While remembering back to practical arts classes to know which fork to start with and spoon to use for soup seems difficult, for most people in Auburn it still appears easier than figuring out how to use a set of chopsticks at the dinner table.

As a matter of fact, most Chinese restaurants in the area don't include chopsticks with the meal, and instead might opt to throw a plastic fork in the bottom of the take-out bag. Of course, chopsticks are available upon request, but then, as Wendy Wu, an employee at China Wok on Seminary Street, pointed out, it's often just for fun.

A simple experiment in Auburn reveals that for some using chopsticks comes easily, others have misconceptions about their abilities - those who think they know how to properly use the utensils but really don't - and then there are those who won't even try.

Fifteen-year-old Matt Warner from Auburn High School was up for the challenge. Warner first says he can use chopsticks, and upon grasping them, he proceeds to move the top stick with his thumb - an incorrect technique that might result in a piece of chicken flying across the room.

“Man, this is hard,” Warner said.

His friend, Ronak Patel breaks in, “you're doing it wrong,” yet Patel admits he no longer remembers how to use chopsticks from when he was young. Taking the sticks himself, Patel anchors his ring finger between the chopsticks and fails to move them in a useful way.

“I know how to use a fork,” Warner said.

The next participant, Dan Hill, grabs the chopsticks, and to perfection, moves the top stick up and down while keeping the bottom steady. He learned in 1986 while overseas in Japan with the Marine Corps. for a year.

His young daughter, Tatianna, takes ahold of the chopsticks, and Hill corrects her technique as the pair of sticks has become crossed between her fingers.

“Remember, I showed you how to use them?” he asked Tatianna.

Louis Nardis-Kelly, the 6-year-old who is out with Hill and his family, receives instruction as Hill opens the boy's hand placing the sticks in position. He teaches him how to use his finger to push the top stick up and down. Surprisingly, the young Louis is able to use the sticks better than most adults.

Hill said his best advice to someone trying to learn is simply to just keep practicing. That's how he picked it up “with lots of practice.”

Wu said seeing unskilled chopsticks users at the restaurant is always interesting, and she demonstrates the proper way - with the middle finger resting on the top stick, almost between the two sticks. Remember to hold them tightly for more control, and then use the middle finger to open and close the chopsticks.

“Sometimes people need taught,” she said, because otherwise it might be difficult for them to pick up pieces of food. Wu is eager to teach the technique if someone is willing to learn.

The question is, if people want to be taught. Andy Huang, from Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant on Grant Avenue, almost starts laughing when asked if patrons request chopsticks often.

“No. No one uses them here,” Huang said. Instead, it tends mostly to be children asking for chopsticks, wanting to try them out. For the most part, however, the chopsticks go unused.

Two guys who apparently never thought about requesting chopsticks are Jim Meyer and Joe O'Hearn, as neither have ever used them before.

“I do know there's a technique to it,” Meyer said, but stops trying soon after grasping the sticks. “I'm going to poke my eye out.”

O'Hearn takes a stick in each hand, staring at them as if contemplating how he would use the chopsticks if he had no other option, and decides, “You could just stab it (the food).”

Whatever works.