China Releases First-Ever Public Chopsticks & Spoons Standards

Considering global health concerns as well as local standards and traditions, China’s city of Taizhou in Jiangsu province has released the country’s first-ever guideline on the use of chopsticks and spoons when eating in public.

Public chopsticks and spoons are recommended to be used even when eating at home, according to the standard, and are especially handy with more than two people at the table to serve yourself and others using separate utensils in order to avoid mouth-to-mouth contact. In order words: one spoon per person to serve, and a pair of chopsticks to eat. Or vice versa. 

After hearing about this new guideline, one netizen commented: “We should also use them at large dinners and parties, especially if you don’t know the people attending very well.”

Others feel that the use of different utensils should only be suggested when someone in your group is sick, “otherwise it’s a little too much”, someone wrote online.

That would, indeed, be a bit much. “If there’s 5 of us at the dining table, that means 5 pairs of chopsticks and 5 tablespoons, for every meal. That’s a hassle to prepare every time,” someone else wrote. 

“I can already pictures chopsticks dropping and flying around our table,” another netizen commented. “At one point I think we’ll start forgetting which was used by whom, which defeats the purpose of separating them in the first place.”

Despite the mixed opinions, everyone agrees on the principle: to maintain the highest level of hygiene when eating in public or with others in your own home and limit the spread of germs.

The message is especially important for elders at home: “It’s just like when we had to ‘force’ our parents to wear masks when the outbreak started,” one person shared. “For the sake of their own health and that of others, I believe they’ll gradually accept it and get used to it over time.”

How do you feel about these standards? Do you already follow them when you’re eating out with friends or having people over for dinner? 

Source: people‘s daily

Editor: Crystal H

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