Korean style meal kit with individual sachets of gochujang cooking paste, Korean bbq cooking sauce, Korean bbq seasoning and sticky rice. At Korean Mealtimes: Chopsticks are not one and the same. While wooden chopsticks are common in China and Japan, Koreans use chopsticks made of metal. Legend has it, that in the Baekje Kingdom (a long time ago -18 B.C. to 660 A.D.), metal chopsticks were a symbol of social status. Today, metal chopsticks are ideal for picking up sizzling hot meat, like that found in traditional Korean barbecue.