Historian Qingjia Edward Wang never thought he would one day write a book about chopsticks.

Growing up in Shanghai, Qingjia Edward Wang never thought he would one day write a book about chopsticks. To him, chopsticks were just eating utensils.

But when Wang, now a history professor at Rowan University, was teaching his then-5-year-old son, Maxwell, how to use chopsticks, he decided to look for information about them. To his surprise, little was available in English.

Wang, whose research focuses primarily on historiography, the study of how history is written, decided the topic was worth pursuing. Three years later, his research has culminated in the publication of Chopsticks: A Cultural and Culinary History, a narrative history of the utensils and their use.

On Wednesday, Wang, 56, told the story of how his book came about, and signed copies at the Barnes & Noble store in Glassboro. He told the 50 Rowan students and faculty who attended that with approximately 1.5 billion people in the world using chopsticks, the subject deserved a book.

"Chopsticks are a cultural symbol," Wang said. ...