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Tiki Central / Locating Tiki / The Islander, Stockton, CA (restaurant)

Post #760081 by Veronica! on Thu, Mar 3, 2016 3:55 AM

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On 2016-02-09 07:56, AceExplorer wrote:
Nowadays many restaurant supply companies sell generic chopsticks in plain paper sleeves.

I can't remember the last time I saw custom-printed chopstick sleeves. My guess is that the last "great upheaval" in the chopstick world came when bamboo chopsticks came into vogue. One or two bamboo chopstick manufacturers were successful in taking over the vast amount of market share with their new "greener" and renewable bamboo product. For restaurant operators, they may have found that there wasn't much incremental value to having your own branded chopstick sleeves.

One exception to this may be the better Pho noodle houses and a handful of higher-end restaurants who provide customers with high-quality re-usable plastic chopsticks. They must wash and then re-package their chopsticks either in paper sleeves, or they roll/wrap/insert their sticks into their linen table napkins.

How "progress" changes things over time, huh?

USA is catching up to rest of world. Bamboo chopsticks have been around for more than three thousand years. The Chinese for chopsticks is compound of "quick" and "bamboo". And importing rather then manufacturing chopsticks domestically.

I carry chopsticks in my purse. Not Japanese hashi. Those are stored with the silver. Otemoto, the disposable bamboo type in paper sleeve. Which are neither Japanese nor Chinese. Generic. You never know when you will be eating something messy which requires precision. Or for arranging your hair in a bun before hopping on freeway with the top down on the roadster.

I do not think I would eat with plastic restaurant chopsticks. How are they washed? Would not they slip through the grate of the utensil basket in the dishwasher? Also, plastic is slippery. My little niece has plastic Hello Kitty training chopsticks. The tips are knurled for texture. Flexible joint at the top to retain the correct position in little hands while grasping. So. Turn upside down and toss in the dishwasher basket.

In the battle against the waste of disposable utensils whether plastic spork or bamboo chopsticks, one of the problems is cleanliness. When I unwrap bamboo chopsticks, snap them apart, fold them under my thumbs with my hands in the prayer pose and bow my head, I know I am the only person to have used those chopsticks.

From what I understand, American disposable chopsticks were of birch and were round with only fraction of taper and separate — not joined at the top to be snapped apart.

The latest fashion in chopsticks is laser engraving with matching box. When I was a girl and laid out the things for supper, I knew which chopsticks belong to my father, my mother, my sisters, and myself. So what is the point? As far as commemorating auspicious occasion such as my wedding, engraved chopsticks with my husband's name entwined with mine in little hearts with the the date of our ceremony are going to be tough sell at rummage sale when I divorce the schmuck.

Laser engraving is expensive. Chopsticks in custom-printed paper sleeves — which are widely available — are expensive, too, unless ordered in extreme bulk. We must contend with shipping charges because local restaurant supply house does not furnish. And where to store all those cartons of chopsticks? Necessary to order twenty boxes to be on same economy. We are confronted with one-size-fits-all paper sleeves. Like going to chintzy restaurant with the paper Year Of The Rat / Ox / Tiger / Rabbit / Dragon / Snake / Horse / Sheep / Monkey / Rooster / Dog / Pig zodiac fortune telling placemat that leaves off in 2007.