千多年前

and they loved tripods during the Shang dynasty.

商朝的人非常喜歡鼎

So when you cook with these big tripods,

他們會用很大的鼎煮菜

chopsticks were actually really useful,

筷子就非常地好用

because it was a way for you to stir and to reach

因為你可以用來攪拌取菜

without getting burned as the water was boiling

又無需擔心被大鍋裡的滾水燙傷手

in these really big pots.

Chinese culture has knives and has forks.

中華文化也有刀子和叉子

It uses them in many cases for cooking.

他們使用這些器具來烹飪

But in terms of like what moved into the dining room,

不過當要開飯的時候

it was the chopsticks.

就是使用筷子了

One of the things about Asian cooking

亞洲人烹飪有一個習慣

is that it often comes in very small pieces.

就是會把食物處理得很小塊

And I think part of that has to do with the fact

我想有部分原因是

that it's actually a lot more energy-efficient

這相對來說比較省力

to cook little pieces quickly.

可以煮得更快一些

But also, then you don't have to cut them.

而且，你也不用去切食物

So you have a circular influence,

所以這就像是一個相互作用

where the type of food that is cooked allows people to use chopsticks,

這些食物影響人們是否使用筷子

and then the fact that you have chopsticks influences the food that you can cook.

而使用筷子又影響該煮些什麼食物

But at the same time, chopsticks reflect the communal nature of eating food.

筷子還反應了人們共同飲食時的習慣

You'll have these dishes that you put in the middle,

你會把菜都放在中間

it's very family style.

很有家庭風

You go in with your chopsticks,

你用筷子去夾菜

and you put it on your rice, and then you eat individually.

然後放在米飯上 人人開始吃自己碗裡的東西

There's actually a famous sort of legend

其實有一個滿有名的傳說

where everyone has these really, really long chopsticks,

在說每個人都擁有 一雙很長、很長的筷子

like way too long for them to feed themselves.

長到沒有辦法吃東西

And so in hell, everyone starves,

所以在地獄裡，每個人都很飢餓

because they can't pick up food and put it in their mouths.

因為他們沒有辦法夾起食物 然後放進自己的嘴巴裡

But in heaven, people take the same chopsticks

但是在天堂，人們也擁有同樣的筷子

and then feed each other.

但是他們懂得餵彼此吃東西