History

The earliest versions were probably twigs used to retrieve food from cooking pots. As resources became scarce, fuel was conserved by cutting food into small pieces that could be cooked quickly. This made knives at the table unnecessary. The first references of chopsticks in text appear around 250 BCE.

Considering the length of the ancient chopsticks, they were most likely used for cooking, stirring hot liquids and serving food, rather than as eating utensils. During the Ming Dynasty, they became popularized as eating utensils and took on their present shape. 

Materials

Chopsticks are made from a variety of materials, such as bamboo, plastic, wood, bone, metal, jade, porcelain and ivory.

Bamboo and wood chopsticks are relatively inexpensive, do not transfer heat and provide easier gripping for picking up food. They are often lacquered for waterproofing to protect against warping. Almost all cooking and disposable chopsticks are made of bamboo or wood.

Plastic chopsticks are relatively inexpensive and do not transfer heat, but they are not as easy to use. Plastic chopsticks cannot be used for most cooking because high temperatures can damage the chopsticks and produce toxic compounds.

Metal, commonly stainless steel, chopsticks are durable and easy to clean, but metal is slippery and often come with grooved tips for easier gripping. Silver is still used among wealthy families, as well as silver-tipped wooden or bone chopsticks. Other materials such as ivory, jade, gold and silver are used for luxury. 

Styles

In China, chopsticks are typically longer and thicker, with squared or rounded sides and ending in either wide, blunt, flat tips or tapered pointed tips. Plastic or melamine varieties usually have blunt tips, whereas pointed tips are more likely to be used for wood and bamboo varieties. Chopsticks made from almost any material can be found in China, but the most common in modern-day restaurants is melamine plastic for durability and sanitation. The most common type in regular households is lacquered bamboo.

Shorter sticks tapered to a fine point are used in Japan, and are traditionally made of lacquered wood or bamboo. Many Japanese chopsticks have grooves which keeps food from slipping. Early Japanese chopsticks were made from one piece of bamboo, connected at the top and were used strictly for religious ceremonies.

On the Korean peninsula, medium-length chopsticks with a flat rectangular shape, usually made of metal are common. Traditionally, they were made of bronze or silver. Many Korean metal chopsticks are ornately decorated at the grip. They are used simultaneously with a spoon.

In Vietnam, long sticks that taper to a blunt point are also used. They are traditionally made of lacquered wood or bamboo. Contrary to misconception of the west, chopsticks are not commonly used in Thailand. 

Chopstick Etiquette in Korea

In Korea, chopsticks are paired with a spoon. Elders pick up utensils first. Contrary to cultural norms of China and Japan, it is considered uncouth to pick up a dish or a bowl to bring it closer to the mouth. A spoon is used instead. Holding both a spoon and chopsticks in one hand simultaneously or in both hands is also considered poor table manners.

A spoon should be used to eat soup, stew, liquid side dishes and rice, and chopsticks to eat solid side dishes. Eating rice with chopstick is acceptable, but was traditionally considered to be uncultured. Traditionally, chopsticks are used to serve side dishes into a rice bowl, and then the spoon is used to eat rice or soup.

Chopsticks should always be placed to the right of the spoon. Chopsticks are only laid to the left during the food preparation for a funeral or memorial service for deceased family members, in a ceremony known as jesa. 

Folklore

During the Chinese dynastic times, silver-tipped chopsticks were often used as a precautionary measure by wealthy families, as it was believed that the silver would turn black upon contact with poison. It is now known that silver has no reaction to arsenic or cyanide, but can change color if it comes into contact with garlic, onions or rotten eggs, all of which release hydrogen sulfide.

According to some ancient folklore, it is believed if you’re given an uneven pair, you will miss a boat or plane. An old Korean superstition says that the closer to the end one holds a pair of chopsticks, the longer one will stay unmarried.

 
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On Track to Globalization

The track, one of the most fundamental parts of railway infrastructure, has evolved from an ancient design of vehicle guidance, which some say date back to the Sumerian culture of 2000 BCE. Just before the Industrial Revolution, the majority of tracks consisted of horse-drawn wagonways that incorporated wooden rails. In the mid-eighteenth century, iron rails became more widely used, but could only be produced in short lengths, and were brittle, fragile and quickly became uneven under heavy loads, making them quite costly to maintain.

It wasn’t until 1857 that the first durable steel rails were made by British metallurgist and businessman Robert Forester Mushet, who provided the foundation for the development of rail transportation throughout the world. The first of Mushet’s rails were laid at an especially heavily trafficked part of the Derby Midland Railway Station in England, where previous rails had to be renewed at least every six months. Yet, after six years, Mushet’s rails seemed as good as new, despite the fact that over 700 trains had passed over them on a daily basis.

As a stronger material, steel steadily replaced iron for use on railways and allowed considerably longer lengths of rails to be rolled. Today, there are high speed trains that use steel wheels on steel tracks that can travel at ridiculously high speeds. The Shanghai Maglev in China, for example, can transport commuters at a whopping top speed of 430 kilometers per hour (about 267 miles an hour). Furthermore, advancements such as personal rapid transit vehicles such as Suncheon City’s SkyCube developed by POSCO, are changing the concept of rail travel altogether.

Sky-High Steel

Wood was the primary material used for most early airplanes, though there had been an all-metal plane as early as World War I. At this time, the useful load—crew, fuel, and weapons, for example—had to increase significantly, and the speed, altitude ceiling and range had to become much greater for planes to function as military instruments. As such, aircraft designers had to transition from the wood-and-fabric biplane to the all-metal, streamline monoplane.

The Junkers J-1 was the first cantilevered wing all-metal airplane and was developed for low-level, front-line observation and attack. Although heavy, cumbersome and slow to take off, it proved to be efficient and provided effective protection against ground-fire.

Planes have since been constructed from metal, though mostly aluminum, thanks to its light weight and strength. Yet, because steel can be up to four times stronger and three times stiffer, it is still utilized for certain aircraft components such as landing gear, where strength and hardness are especially important. It has also been used for the skin of some high-speed airplanes, because it holds its strength at higher temperatures better than aluminum.

Mind the Ash to Mind the Gap

The world’s first underground train, on the world’s first metro system (now known as the London Underground), traveled three-and-a-half miles from Paddington to Farringdon on January 9, 1863. Another 29 years passed before Chicago became the second city to boast a metro, while New York began operation of its rapid transit system in 1904. Before it went underground, the latter was initially an elevated railway that was served by steam engines that spilled ash and cinder on pedestrians below. Yet, with advancements in steel innovation, electrified trains allowed the operators of the lines to introduce cleaner locomotives.

Metro-building accelerated from the 1960s, in reaction to the growth of increasing urbanization and sprawling mega-metropolises around the world. At that time, train cars that were once built with wood were replaced by stainless steel cars, which saved operators money, as the sturdier, longer-lasting material reduced the overall weight of each car and lowered the amount of electrical power to move them. As it turns out, these same steel cars still provide unintended benefits, as they are helping breathe new life into the world’s oceans.

Now, most rapid transit trains operate on a conventional steel wheel/steel rail system, in which power is commonly delivered by a third rail or by overhead wires. These days, almost 190 cities have metros, with more to come amid a fresh spurt of construction in developing, congested countries.

As technology quickly accelerates and transportation continues to better connect our world, it is certain steel will remain to play a major role in how we get around.