Chapter 168: Tableware
Dar es Salaam.
A public canteen.
New immigrants are undergoing a rather grueling lesson.
"Extend your middle finger, bending it slightly, like I'm doing. See the top segment here?" Layton used his left hand to point at the first joint of his middle finger, addressing the European immigrants.
"That part is key to managing this utensil. Now let's stick out the index finger and thumb as well. Watch my movements: place the first stick on your ring finger, then set the second stick against that first joint of your middle finger. Pinch the top with your thumb and index finger. Take care that the pad of your thumb also presses against the first stick. In this arrangement, the first stick remains still. The thumb, index finger, and middle finger all apply force to move the first stick—like so. Once you master this, you'll be able to handle pretty much any food in the entire East African colony." Layton held a pair of chopsticks, instructing the German immigrants.
He then demonstrated the whole process of using chopsticks. He had a ceramic bowl filled with both rice and vegetables. Holding the bowl steadily and using the chopsticks to pick up the rice and vegetable bits, he lifted them to his mouth.
"Of course, you could accomplish the same with a spoon, but to save on costs, the government only provides chopsticks. If you can't learn to use them, you'll find it quite inconvenient," Layton said.
Of all utensils worldwide, nothing is simpler to produce than chopsticks; even two random twigs can serve the same function in a pinch. Being a canteen, the place is quite large, so the need for utensils is considerable. The colony is poor and lacks the means to provide knives, forks, and spoons to all the European immigrants. This era's Europeans—especially ordinary Germans—mostly rely on spoons. In rural Germany, a family might gather around the table to share a common pot of porridge-like boiled wheat, each person dipping in with a spoon. If there was bread or something needing cutting, they would use a communal knife. Knives and forks at this time aren't so widespread in Germany.
In medieval Europe, people even ate with their bare hands. The first fork (with two prongs) appeared in the Byzantine Empire around the tenth century, soon reaching Italy and becoming important for pasta. Before that, people used their fingers to pick up the saucy noodles, afterward licking them "oh so contentedly." Forks prevented such messy table manners. But the medieval Church attacked the use of forks—some German monks labeled them "the Devil's luxury," claiming, "If God wanted us to use such tools, He wouldn't have given us fingers." They urged people to keep "eating with their hands." Only as the Church's influence waned did forks spread outward from Italy. By the 17th and 18th centuries, Europe's upper classes embraced them. At the court of Louis XIV, the "Sun King," people began wielding a knife in one hand and a fork in the other, producing masses of lavish silverware; the French even improved the two-pronged fork to four prongs, establishing the modern design. Nonetheless, that mostly prevailed among the French nobility, while many commoners across Europe were still "eating with their hands."
Napoleon's era strongly promoted the usage of knives and forks as part of France's cultural export, letting forks take root throughout Europe. By then, forks were common in German cities, but not so much in rural areas, where many still kept old eating customs. Still, at least most ordinary Germans used spoons, a simpler device to produce—yet chopsticks are simpler still, cheaper to clean, so that's what the colony's canteens provide.
The East African colony's canteen managers decided that on their own; matters like "which utensil do we use?" were up to them as long as they didn't embezzle funds and could justify the expense on the report. The idea to adopt chopsticks came partly from the Chinese immigrants' example, plus Ernst's push for better hygiene, and the low cost of chopstick production. Had it not been for Ernst's sanitation measures, immigrants might still be eating with their hands, skipping utensils altogether.
In fact, any immigrant who eats in the canteen can bring personal tableware. The only strict rule is "no bare hands when dining," to prevent waste. The canteen will lend chopsticks as needed. Yet not every European arrives with their own eating implements. Many, out of poverty or carelessness, didn't bring them. And on the voyage over, they mostly subsisted on dry rations, so utensils weren't required—leaving them clueless once they arrived in East Africa.
Meanwhile, East Africa's canteens follow a tray-based system, so people can't just reach into a common pot, cutting down on waste. Of course, some immigrants do bring personal utensils—a handful of them might already own spoons or knives and forks, but most do not. The canteen managers themselves, though, have full sets: knives, forks, spoons. The majority of new arrivals to East Africa from Europe, lacking an immediate personal set, must put up with chopsticks at first. After having time to craft their own tableware or moving beyond canteen life, they can decide whether to continue using chopsticks.
Some might find they enjoy chopsticks, and the presence of many Chinese immigrants might nudge certain Europeans that way. On the other hand, reversing that influence—having Europeans get Chinese to adopt Western utensils—seems unlikely. Most German immigrants, especially rural folks, only ever had a spoon, and a spoon isn't exactly a hallmark of European civilization anyway. Thus, in this cultural fusion between East Africa's Chinese and Europeans, the Chinese side—thanks to official favoritism for European settlers—still quietly shapes the daily eating patterns of the colony.
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