It's interesting to me the various different manners and no−nos between different cultures and also wondering how they got that way.

For example. Why are chopsticks metal in Korea, often plastic at Chinese restaurants in America and generally wood everywhere else?

Another, in Japan it is normal to lift your plate or bowl to your mouth, particularly your rice bowl and your miso soup bowl. In America we generally do not pick up plates or bowls. In Korea I'm told you NEVER EVER pick up your bowl or plate. Not your rice bowl, not your soup bowl, not anything.

In China it seems like you can put the edge of your rice bowl to your mouth and practically shovel the rice in. In Japan, even though you can put the bowl closer to your mouth you are supposed to pick the rice up with your chopsticks, not shovel it. That's one reason why Japanese rice needs to be sticky which it is not in some other countries.

My friend found it funny that I often lick my fingers clean after eating something messy for example buffalo wings. According to her, in Japan and Korea you never do that. You wipe off your hands, licking your fingers is considered bad manners. Even in America you wouldn't lick your fingers at a formal dinner but then again, at a formal dinner you wouldn't be served something that would get your fingers "finger lickin good" like tebasaki chicken wings.

I wonder where that restriction came from. Sitting at the First Kitchen across from work, eating flavored fries and getting the flavoring all over my fingers therefore prompting me to lick my fingers it occured to me one reason might be Japan and Korea might be dirtier places than America.

I'm sure there are plenty of dirty places in America and there are of course, plenty of clean places in Japan and Korea. But, visiting both countries I couldn't help but notice the number of unpleasent smells around every corner, block, street, etc. In America (or at least in LA), those kinds of smells are generally reserved for the alley which means that it's very rare that I have to smell them.

Assuming that was true, then licking your dirty fingers would lead to getting sick. Of course the problem with that theory is that they give you wet towels to wash your hands with before you eat 😉

In Japan, passing a piece of food from your chopsticks to some else's chopsticks is a no−no. If you are going to pass it to them you either pass the plate so they can take it or you pick it up yourself and put it on their plate. The reason is that the only time you pass things from chopstick to chopstick is when you pass bones at a funeral. My understanding is that that issue doesn't happen in China. I inferred that by watching my Chinese friend pass/take stuff all the time from/to other people's chopsticks. Of course maybe she just has bad manners 😃

Placing your chopsticks in a bowl with the ends sticking up is also a no−no in Japan as it as also part of the funeral ceremony. I don't think that holds for other countries though.

In Japan you do not walk and eat or drink. If you buy a drink from a vending machine you stand by the machine, drink it gone, throw away the bottle/can in the waste basket next to the machine and the continue on. The same with other fast foods. If there is an ice cream stand, you won't see anybody walking around with ice cream. Instead you'll see everybody eating their ice cream within about 20 feet of the stand. I'm curious where that rule originates. We clearly don't have that in America although conversely we have "no food/no drink" signs in front of many stores. There are less of those in Japan since there's nobody carrying open food or drinks around in the first place.

If you know of any others for other countries let me know.