To have soup, rest your chopsticks on your rice bowl diagonally, place the soup bowl near to you, and sip with the spoon. No need to hold up the soup bowl. Keep slurping and eating noises low and minimal, and of course, try not to speak with your mouth full.
When eating the noodle soup, use the chopsticks to move your noodles and other solid goodies into the spoon and then pack some broth into the spoon before guiding the spoonful into your mouth. You can simply tip the tapered front of the spoon into your mouth, or use your chopsticks to help the noodles into your mouth.
Yes, the chopsticks would be useful if there were noodles in the soup – but however you look at it, chopsticks are not the best utensil to use for soup!
The Chinese also use a spoon, which is, IMHO, better than a Western spoon. Another way to drink soup is to bring soup bowl up to mouth and drink directly. Chinese soup bowls are more cup-like than dish-like.
The soup is inevitable in China no matter it is state banquet or family feast, no matter it is four dishes, six dishes or eight dishes. Those who study Chinese in China should know that the four dishes with one soup or the eight dishes with one soup have become popular in China in the soup culture.
Many soups are eaten and drunk as much for their flavour as for their health benefits and touted for their purported revitalizing or invigorating effects.
I did some research. According to China Culture, it might have something to do with the regional climate in Guangdong, which features moist heat. Cantonese people believe that soups can “clear” heat, nourish beauty, strengthen physical health, prevent and cure disease, and nourish vital organs in the body.
The Chinese spoon or Chinese soup spoon is a type of spoon with a short, thick handle extending directly from a deep, flat bowl. It is a regular utensil in Chinese cuisine used for liquids, especially soups, or loose solid food. Most are made from ceramics.
Instead of slurping, the correct way to eat soup is to sip it from the side of your spoon like a drink. If you're worried it's too hot, a small sip should let you know if you need to wait for it to cool down before enjoying your dish.
Soup should be scooped from the side of the bowl furthest from you, and sipped (never slurped!) from the side of the spoon that faces you. Bring the spoon up to your mouth instead of leaning over the bowl while eating.
Use the larger spoon, and eat from the side of the spoon.
Eat/sip the soup from the side of the spoon, not the front (tapered end).
People rub cheap chopsticks together to remove splinters from them. This is often the case with waribashi (disposable chopsticks that you break in half before use). If you rub your chopsticks together, it shows that you think the host has provided you with cheap/ low-quality chopsticks. This can be taken as an insult.
This happened when a population boom across China sapped resources and forced cooks to develop cost-saving habits. They began chopping food into smaller pieces that required less cooking fuel—and happened to be perfect for the tweezers-like grip of chopsticks.
When eating noodle soups, chopsticks are in one hand and the soup spoon is in the other; the chopsticks pick up the noodles and the spoon is filled with broth. Then the chopstick full of noodles is dipped into the spoon and both are brought to your mouth.
If you are taking your soup in public, it is generally thought to be rude to lift the bowl to your lips and slurp whatever you might have missed. Better to tip your bowl slightly and use the spoon. If you are at home among family and friends, slurping up the remnants depends on custom.
If your cell phone rings while you are sitting at the table, never disturb your own table and other diners by making or taking a call. If you must take or make a call, excuse yourself from the table and go to another room, such as a lobby, or outside.
Soup is sipped silently from the side of the spoon. As tempting as it may be to place the entire spoon in your mouth, especially when a truly yummy soup is served, refrain yourself! Fill your soup spoon by skimming the surface, scooping the spoon away from you.
A Wok. The wok is one of the most widely used cooking utensils and the most important one in Chinese cooking. It can be found in the kitchen of almost every Chinese family. Woks are a multi-functional piece of cookware.
East Asian-style soup spoons are often referred to as Chinese spoons, Chinese soup spoons, or Asian-style spoons. In Japan and Japanese culture, they are also called a renge, which is a shortened for the Japanese word chirirenge. Chirenge translates to fallen lotus petal, which refers to the spoon shape.
Short grain rice is common in China and Japan. It is sticky and clumpy and easy to eat with chopsticks. Etiquette requires that you elegantly lift your bowl of steaming, sticky, rice near your mouth with chopsticks in hand. They are the only utensils used for the rice and the entire meal.
Eating. Guest should start eating after the host gives a sign to start eating. Don't pick up too much food in your bowl at once, and you should eat up the food in the bowl first and then pick up more food. Quiet and slow chewing will suggest your good manner.
Enter the breakfast soup. In countries like Vietnam, Colombia, Tunisia, and China, soup is ladled out by the bowlful to early morning crowds. These soups are made with staple ingredients like chickpeas, rice, or lentils. They're designed to be economical, filling, and quick for the busy worker on the go.
Chinese drink tea for several reasons, and it can be enjoyed during or post-meal. But the main reasons are the health benefits; it aids digestion, enhances metabolic activity, extracts toxins from your body, keeps your skin timeless, and is a symbol of continuing the tradition.