Events for the Chopstick Olympics?

[vellocet]

So, I'm doing more silly pub games.  Thanks for all the suggestions last time on the literal Chinese translations, that pub quiz category was a big hit!  Now I'm setting up an event called the Chopstick Olympics.  The general idea is to give contestants a pair of chopsticks and then let them race to pick up different objects and put them in a bowl.  Or, otherwise manipulate objects, maybe something like stripping the meat off of a chicken wing leaving only clean bones behind.  The items should be challenging and fun.  The tournament will have separate Chinese and foreigner tracks, with the final event being Chinese vs. foreigner for the grand champion.  

 

So far, I've got: peanuts, 1 yuan coins laying flat, ice cubes, potato chips, cubes of soft tofu, marbles, irregularly shaped rocks...what are some other ideas for hard to grasp objects?  We can try different kinds of chopsticks like wooden disposable, Korean metal, enamel, etc.  Can anyone suggest some entertaining things to do in such an event?  

[calculatrix]

Oh cool. I did that several years ago in a holiday group for children. We practised with bread cubes, fruit gums and marbles. 

We also learned some pen spinning tricks (ask google) with the chopsticks. Maybe that fits into your olympics.

For lunch we had spaghetti with chopsticks.

Great fun.

[889]

-- Dried pea snacks.

 

-- Spaghetti, with sauce, one strand at a time.

 

-- Pile of loose tea.

 

Timed events: move from Plate A to Plate B, then back again.

[Lu]

Two peanuts at the same time. (The secret, for who wants to try this, is that you need to pick them up side by side pressed against each other, not, as one might think, on top of one another.)

Jiaozi, actually more difficult than peanuts.

[889]

Put the jiaozi in a bowl of chili oil.

[somethingfunny]

Can we have a harder difficulty category where the foreigner has to pick up the item while having a Chinese person constantly telling them how great their chopstick skills are in the most condescending voice imaginable?

[vellocet]

On 7/9/2022 at 12:08 AM, somethingfunny said:

Can we have a harder difficulty category where the foreigner has to pick up the item while having a Chinese person constantly telling them how great their chopstick skills are in the most condescending voice imaginable?

You're HSK 5 and you haven't figured out this is just Chinese people trying to be kind and finding something to compliment you on?  

 

Do you have anything to contribute to our conversation about interesting things to use in the competition?  

[aprilz]

Clear a plate of fried rice. I mean, really clean plate.

[imron]

On 7/6/2022 at 6:49 AM, vellocet said:

Can anyone suggest some entertaining things to do in such an event?  

Any of the above, but left handed

[Publius]

On 7/9/2022 at 6:46 PM, imron said:

Any of the above, but left handed

Evil...

[MTH123]

My middle finger on my right hand is slightly crooked at its first knuckle, slightly to the left. It’s because of cooking. I’m sure it’s from some kind of intense mixing of foods. Ever since you first posted your post, I started thinking on and off about what kind of competition would be so intense that it could bend a finger at its knuckle, if it were used that way for decades, like mine. That would be a real chopstick test! (The pick-up-ice-cube test or similar pick-stuff-up tests are so easy peasy for top competitors.)

 

In terms of the competition, everything I thought of was too subjective. Maybe you or other people working with you can think of something. The best I could think of was mixing a pound of marinated sliced/shredded meat. Put in 0.5 teaspoon of black pepper. See how uniformly the black pepper is mixed in within a specified amount of time. Maybe do many bowls of this.

 

Oh, I just had another random subjective idea. Beat an egg(s) and a little black pepper within a specified amount of time. See how uniformly the black pepper is mixed in. The ends of the chopsticks need to be separated roughly an inch to beat the egg well and fast. If the ends of the chopsticks are held close together like normal, then the egg(s) won’t be beaten well at all no matter how long it’s beaten.

 

Oh, maybe do a thick-ish mixture of flour, water and black pepper… this wouldn’t cost much…

[vellocet]

On 7/11/2022 at 11:53 AM, MTH123 said:

See how uniformly the black pepper is mixed in within a specified amount of time. Maybe do many bowls of this.

Aah, that's a subjective judgment.  We gotta have events where we can count the number of coins, rocks, etc.  Or weigh the amount of spaghetti moved.  

 

But whole black peppercorns sound good, I'll add those to the list.

[MTH123]

Okay, so I was thinking about different ways people use chopsticks, besides picking stuff up and mixing stuff. Mixing tests are too subjective. Pick-stuff-up tests are already popular, although I had a random thought about another possibility.

 

Picking Up

 

Is there a test that involves a whole bunch of items of different sizes and kinds? This would test a person’s ability to switch up how the chopsticks are used on the fly. A very small item like a grain of raw rice could be tricky to some. A larger item like a ping pong ball could be tricky. A flat, slick ribbon could be tricky. Maybe have only one of each item and give one point per item. Time it. The most items wins. Or, the most items in the shortest time wins.

 

Clearing

 

I like @aprilz's idea. I’ll expand a bit on it. Clear a large paper plate of every single grain of cooked rice by shoving it off and/or picking it off. Maybe use a stickier rice. Time how long it takes. The fastest time wins. If kids get to compete, then maybe a smaller, easier kids version of this could be done too.

 

Maybe add a little fun history, so people can understand why this is a thing to Chinese people. I actually can’t remember the history behind eating every grain of rice, because I was tiny and it was way too long ago. Someone here must know off the top of their heads. I only remember that I wasn’t allowed to leave the dinner table until I ate every grain of rice. Not one single grain could be left behind. It quickly became a habit.

 

My American husband, who is pretty good with chopsticks, always leaves dozens of grains behind. When it comes to Western foods, he always clears his plate. But, when it comes to rice, those last grains are too much trouble to him. So, rice is in an interesting category of its own.

 

“Cutting”

 

People sometimes use chopsticks to “cut” stuff at the dinner table. For example, a boiled egg would be pinched between the chopsticks to cut it in half. Sometimes, the other hand would be used to help pinch the chopsticks. So, for a competition, I was thinking of maybe a 1 pound block of firm tofu. Use the pinching method to cut the block into pieces. (No cheating with using the chopsticks in a knife cutting motion.)

 

Time it. When the person is done, count the number of pieces. Then, calculate the number of pieces per minute. The highest rate wins. More thought should probably be put into how time is handled. Maybe set a time limit of, say, 1 minute. Maybe just specify a fixed time for doing this, like 1 minute.

 

Anyhoo, I’m just brainstorming here.

 

[大块头]

On 7/12/2022 at 12:43 PM, MTH123 said:

I only remember that I wasn’t allowed to leave the dinner table until I ate every grain of rice.

 

粒粒皆辛苦！?

[MTH123]

On 7/12/2022 at 3:36 PM, 大块头 said:

粒粒皆辛苦！?

 

That's right! By the way, Fuchsia Dunlop's cookbook Every Grain of Rice is fantastic. She didn't write in the book why she chose that name or what it means or I would quote it.

 

[aprilz]

Another variation is to use chopsticks of different materials or shape. Metal chopsticks are harder to use than wooden ones. Chopsticks with more pointed tips are easier to pick things up. 

 

One reference is 刘姥姥, who was made fun of because she could not handle ivory chopsticks well. 

[MTH123]

On 7/12/2022 at 11:43 AM, MTH123 said:

Maybe add a little fun history, so people can understand why this is a thing to Chinese people.

 

The link below from the University of Southern California (USC) has a couple of answers about eating every grain of rice.

 

http://folklore.usc.edu/chinese-superstition-about-rice/

 

The first answer about a future spouse getting pimples doesn’t ring a bell for me at all. (Maybe it’s like Chinese parents saying to their kids that shaking a leg(s) would cause them to lose money. It was just a superstitious-type saying to convince kids to stop doing it.)

 

The second answer that is along the lines of not wasting rice sounds familiar. I remember now that my parents said that really poor Chinese people would be lucky if they had anything other than rice to eat. Having a very small piece of meat to eat once a week (or longer?) was considered a luxury.

 

[MTH123]

On 7/12/2022 at 11:07 PM, aprilz said:

Another variation is to use chopsticks of different materials or shape. Metal chopsticks are harder to use than wooden ones. Chopsticks with more pointed tips are easier to pick things up. 

 

That's a great idea! There are also the long chopsticks for deep hot pots. How quickly can someone fish out pieces of sunken fish from the bottom of the hot pot? How quickly can someone pick out fish balls from the top of the hot pot? I think soups in general can be tricky in certain ways. How quickly can someone pick out peas, corn, chopped green onions, cilantro (aka Chinese parsley) or whatever from a bowl of soup? There are probably things that tend to bob-and-weave more so-to-speak in water, like whole apples in the American competition called "Bobbing for Apples."

 

I have very, very long wooden chopsticks with tapered ends for using on an outdoor grill. I've never used them. They are three times the length of normal chopsticks. If I had to hold them at their far ends, I wonder what I would even be able to pick up. It would be hard! I bet I couldn't even pick up an ice cube (default thing for little kids to try at a Chinese restaurant in the U. S.)!

 

Maybe some combination of different chopsticks and harder-to-pick-up items could be used as a tie breaker in a stiff competition.

 

[vellocet]

How about some easy ones, to go for speed instead of difficulty?  One thing I've learned in competitions is you have to have a few easy events, so that people can feel a sense of mastery.  If your competition is too hard people will go away with a bad taste in their mouths. It's the frustration at not being able to succeed. Hopefully no cooked foods, we can do rice or somesuch, but it might be more troublesome to come up with cooked foods at the right time rather than just a bag of marbles from the toy store.  I like the uncooked rice idea better though, it's more evil. ?

[roddy]

Do something breakable. Getting crisps (chips, Yanks), out of the bag, without being able to look inside the bag, might be a good one. Or something unfeasibly heavy.