This may sound familiar to some of you˳ Remember when your mother or father would tell you to stop playing with your food and use a fork and knife? Well, perhaps you still shouldn’t play with your food, but in India you should definitely set aside that cutlery and use your hands when eating a delicious Indian meal˳
In India, as well as other parts of the world, eating with your hands is part of the culture˳ After all, what could be more natural, more primal? Though many may view this custom as uncivilized, the practice is not as easy as it may look˳ There is in fact a skill to it and manners to follow˳ There are also several health benefits from eating with your hands such as improves digestion and prevention of diabetes˳ There’s also an even deep significance as to why eating with your hands is so important according to Indian culture˳
When did eating with yours hands become a thing in India?
The practice of eating with the hands originated within Ayurvedic teachings˳ The Vedic people believed that our bodies are in sync with the elements of nature and our hands hold a certain power˳ Ayurvedic texts teach that each finger is an extension of one of the five elements:
- Through the thumb comes space
- Through the forefinger comes air
- Through the mid-finger comes fire
- Through the ring finger comes water
- Through the pinky finger comes earth
When you eat with your hands, you are supposed to do so by joining all fingers together˳ This is believed to improve our consciousness of the taste of the food we eat˳ Not only are you feeding your body but also your mind and spirit˳ When you touch your food with your hands, you’re creating a physical and spiritual connection with it˳ You’re also much more present in the moment˳ When food is touched with the hands, there’s automatically more careful attention placed on it – what the temperature is, how much you can carry, how the hand must be held in order to keep the food in it˳
Eating with your hands is respectful!
When you are invited into the home of an Indian family for a meal, it’s a mark of respect towards the host and god to physically touch your food when eating˳ However, there is a technique to eating this way˳ In the south of India, it’s considered ill-mannered to let the palm of your hands or outside of your fingers get stained˳ Proper etiquette is to only use the tips of your fingers to pick up the food˳ This goes back to our fingertips holding certain energies˳
What about soupy food? Do I use my hands for these types of dishes?
In general, silverware is used only in the kitchen for preparing and for serving the food˳ However, for more liquidly foods such as some dal dishes, a spoon can be used˳ In the North of India, rice can also be eaten with a spoon but in the South, the practice of eating food (including rice) from a banana leaf is practised˳
What about the whole saying “you don’t know where your hands have been?”
Well, I sure hope you do˳ After all, they are your hands!
You will find that in every Indian restaurant there’s a hand washing station˳ This is so you can clean your hands before enjoying your meal˳ As for the skeptics who still believe there’s bacteria on your hands that shouldn’t be consumed…˳
Our body has a certain kind of bacteria that protects us from other harmful bacteria in the environment˳ This good bacteria resides in places like our hands, mouth, throat, intestine, gut and the rest of our digestive system˳ When you eat with your hands, this good bacteria enters your system and protects you against harmful bacteria˳ So, as long as you wash the bad bacteria you’ve collected from your day off your hands, you’ll be giving your body a dose of good bacteria that it needs to stay healthy˳
Along with the ingesting good bacteria, there are other health benefits to reap from eating with your hands:
Improves Digestion
When you use your fingers to pick up food, millions of nerve endings in your fingers relay the message that you’r about to eat˳ This preps the stomach for digestion by releasing digestive juices and enzymes˳
Promotes Mindful Eating
I’ve read several articles sharing the same message of the importance of eating slow and only when relaxed˳ Eating when your stressed or too fast can lead to some pretty ugly indigestion problems you don’t want to deal with˳ A calm, aware state allows optimum digestion˳ Not only that, but it also prevents you from overeating˳
It’s fun
Whether you’re a 5-year old child or a 50-year old business man, there’s no fighting the fact that eating with your hands is fun˳ Admit it!
Final tip!
For India, as well as other countries that eat with their hands, it’s almost without exception that the right hand only is used˳ Why? The left hand is generally considered too unclean to actually eat with since it’s said to be the one used to wipe up in the washroom˳