When you sit down at a restaurant, a spoon and chopsticks always come out together. A foreign student once asked, "Which of the two do you eat with?" He asked me that once. The answer is hidden in the word '수저'. ## A spoon and chopsticks come as a set '수저' is the word for a spoon and chopsticks together. Koreans don't think of the two separately. So if you ask for "수저," you get both together. Since the two have always been set side by side on the table as a pair since childhood, it's something Koreans don't even have to think about. ## Because there's soup, the spoon comes first On a Korean table, rice, soup or stew, and side dishes are all served at once. You can't eat broth with chopsticks, after all. Rice is also often scooped up in big spoonfuls and eaten together with soup. So at the table, the spoon is the star, and the chopsticks play the role of helping you pick up side dishes. ## Here's how to use them - Rice, soup, stew: spoon - Side dishes like kimchi, seasoned vegetables, and meat: chopsticks - Noodles: chopsticks for the noodles, spoon for the broth Please don't leave a spoon or chopsticks sticking upright in your bowl of rice. Many elders dislike it because a spoon is stuck into the rice on the table for ancestral rites. While you're taking a break, you can just put them beside the bowl or on a utensil rest. Stew is often shared from one pot. If it's awkward to scoop it up directly with your own spoon, try saying, "Could I have a small plate?" They'll bring you a small plate to serve yourself from.