QA问答：筷子发明之前中国人用什么东西来吃饭？
What did the Han Chinese use before chopsticks?
译文简介
网友：筷子是经过进化的餐具。中国古代遗址发现距今7000年的餐具（刀叉）
一个以筷子作为餐具的文明，一定建立在高度发达的古代文明之上......
正文翻译
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Chopsticks are an evolved tableware
Tableware found in ancient Chinese ruins dating back 7,000 years
For a civilization to use chopsticks as tableware, it must be built on a highly developed ancient civilization.
Let's imagine how humans ate food tens of thousands of years ago
Initially, people obtained meat by hunting or fishing
In the most primitive state, people ate meat directly, which was no different from animals
After humans mastered fire, they could get cooked food by roasting food
If they wanted to process and eat meat more conveniently, humans must have knives so that they could cut food into pieces. Early knives were made of stone and bone, and later knives made of metal appeared.
Therefore, the most primitive tableware of humans must be some kind of knife
In addition to meat, humans can also eat grains and vegetables
After people invented pottery, "boiling" became the second cooking method.
With liquid mixed in the food, the knife can no longer meet the requirements. In addition to holding the entire pottery and pouring it into the mouth, people must need a second kind of tableware to put the food with liquid into the mouth.
Therefore, the second kind of tableware used by humans must be some kind of spoon
A set of spoons from the Shang Dynasty, 3,500 years ago
The formation of the fork must be later than the knife and spoon, because it is not a necessity. The early role of the fork could be replaced by a branch or another knife, or they simply grabbed the food with their hands and cut it.
Therefore, the appearance of the fork must be later than the knife and spoon.
As for chopsticks. It appeared much later than the previous three tableware. The appearance of chopsticks represents that civilization has developed to a considerable height.
Imagine:
Can you cut a piece of meat from a whole leg of lamb with chopsticks and put it in your mouth? No
Can you use chopsticks to put fish soup and boiled beans into your mouth? No
If the food is not carefully pre-processed, chopsticks are useless.
A pair of bronze chopsticks from the Zhou Dynasty, 3,000 years ago
In fact, any food must be carefully processed, such as cut into suitable blocks, strips, slices, and their size just fits the human mouth, so that chopsticks can play a role.
People have sophisticated knives that can cut materials into a more delicate state
People have more condiments and spices, and find that smaller cut ingredients are more suitable for mixing with condiments.
There is a class differentiation in society, and some nobles enjoy special people preparing food for them.
A stone carving from the Han Dynasty in the 1st century AD shows a nobleman using chopsticks
This means that "cooking" has been divided among human skills, and this civilization has people who specialize in making food: chefs.
Chefs pre-process, divide and process all ingredients. It is no longer necessary for people who eat to process them at the table. This is the result of the development of civilization and the result of social division of labor.
In fact, the Chinese used chopsticks quite late. According to archaeologists, the Chinese did not fully popularize chopsticks until at least the early Tang Empire. Before that, only nobles and the upper class had the opportunity to use chopsticks, while ordinary people basically used knives, forks, spoons, bamboo pieces, and their own hands.
Therefore, chopsticks became the daily tableware of the Chinese only 1,500 years ago. China has a clear history of more than 4,000 years.
筷子是经过进化的餐具
Chopsticks are an evolved tableware
Tableware found in ancient Chinese ruins dating back 7,000 years
For a civilization to use chopsticks as tableware, it must be built on a highly developed ancient civilization.
Let's imagine how humans ate food tens of thousands of years ago
Initially, people obtained meat by hunting or fishing
In the most primitive state, people ate meat directly, which was no different from animals
After humans mastered fire, they could get cooked food by roasting food
If they wanted to process and eat meat more conveniently, humans must have knives so that they could cut food into pieces. Early knives were made of stone and bone, and later knives made of metal appeared.
Therefore, the most primitive tableware of humans must be some kind of knife
In addition to meat, humans can also eat grains and vegetables
After people invented pottery, "boiling" became the second cooking method.
With liquid mixed in the food, the knife can no longer meet the requirements. In addition to holding the entire pottery and pouring it into the mouth, people must need a second kind of tableware to put the food with liquid into the mouth.
Therefore, the second kind of tableware used by humans must be some kind of spoon
A set of spoons from the Shang Dynasty, 3,500 years ago
The formation of the fork must be later than the knife and spoon, because it is not a necessity. The early role of the fork could be replaced by a branch or another knife, or they simply grabbed the food with their hands and cut it.
Therefore, the appearance of the fork must be later than the knife and spoon.
As for chopsticks. It appeared much later than the previous three tableware. The appearance of chopsticks represents that civilization has developed to a considerable height.
Imagine:
Can you cut a piece of meat from a whole leg of lamb with chopsticks and put it in your mouth? No
Can you use chopsticks to put fish soup and boiled beans into your mouth? No
If the food is not carefully pre-processed, chopsticks are useless.
A pair of bronze chopsticks from the Zhou Dynasty, 3,000 years ago
In fact, any food must be carefully processed, such as cut into suitable blocks, strips, slices, and their size just fits the human mouth, so that chopsticks can play a role.
People have sophisticated knives that can cut materials into a more delicate state
People have more condiments and spices, and find that smaller cut ingredients are more suitable for mixing with condiments.
There is a class differentiation in society, and some nobles enjoy special people preparing food for them.
A stone carving from the Han Dynasty in the 1st century AD shows a nobleman using chopsticks
This means that "cooking" has been divided among human skills, and this civilization has people who specialize in making food: chefs.
Chefs pre-process, divide and process all ingredients. It is no longer necessary for people who eat to process them at the table. This is the result of the development of civilization and the result of social division of labor.
In fact, the Chinese used chopsticks quite late. According to archaeologists, the Chinese did not fully popularize chopsticks until at least the early Tang Empire. Before that, only nobles and the upper class had the opportunity to use chopsticks, while ordinary people basically used knives, forks, spoons, bamboo pieces, and their own hands.
Therefore, chopsticks became the daily tableware of the Chinese only 1,500 years ago. China has a clear history of more than 4,000 years.
筷子是经过进化的餐具
中国古代遗址发现距今7000年的餐具（刀叉）
一个以筷子作为餐具的文明，一定建立在高度发达的古代文明之上。
我们想象一下几万年前人类是如何吃饭的
最初，人们通过狩猎或捕鱼获取肉食
在最原始的状态下，人们直接吃肉，和动物没什么区别
人类掌握了火之后，就可以通过烧烤来获得熟食
人类要想更方便地加工和食用肉类，就必须有刀，以便将食物切成小块。早期的刀是用石头和骨头制成的，后来出现了金属制成的刀。因此，人类最原始的餐具一定是某种刀具
除了肉类，人类还可以吃谷物和蔬菜
人类发明陶器之后，“煮”成为第二种烹饪方法。
当食物中混入液体时，刀子已经不能满足要求，人们除了能将整个陶器捧入口中喝之外，还必须需要第二种餐具才能将混入液体的食物送入口中。
因此，人类使用的第二种餐具一定是某种勺子
这是一套来自商朝的勺子，距今3500年前
叉子的形成一定晚于刀和勺，因为它不是必需品。叉子的早期作用可能是被树枝或另一把刀子取代，或者他们只是用手抓起食物然后切开。
因此，叉子的出现一定晚于刀和勺。
至于筷子，它的出现比前三种餐具晚得多。筷子的出现代表着文明已经发展到了相当的高度。
想象下：
你能用筷子从一整只羊腿上切下一块肉放进嘴里吗？不能
你能用筷子把鱼汤和煮豆子往嘴里送吗？不能
如果食物没有经过仔细的预处理，筷子就是无用的。
实际上，任何食物都要经过精心的加工，比如切成合适的块、条、片，其大小刚好适合人的嘴巴，这样筷子才能发挥作用。
意味着人们拥有先进的刀具，可以将材料切割成更精细的状态
意味着人们的调味品和香辛料越来越多，并且发现切块较小的食材更适合与调味品混合。
意味着人们存在阶级分化，一些贵族喜欢有专门的人为他们做饭。
公元1世纪汉代的石刻作品描绘了一位贵族使用筷子
这意味着“烹饪”已经在人类的技能中被划分出来，并且这个文明拥有专门制作食物的人：厨师。
厨师把所有食材预先加工、分割、处理，吃饭的人不再需要在餐桌上加工，这是文明发展的结果，也是社会分工的结果。
其实中国人使用筷子的时间相当晚，据考古学家考证，中国人至少在唐朝初期才真正普及筷子，而在此之前，只有贵族和上层阶级才有机会使用筷子，普通百姓基本都是用刀叉勺、竹片，和自己的手。
因此筷子成为中国人日常餐具的时间只有1500多年，而中国有明确的4000多年的历史。
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The cultured man/woman is able to eat food from all culture with the appropriate implement, hand, fork or chopsticks and appreciate it.
有文化的男人/女人能够用适当的器具、手、叉子或筷子享用来自所有文化的食物并欣赏它。
Good explanatiin! Though i always wonder why Indians still prefer to use their hands to eat food even when spoons and forks are available in the restaurant.
很好的解释！不过我一直想知道为什么印度人仍然喜欢用手吃饭，即使餐厅里有勺子和叉子。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Because the experience of eating chilli is not complete until you’ve rubbed it into your eyes.
因为如果你没有把辣椒揉进眼睛里，吃辣椒的体验就不算完整。
My Indian friend in Malaysia explained to me that eating food with knives, spoons, forks and chopsticks, is like making love with your wife/girlfriend through a middleman.
我马来西亚的印度朋友跟我解释，用刀、勺、叉、筷子吃饭，就像是通过中间人跟你的老婆/女朋友做爱一样
I dunno, seems more like wiping your ass without toilet paper…oh wait…
我不知道，这更像是不用卫生纸擦屁股……哦等等……
no offence fun fact for you arab traveller sulaiman al tajir who travelled china during tang empire era and india during gurjara pratihara empire reign who controlled most of north india he see wiping ass by paper was dirty here is few extract of them Sulaiman al-Tajir
无意冒犯，给你讲一个有趣的事实，阿拉伯旅行家苏莱曼·塔吉尔，他游历过唐朝时期的中国和古吉拉特邦普拉蒂哈拉帝国时期的印度，他控制了北印度的大部分地区，他看到用纸擦屁股觉得很脏
Yes, I recalled reading that. What is slowly trending now is a move away from toilet paper. I am noticing the use of water closet with water jets which clean you after you’re done with your business.
是的，我记得读过这篇文章。现在慢慢流行的是不再使用卫生纸。我注意到人们使用带有喷水装置的抽水马桶，方便后可以帮你冲洗。
yes i also think both using hand with water and just using toilet paper both are now look primitive
是的，我也认为用手拿水和直接用卫生纸看起来都很原始
I think it seems a good way to use paper followed by water. It's cleaner this way.
我认为先用纸再用水是个好办法。这样比较干净。
Using the paper after the water, especially from a electric bidet is just to dry off the water. I have been using the electric bidet for a long time now (over a decade) in my home and a good bidet will wash you very clean.
洗完水后用纸巾擦干，尤其是电动马桶的水。我在家里使用电动马桶已经很长时间了（超过十年），好的电动马桶可以把你洗得很干净。
Electric Bidet, modernized by the Japanese. I love them, I installed them on all my toilets in my house, my use of toilet paper is almost zero since then.
电动马桶，日本人发明的。我很喜欢，我家所有马桶都装了，从那以后我几乎不用厕纸了。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Yea, people back then were nasty. That doesn’t make wiping your ass with your bare hand in modern times not disgusting.
是的，那时候的人很恶心。但这并不意味着在现代用手擦屁股就不恶心了。
Some claim food tastes better by using hand to eat. I eat using my hand but it didn't make any difference. Bad food is a bad food irrespective of use of hand or spoon. It's not like our hand could act like Ajinomoto.
有人说用手吃食物味道更好。我用手吃，但没什么区别。不管用手还是勺子，坏食物就是坏食物。我们的手不可能有味精那样的效果。
It does add some used socks salted fish aroma if one didn't soap clean their fingers thoroughly especially after some dirty business. I've read many news of Indian curry pot caught having old socks as special ingredient. Seriously. Not some tabloid. Real news on national media with real enforcement officers.
如果一个人没有用肥皂彻底清洗手指，尤其是在做了一些肮脏的事情之后，它确实会增加一些旧袜子咸鱼的味道。我读过很多关于印度咖喱锅被发现有旧袜子作为特殊配料的新闻。说真的。不是小报。国家媒体上的真实新闻，有真正的执法人员。
Multitude of reasons, I can think of.
Indian cuisine is mind-bogglingly vaaast and has been predominantly vegetarian. You don't need knives and forks for that.
I would guess that 98% of all our food items cannot be eaten using knives and forks (or don't require them at all). Even in case of non-vegetarian food, we didn't have items like the steak which required knives etc.
You see a lot of curry-based Indian dishes and that's what most people associate Indian food with. Fact is that curry is a newbie in the whole culinary history of India. Curries required spoons, for some, but most were skillful enough to use their hands to have it with flat bread or grains.
Most importantly though, in Indian tradition food has always been associated with the well-being of mind (not to discount the energy requirements of the body). It is believed that you imbibe in yourself what you consume and how you consume it. Consuming food is not just an exercise to refill the calories, rather it is a sensory experience involving touch, sight, smell and taste (and sometimes, sound). The whole experience involving all these senses elevates the satisfaction, leading to better absorption of nutrients in the body. Indian tradition promoted having a bath before having your food, sitting on floor while having your food, serving it on clean leaves and eating it with your hands, thus maximizing the connection with the elements.
Now, coming to the question of still using hands in restaurants - well, most of us use spoons and forks etc but there are certain things which require bare hands only e.g. our varieties of flat breads to scoop the curry or a bite of the vegetable/meat, or if you are having a masala dosa and so on & so forth. Why, even having a pizza with your hands is a totally different experience as compared to using the fork & knife, don't you agree? Using your hands adds a different dimension to the experience and that I believe is the single biggest reason. That's how nature intended it to be but, of course, we have evolved.
我能想到很多原因。
印度菜种类繁多，以素食为主。用餐时无需刀叉。
我猜我们98%的食物都不能用刀叉吃（或者根本不需要用刀叉）。即使是非素食，我们也没有像牛排这样需要用刀的食物。
你会看到很多以咖喱为基础的印度菜，这也是大多数人将印度菜与咖喱联系起来的原因。事实上，咖喱在整个印度烹饪史上都是一个新手。有些人吃咖喱需要用勺子，但大多数人都熟练地用手将咖喱与饼子或谷物一起食用。
但最重要的是，在印度传统中，食物一直与心灵健康有关（不忽视身体的能量需求）。人们相信，你吃什么以及如何吃，都会影响到你自己。进食不仅仅是补充卡路里的运动，而是一种涉及触觉、视觉、嗅觉和味觉（有时还有听觉）的感官体验。涉及所有这些感官的整个体验提升了满足感，从而导致身体更好地吸收营养。印度传统提倡在吃饭前洗澡，坐在地板上吃饭，将食物盛在干净的叶子上，用手吃，从而最大限度地与自然元素建立联系。
现在，谈到在餐厅里是否仍需用手的问题——好吧，我们大多数人使用勺子和叉子等，但有些事情只需要赤手空拳，例如，我们用各种饼子舀咖喱或一口蔬菜/肉类，或者如果你正在吃马萨拉多萨饼等等。为什么，甚至用手吃披萨与用叉子和刀子相比也是完全不同的体验，你不同意吗？用手为体验增添了不同的维度，我认为这是最大的原因。这是大自然的本意，但当然，我们已经进化了。
Because that “class differentiation in society” was even more entrenched and intensive, in the form of the caste system- so much so, that the highest ‘Brahmin’ caste of Hindus refused to be served by, or have food cooked for them by, or use any utensils that were used by, lower-caste ‘Dalits’ at all.
Such that, by the pre-colonial era, in most Hindu-ruled states, rather than using ‘developed cutlery’ like chopsticks which necessitated that all their food be carefully pre-processed (thus diminishing the variety of cuisine accessible to themselves, relative to the ‘commonfolk’- unthinkable!), they simply ordained that no-one beneath a certain rung on the caste ladder should be permitted to use (or even some cases, even craft) cutlery themselves for use at the dinner-table.
By doing so, they made the usage of culinary utensils themselves (when eating, at any rate) so synonymous with elitism, racial and caste supremacy, and social inequalities in general. So much so that during the colonial era, practically all movements, religious and political, which ever espoused egalitarianism in India (before the end of the British Raj, at any rate) also espoused the abandonment of culinary utensils (the production of which in India was also banned under the British, so as to have a fully secured captive market for their stainless steel cutlery exports).
If you are Chinese, then just imagine if the Qing and Kuomintang had passed laws forbidding ‘common Han’ Chinese people from using chopsticks at all (rather than merely passing laws prohibiting the use of metal chopsticks for anyone bar members of the Qing Imperial nobility, and silver chopsticks by anyone bar the Emperor). Chinese people developed their cultural aversion to using metal chopsticks (whereas Koreans and Japanese don’t care, and Taiwanese culture still extols them as superior), whilst Indian people developed their cultural aversion to using table cutlery utensils, pretty much at the same time, for pretty much exactly the same reason.
因为这种“社会阶级分化”以种姓制度的形式表现得更加根深蒂固和深入，以至于印度教徒中最高种姓“婆罗门”拒绝接受低种姓“达利特人”的服务，拒绝让他们为他们做饭，或使用他们使用的任何餐具。
因此，在前殖民时代，在大多数印度教统治的国家，他们不是使用筷子之类的“先进餐具”，因为这需要对所有食物进行仔细的预加工（因此相对于“普通人”而言，他们所能获得的菜肴种类就减少了，这是不可想象的！），而是简单地规定，种姓阶梯上某一等级以下的人都不允许使用（甚至在某些情况下，甚至不允许自己制作）餐具在餐桌上使用。
通过这种方式，他们让烹饪用具的使用本身（至少在吃饭时）成为精英主义、种族和种姓至上主义以及普遍的社会不平等的代名词。以至于在殖民时代，几乎所有在印度宣扬平等主义的宗教和政治运动（至少在英国统治结束之前）也都宣扬放弃传统烹饪用具（英国统治时期，印度也被禁止生产传统烹饪用具，以便为其不锈钢餐具出口建立一个完全安全的垄断市场）。
如果你是中国人，那么想象一下，如果清朝和国民党通过法律，禁止“普通汉族”中国人使用筷子（而不是仅仅通过法律，禁止除清朝皇室贵族外的任何人使用金属筷子，禁止除皇帝外的任何人使用银筷子）。中国人对使用金属筷子产生了文化厌恶（而韩国人和日本人并不在意，台湾地区文化仍然推崇金属筷子为上乘之物），而印度人对使用餐桌餐具产生了文化厌恶，几乎是同时发生的，原因也几乎完全相同。
The aversion to metal chopsticks is mostly because they are much heavier and much more expensive than wood and bamboo ones. I’m mostly Chinese, the high end chopstick was made with ivory (which has been banned for a long time), I still have my pair (with pure gold decoration on top) that was made for me with my name etched onto it, it’s slightly heavier to wooden ones but I supposed its much more durable as I’ve been using them daily for 35+ years now ever since I could use them (they are adult size). They are a family tradition at my home from my mother side.
不喜欢金属筷子主要是因为它们比木筷子和竹筷子重得多，也贵得多。我主要是华人血统，高端筷子是用象牙制成的（象牙早已被禁止），我仍然有一对（顶部有纯金装饰），是专门为我制作的，上面刻着我的名字，它比木筷子稍重，但我想它更耐用，因为自从我能使用它们以来，我已经每天使用它们35年多了（它们是成人尺寸）。这是我妈妈那边的家庭传统。
And the aversion to cutlery in general for many foods in India’s mostly because they’re much heavier and much more expensive than simply using one’s hands, and/or using a piece of flatbread to eat the food with.
印度人普遍不喜欢用餐具吃大部分食物，主要是因为餐具比直接用手或用一片扁面包吃食物要重得多，也贵得多。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
as indonesian Chinese, we uses hand sometime as we like to smell our fingers after a good meal :)
作为印尼华人，我们有时会用手，因为我们喜欢在饱餐一顿后闻一下手指:)
There are food items for which specific tools are better.
Soups cannot be eaten with hand, but if you have a bowl, you can just lift your cup and drink from it.
Noodles, especially super hot, are easier with a fork. Maybe even chopstick.
But outside these specific cases, there is not one tool as versatile, flexible and deft as your fingers. If the item can be consumed by hand, and your hands are washed, it makes no sense to use an inferior tool.
Indians eat bread, rice, curry with their hand. They use fork for noodles, spoons for hot soup, knife for bread.
有些食物更适合用专用工具来处理。
汤不能用手吃，但如果你有一个碗，你可以直接端起碗喝。
面条，尤其是非常辣的面条，用叉子吃会更方便。甚至用筷子吃也行。
但除了这些特殊情况之外，没有一种工具能像你的手指一样灵活多变、灵巧。如果物品可以用手食用，而且你的手是洗过的，那么使用劣质工具就毫无意义了。
印度人用手吃面包、米饭、咖喱。他们用叉子吃面条，用勺子吃热汤，用刀吃面包。
its called culture
这就是所谓的文化
They don't have the refined ways of cooking like hotpot.
主要是他们没有像火锅那样精致的烹饪方式。
Food type require either spoon, knofe, fork, chopstick or hand to eat. Most Indian food is hand eaten because it is practical.
食物类型需要用勺子、刀子、叉子、筷子或手来吃。大多数印度食物都是用手吃的，因为这样比较方便。
Mahatir, Msia’s former prime minister dislike the Chinese for still using chopsticks to eat , saying they have not assimilated into Malay culture of eating with their hands which every likely to be copied fr Indian culture
马来西亚前总理马哈蒂尔不喜欢华人仍然使用筷子吃饭，称他们没有融入马来人用手吃饭的文化，而这种文化很可能会从印度文化中复制而来。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
This just makes chop stick seem even more useless and ridiculous.
这只会让筷子看起来更加无用且可笑。
Evet, bu anlamlı yazı aracılığıyla Çin medeniyetinin en eski medeniyetlerden biri olduğunu kabul ediyorum ve gereksiz övünmeye izin vermeyeceğim.
是的，通过这篇有意义的文章，我承认中华文明是最古老的文明之一，我不会允许不必要的吹嘘。
Another response filled with racism, although the OP is trying hard to conceal their intentions. However, it is quite obvious that they are being sarcastic about the civilizations around the world not being as advanced as China's. This is because they abandoned the habits of eating with knives, forks, and hands 1500 years ago.
又是一个种族主义的回答，虽然答主在竭力隐藏自己的企图。但是很明显，他是在讽刺全世界的文明都不如中国先进。因为他们在1500年前就抛弃了用刀叉和手吃饭的习惯