Do you use chopsticks to eat? Do you know what material are your chopstick made of?
Using chopstick is very much unique to Chinese eating culture. It is also a learnt skill that requires alot of fine dexterity of our hands.
I never really think much about these two stick until i was surfing for some chopsticks.
The making of chopstick is a very tedious process ... from what i had read, it seems to require at least 18 steps (in handmade chopsticks)
Anyway, chopsticks are made of different material - wood, bamboo and stainless steel.
From what i read,
These material are porous, germs can hide in these pore. More so with wear and tear on the chopstick.
Therefore, it is important to change your chopstick frequently, just like toothbrush.
Frequent does not means every 3 months, its like a year or up to 3 years.
If the paint came off, you need to change immediately for health reasons.
Wood also seems to have medicinal values in traditonal chinese medicine .... different wood produced different effect on your organs.
From my limited translation, ebony (hei tan mu) can treat throat aliment while mahogany (hong tan mu) treats stomach aliments.
So using different types of chopsticks could potentially be good to your health.
Btw chopstick cannot take high heat (use of dishwasher or disinfectant cabinet) otherwise, they can go out of shape.
They behave just like any wood ......
Many a times we use chopstick to take food in steamboat or in hot oil?... its is not advisable.
There is one type of wood call tie mu (metal wood if direct translation) that can be use in steamboat.
So be very careful when you choose your chopsticks afterall, its something that you put in your mouth frequently!!
For that!! I have just changed my chopstick after using it for "i don't know how long".