Will the Coronavirus Outbreak Change Culinary Etiquette?

Local authorities in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, east China, among others, have started a campaign to promote the use of serving chopsticks and spoons. These campaigns have been well received thus far, with wide public support, given that dining tables, particularly in China’s food-sharing culture, are a channel through which diseases can spread.

Traditionally, Chinese people use their own chopsticks to take food from shared dishes and on occasions, even serve others using their own chopsticks in a show of hospitality or intimacy. In China it is generally deemed impolite to dine separately or use serving chopsticks.

Surveys show that only a quarter of Chinese realize the importance of dining separately or using serving chopsticks, and in most cases individuals state that to do so at gatherings