When tourists visit India, they are taken quite aback by a few trademark Indian customs like that of eating food with bare hands. Sometimes they even try to emulate these customs and rituals.
No matter how much foreigners depict this as “unhygienic” and rustic, we know that the real taste of Indian food cannot be savored without having it with hands. Let’s look at some reasons why most Indians eat with bare hands —
17. Culinary habits vary from country to country
In India, the traditional ways of eating food is with hands—rather finger tips. Well, no matter how easy it seems (to us) it is really challenging to eat with finger tips without spilling the food haywire!
16. We’re quite self-sufficient
What’s better than your own hands to eat – and genuinely we do not need any tools or implements to help us with our food!
15. We love eating especially solids with hand
Don’t know about other cuisines, but Indian cuisine consists of solid (like idlies), liquid (like rasam), semi-solid (like, well, sauces) and even dusts (tangy “dal” dusts that accompany idlies and other South Indian delicacies). I wonder if you can ever have idlies wrapped in the dal dusts with a spoon—or a fork, for that matter!
14. Food served on Banana leaves does not go with spoons
Not only in South India but also in numerous villages across Bengal and Assam, people serve food on banana leaves—well, spoons on Banana leaves sound blah….isn’t it?
13. Eating with hands increases blood circulation
For all those fitness freaks out there, did you know that eating with hand increases the blood circulation of the body since it’s a sort of muscle exercise? Woah! That seems to be a sort of relief to the lazy bums!
12. Eating with hands heightens sensual connection with food
According to some food critics, eating with bare hands “heightens the sensual connection with food”. No, please don’t start a Freudian analysis now!
11. Enhanced food energies for food comes in contact with our chakras
According to the Vedas, food’s energy can be enhanced by contacting with our “chakras” which transmits the universal energy. And, as far as we know, our finger tips and hands contain the divine chakras as well.
10. Lessens the risk of burning your mouth
Well, on a different note, you’re on a better stand to lessen the risk of burning your mouth by eating with bare hands. How? Well, your fingers have quite brilliant receptive power, don’t they?
9. Eating with bare hands was “En Vogue” in the Prehistoric Ages
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Eating with bare hands was “en vogue” in the prehistoric ages till, well, the European culture came into being. See, how much we’re unaffected by the “modern” Western Culture!
8. Hands are the cleanest and most hygienic to eat food
Another reason for eating with bare hands, no matter how offensive it seems, is that we use soap and water quite a lot as against the popular “tissue papers”—hope you got the point!
7. Our main course Rotis and Paranthas cannot be had with spoons
Do we know how to tear apart Rotis with spoons, forks or even knives? Let us know if you do and we shall always keep well manicured hands!
6. Separating bone from Fish needs the use of hands
Bengalis and Marathis are known for their fish curry. Now, like Mediterranean sea-foods, our fish do not come boneless—we have to separate the bones from the flesh manually. Now, how on earth are you supposed to do that with whatever apparatus other than your smooth and sharp fingers?
5. Indian food is “Finger licking Good”
Do you know why KFC has done away with their caption: “it’s finger-licking good”? It’s because, it’s Indian food that “Finger licking good”! Well, sorry for the dumb PJ.
4. Sensory pleasure of eating a square meal can only be savored with finger
We all go through so much of toil and turmoil to get a square meal of food daily (sorry for that extra drama, though), so we must do the food justice as well by feeling it, taking in the aroma, and finally eating it. Ah, it’s heaven!
3. Soap and water better hand cleaners than tissues
We wonder why the Europeans need to bother about how we eat! Do we ever bother ourselves with or complain about their usage of tissue papers as against soap and water? Grow up, man—get yourself some food for thought!
2. After a tiresome day, eating with hands is the most convenient
After a tiresome day, all we need is to dig into the food—why bother yourself in setting up the table wonderfully, bring out a spoon, fork and knife, and then savor the delicacy? Who’s got so much time?
1. You can never be sure of the hygiene of the spoon in your hand
You can be quite sure about the hygiene of your hand but can you be as sure about the hygiene of the spoon, which might have been used by so many people in the past? Think!
