why i eat with my hands
Eating food serves a clear purpose. We ingest nutrients in order to provide the energy and the building blocks to our cells so that we can sustain life. There is consensus about why we eat, but when it comes to how things are not so clear.
“Many individuals find eating with hands unhygienic, primitive, and disturbing; however, eating sustenance with hands is associated with not just the body but also the psyche and soul” — Kamat (2014)
I relate to this quote quite heavily. It takes me back to a time when I had dinner with my family in Southall, the land of the cash and carries. I will never forget the sense of betrayal I felt when saw a Pakistani family eating their lamb karahi with a knife and fork… I was repulsed by this, yet I could not articulate why.
On the way home I really questioned what it meant to eat with your hands, and whether I was right to judge these people for how they ate their food. They just used a different vessel to transport a morsel into their mouth. “Should it matter?” — I wondered.
I realised that my repulsion at the use of utensils was only reserved for Indian cuisine — obviously. Hypocritically I use a spoon to eat my cereal, and a fork to eat my salad because I can see the clear utility in making my life easier with a tool. This makes complete sense. While I can see the utility in using a spoon to eat my daal, I will never be able to see the virtue in doing so.
Food goes beyond utility.
Our hyper-productive materialist society often reduces food to fuel. Something we need to keep going, as opposed to a spiritual moment or event. Food is something that engages all of your senses; smell, taste, sight and touch.
3 Reasons Why Eating with Your Hands Makes Sense
1. Feeling
When you eat biryani with your hands you give careful consideration to each bite. You can judge the temperature, you alter the quantity with each fingerful and you ensure your fingers are perfectly positioned as not to drop a grain of rice. These are all things that enhance your awareness of the texture and taste of food, making eating enjoyable rather than a task to be completed.
2.Preparing your body for food
When your fingertips make contact with food the nerve endings in your fingers sense temperature, and the tactile stimuli provided by physical touch allows your brain to sense the texture of your food. This triggers the release of digestive juices in the gut, preparing your body for food.
3.Gratitude
Touching your food means you feel every inch of bread and every grain of rice, becoming physically connected with the labour required to bring the food into your hands. Using a metal instrument disconnects you. Touch creates a literal and figurative connection to your food, bringing with it an inherent sense of gratitude.
In theory picking up a piece of bread, and a dollop of curry is achievable with a knife and fork. But, for me the key difference lies in the vehicle. Forks are cold, lifeless pieces of metal made in a factory somewhere, yet your hands are your own, they’re warm, they’re human. For me, this is why I eat with my hands. I feel it connects me to my food. It creates gratitude for the resources, plants and animals that were needed to assemble a meal on my plate. I’ll always eat with my hands, because I love my food and I want it to love me back.
