Japan has a unique custom of placing chopsticks to the bottom of a table setting, which is unparalleled in the world. This simple action has influenced many aspects of Japanese food culture, including the placement of chopsticks 'tips to the left', making it easier to pick up the chopsticks with the right hand. In other words, by placing chopsticks in this orientation, a 'right-handed' food culture was born.
Holding chopsticks in the right hand became the standard, and rice, the staple food, was automatically placed on the left side, where it is easier to hold. From this, the arrangement of rice on the left and miso soup on the right was naturally determined and is still used in modern Japanese dining etiquette.
This arrangement is especially important in Japanese cuisine, where rice is eaten alternately with side dishes and soup and the right-handed culture also influences cooking. For example, all Japanese knives used in Japanese cuisine are single-edged - the blade is only on one side of the knife - therefore, the position of the blade of the knife is different for right-handed and left-handed people. As a result, the way a knife is used, such as a willow leaf knife for cutting sashimi or a deba knife for filleting fish, is completely different for right-handed and left-handed people.
At our school, this detail is explained to left-handed students before they enrol, as we have all students use right-handed knives. In addition, when serving sushi, it is common to serve it diagonally from the top left to the bottom right so that right-handed people can easily pick it up, and when presenting a whole fish, it is normal to serve it 'head to the left' as it is easier to take the meat from the bone for right-handed diners.
That is not to say that there are no left-handed Japanese chefs! Ono Jiro of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a famous sushi chef, is a left-handed sushi chef. When visiting his restaurant, it was noted that he picks up the sari in his left hand, places it on his right hand, and makes sushi very easily. However, when he serves the sushi to customers, he has to twist his wrist a little.
When it comes to sushi, many restaurants will serve the first piece straight up, to check the customer's dominant hand, and if they find that the customer is left-handed, they turn the sushi around to make it easier to pick up - details like this are important and form a necessary part of the training we offer at our college to ensure a truly authentic learning experience. In fact, about 10% of Japanese people are left-handed, and there are many left-handed people in the world, so where diversity is required, this right-handed culture may be a good tradition to uphold, but it may be one of the challenges for the future; left-handed people might experience the need to correct the direction of their chopsticks to make sure their elbows do not hit the customer next to them when seated at a traditional sushi counter!
Left or right-handed, when eating delicious food, you should always eat freely without worry. At our college, we might use right-handed hands when cooking, but we are free to use whichever hands are comfortable when tasting!
