Waribashi on the Web

(from JD in Gunma, December 2001)

I did a real quick search on waribashi and here are some interesting sites below. The first offers insight into the typical excuses given by Japanese. I often wonder how these people would feel if they went into nice western restaurant and were given plastic cutlery. Tacky, ne? On the last two road trips I have taken with my Japanese rowing club I sent an e-mail reminder to people to pack their own hashi and about 1/2 did. However, they forgot half the time to bring them into the restaurant. Still, a couple dozen waribashi were avoided. It's a start. 

Frequently people try to tell me how waribashi are made from recycled wood like concrete forms and branches. I would agree that is good use of such wood but I think such waribashi most constitute less than one percent of the market. I have never seen a pair with the crooked twisted woodgrain you would expect if it was made from a branch. Since every package you see seems to be perfectly uniform in colour and grain, I doubt that they were made from wood of various ages and sources collected at a lumber recycling depot. 

http://www2.wbs.ne.jp/~fjh1997/Page1/message.htm

http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/SO94/karliner.html

http://isaac.exploratorium.edu/~dozawa/waribashiread.html

http://www.sushiran.com/EtCetera/earth.html

back to ecofood page

I want to go home