Fear not the scissors. My mom used to bring a pair (carefully wrapped) in her purse whenever she and my dad went out for crab legs. While others smashed and picked, she would very carefully cut a line down the center of the leg, crack it open - and then pull out one long perfect piece of crab.
So maybe not the best for noodles, but fab for crab! (Now when I have folks over for crab we do have mallets but, every place also has their own pair of scissors.)
The best noodle eating skill I’ve ever seen was my neighbor, eating buckwheat soba with chopsticks, perfectly. No splash, no fuss, she took one noodle, put it in the dressing then somehow looped it a few times, picked it up and ate it in one bite. I was, and still am, in awe.
Neither of the places prepared the table with scissors.
at Lee’s, they will bring the scissors to your table and cut the noodles for you.
at Tofu and Noodles, they will bring a pair of scissors to your table if requested, and leave it up to you to use them.
the chinese associate noodles with long life and consider it a bad omen when cooked noodles are cut. in some cases, cutting noodles can result in changing the eating experience, as slurping is often encouraged. in other cases where the issue is largely one of practicality, each person can choose to observe/disregard the superstition as they see fit. i will add that disregard can be misinterpreted as disrespect depending on how one goes about it. and i think i’m going to just leave it at that.
my recently-dead grandma used to cut the noodles with her chopsticks. that’s some real OG shit. she outlived her son and her husband.
the shamanism within the entire Chinese society is regressing. people will still drink hot water on a blistering day and women still won’t wash their hair after giving birth, but when you can order a motorcycle off taobao on your xiaomi cell phones, most of life is more about money than fengsui these days, especially for city folks.
