August 22nd is Bao Day, celebrating the kind of dumplings originally from China. Also known as 'baozi' and ‘hot Asian buns,’ they come with various fillings, such as pork, veggies, sweet custard, chocolate, Chinese sausage, and more. It is believed that the military leader Zhuge Liang invented the buns, which spread to Asia first and then to other parts of the world. These white-dough dumplings steamed to perfection are typical fast food in many parts of Asia.
Put away your knives, forks, spoons, sporks or whatever other eating utensil you favour because the 6th of February is Chopsticks Day, so it's a day to eat with chopsticks. If you aren't good at it you need to practise! Do you have to be eating Asian food? Probably not, try eating whatever is on the menu today. My children are quite adept at using them because they started using children's plastic ones that were joined together at the top when they were very young and were super keen to try wooden ones.
We have put together a display of books in the library. I should take some chopsticks into school to put with them. The library has these books which feature chopsticks:
* Cleversticks by Bernard Ashley
* I Can Eat With Chopsticks by Lin Xin
* The Pandas and their Chopsticks by Demi
* Home for Chinese New Year by Wei Jie
And I see that we might choose to buy these to find out about the history of these eating utensils:
* The Story of Chopsticks by Ying Chang Compestine
