Chopsticks are a pair of thin sticks used for eating food, held between the thumb and fingers of one hand. Instead of stabbing food with a fork, you grasp it by pressing the two sticks together like pincers or tweezers.

Chopsticks have been used in China for over 3,000 years and are traditional eating utensils in several East and Southeast Asian countries, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Different countries have their own styles: Japanese chopsticks tend to be shorter and more pointed, while Chinese chopsticks are longer and blunter at the tips. They're usually made from wood, bamboo, plastic, or metal.

Learning to use chopsticks takes practice. The bottom stick stays still, resting between your thumb and ring finger, while the top stick moves up and down like a lever, controlled by your index and middle fingers. At first, rice grains seem to escape and dumplings slip away, but with patience, using chopsticks can become as natural as using a pencil.