How to eat Indian food like a local - BBC REEL
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ส.ค. 2024
- Using just your hands to eat a range of food takes skill and practice. We explore the various techniques people in India use and investigate the differences between the north and south.
We learn how you eat your food is as important as the food you choose to eat.
#bbcreel #bbc #bbcnews
i don't think that you have spoken about the fact that when you eat with your fingers you are also customizing the food to your taste. For example how much sambar and rice with a touch of pickle and a bit of vegetable do you need ...and everyone's proportions are different, how much meat and gravy with your roti etc. this is the most important aspect of eating with your fingers...this is very tough to do so with utensils.
Yeah one time a plastic fork broke when I bit down on the food and one time a metal fork nearly chipped my tooth.
@@atari_hmb well obviously you have some sort of mental Illness
@sketchers 🤣
What do you mean it's har to mix food with a spoon? This is the most ridiculous thind i've read today.
@@AsterFoz I don't think you have eaten Indian food...so it's difficult for you to understand ...
Why not?
Every country has its own culture and habits, and it must be proud of it.
No one needs to be ashamed.
The whole world should respect each others culture.
Above all, even scientifically speaking, eating with hands has natural therapeutic healing effects.
Source: My dreams
Naturally you’re supposed to eat with your hands. Silverware is man made.
@@sO_RoNerYyea and i wanna be nude. Its natural too
There is no scientific study that says this. I know its commonly accepted to make up facts out of thin air in India and believing whatever you see on whatsapp and facebook but the rest of the world doesn't buy into this fake news factory that India has become. But you don't need it to be scientifically better to eat with your hands, you can eat however u want, just don't lie about it
@@imperium4821 clearly you never seen how americans eat fried chicken.
Thank you for showing India..as it is ...
We lick our fingers after eating (only when we are at home…😂)its considered to be a bad manner if we do it in public gatherings..
This may be region-specific. Can I ask what part of India you're frome?
@@clandestino6438 kerala
Yes bro in odisha also it is considered as bad manner in public gathering
What is proper etiquette for cleaning the excess food from from your hands when you are eating in public?
@@hannahbee5725nothing. Just go and wash your hands. Better keep your hands clawed or closed so that no food drops during your walk to the wash basin
I am japanese but I used to eat my food with my hands when I was a kid. Like "Ohashi? Pft! Imma use ma hands!"
(I am almost 30 but sometimes, I still use my hands to eat certain foods)
Sushi and sashimi are eaten with hands, no?
@@carloscarvalhar9129 no
@@violakarl6900 Sushi is supposed to be eaten with hands, and using your hands is regarded as more polite and proper than chopsticks. Even today, if you are eating sushi with old people, it's better to eat sushi with hands.
@@DrowningInTea oh, thank you for the information!
Indian food is so delicious. But it's expensive here in the Philippines.
I’m going to guess that you eat with your hand in the Philippines as well?
Thank you indian peoples for inventing such wonderful food
Yeah, I do love foods like Rogan Josh but it seems like most foods are buried in sauces and don't properly represent the naturally delicious animal and vegetable meat.
Even watching this video, very few cooked things seem to be eaten without some sauce or spicey (not the same as being hot) flavoring.
The thing with Indian food is that there is too much variety. You want less spice, add less spice. You want less sauce you make it less saucy. I would suggest watch the video of the American chef who makes Indian food and he recently did a culinary tour of Mumbai (India) with the food anthropologist in this video. You would see many things you wouldn't associate with western depiction of Indian food. Education helps dispell odd beliefs
Traditional way of Eating is a show of how Indianness is protected !
2:39 No Indian will ever do that licking from Elbows to wrist.
I'm sorry to inform you but that's quite common in some cultures southern India and eastern India. As said it is often seen cultures considered as part of lower casts.
My dads origin is West Bengal and I’ve been there multiple times but never heard of or seen that done iml 🤯
@@subharupaabiswas9980 Not in Eastern India. Please don't bring us into this. It is only relegated to South India, We don't use our Palms in the East of India either.
Little kids do that though.
This is also common in the Philippines. But we clean our hands with soap prior and after.
Same in India
yea all westerners think that we dont wash our hands.. like were also human.
@@MadhuPurusho They believe in wiping not washing....
I have faced the wrath of slippers once in my childhood when I didn't wash my hands with soap before eating 🤣
So you think Indians eat with dirty unwashed hands. My mother used to beat me or sometimes scold me for not washing hand before eating. Philipinos are Asian version of western dirty thought peoples. You people even adopted Spanish culture leaving your own culture to die. What a shame and now criticising Indians as if we are inferior. Don't forget you people even don't use water instead use toilet paper after pooing. You dirty people😂😂😂😂😂.
Westerners eat with hands but mostly food that is not runny and won’t leave stain or grease at your hands ( burgers, hotdogs, breads, basically dry food) it just makes more sense to use spoons and forks for more runny foods. The same like Indians cannot imagine eating with cutlery the same others won’t eat without it. There is nothing wrong about, do what makes you comfortable and happy
Exactly. I can't eat wet food with my hands. It makes my hands feel gross. I'd have to wash my hands between each bite. Plus, those kinds of foods are often hot dishes. To be the right temperature to eat it would burn my fingers.
Lol 😂 are you alien
If you notice, the items western people eat with their hands are things which are convenient on the go and eating with hands only became a thing there for convenience of quick lunches for people rushing to work or rushing to grab a bite during lunch and didn't have the time to wait for a table, sit down and have the food slowly with cutlery. So I don't really think it was based on texture, since they also have food with similar texture which they don't eat by hand...like pancakes. It's not greasy or runny either, but they don't use hands to eat them, because its probably the form of pancakes that were not convenient as one the go food and not so much any oiliness or grease.
@@aleenaprasannan2146 pancakes have syrup tho
Gravy-dipped sandwiches are a thing in the USA, though - like Italian beef in Chicago - and there are ribs and Sloppy Joes. I've never seen anyone in America use utensils for those.
I was shown to eat Indian food with my hands. I’m Australian. I do use a soup spoon to scoop food on bread, but other than that it’s my right hand (fingers) all the way. I love this so much. ❤
I don't think I could ever get used to this but props to you India! At least what seems to be like a lot of you peeps are not using loads of plastic utensils & plastic plates. Those leaf plates are kinda cool!
Usage of Plastic plates, cups, polythene bags are BANNED in India.
Even for street food we use Leaf (its Banana Leaf actually) with a Steel plate.
Leaf keeps food fresh.
This Banana leaf's are rumoured to make our food tastier, it's more like a tradition too. Even northeastern Indian's do the same thing.
Pity, we don't have banana leaves here in Ireland. Over here, they are cut into small strips and served as plate decorations in ritzy restaurants that charge high prices for their dishes.
this is an Asian/middle eastern and African thing to eat with hands. Indians are asian so it's culture.
Don't use plastic then..da
Currently eating Indian food while watching this haha
Thank you India. Greetings from France.
2:39 no indian lick their elbows to wrists while eating. The speaker might cans from another planet.
Exactly.. 😂😂
😂😂😂
Little kids does but not adults. He just wanted to say such things happen.
Yes😂
Nope, i have seen adult Tamil Brahmin men do it... Part of their culture.
I am a westerner, but I could not agree more that eating with your hand just brings something extra to your food. It's like you connect with your food more and to me it taste better. Food and metal/plastic taste way different than from your hand.
Cut the BS, you're an Indian. That's a pretty common tactic, claim i am a westerner than go on to praise india doesn't matter how nonsensical it is
You aren't an American or British. Our parents yell at us not to eat with our hands from a very young age.
@@Tim_ra he is probably an Indian pretending to be westerner so he can give some foreign validation that most indians so desperately seek
Apu hand typed this
I love my india.. Its make me happy.. Bt every culture is good.. I respect everything's. Bt finger connections with food is helping to our healthy life ❤
People from Bengal and other regions in India can pick quite fast, while eating each morsel, the finest bones from various freshwater (river) fish species, which are part of their regular diet, with just 3 fingers and the thumb of only one (right) hand.
same in bangladesh (east bengal)
Bangladesh too. We eat food with our right hand and use the fingers. And we can pick even the most stubborn and apparently invisible fish bone of the hilsha fish very easily which a lot of foreigners find very difficult.
Most of the times I don't pick fish . I just put a small part of the fish in my mouth then seperate the bones there. Take out the bones like eating watermelon with seeds.
@@santanu-frI would just remove the bones before cooking so I don't have to deal with bones while eating.
@@jimv1983 not possible for fish. If it is fish we're discussing here.
Thanks for representing us northerners and not just painting all indians and all our cultures under the same brush 😑
For the ones who can’t read the sarcasm though.
Lol
Once a Italian colleague asked me about eating with hand. I told him in european food different ingredients are mixed during cooking and you eat mostly single item final food as main course like pasta, rossetto etc. In Indian food different food items are cooked separately with different ingredients and Indian prepare each single bite to eat and in this single bite preparation different cooked food are mixed. The mixing needs to be done in a proper ratio otherwise it will not taste good. For example while eating rice separate food items will be boiled rice, lentils curry, dry vegetable bhujiya and one or more chutney. Most Indian will prepare before taking bite by mixing small portion of rice, few spoons of lentils currey, small portion vegetable bhujia or curry and pinch of chutney. Using fingers to mix compare to spoon and fork give perfection so we Indian eat with hand most of our food. Using fork and spoon do not give desired taste as mixing in desired proportion/ratio is difficult compare to hand. If Indian eat european food like pasta or ressoto they will prefer to use spoon or fork compare to hand.
Interesting 1st time I'm seeing BBC is on Indian Food. Bcoz, it always broadcasted poor side of India.
They already showed ..in india who like elbow durin gating 😂
Disclaimer: *Most of the etiquette shown in this video, such as licking from the palm of the hand to the elbow, applies only to South India except eating with the fingers.*
They are prevalent in north India too😐😪
@@greninja9716 nope we don't lick our elbows like that. 😑
Atleast we are pure Dravidians and not the mix like you. I mean everyone know what happened to your great great great grandmothers 👵
And we South Indians don't lick our elbows.
@@deadlysilent9986 I am from south and I don't Lick my elbow oh my.....
Just hands when its full of mmasala
I was eating Indian leftovers while watching this and realised I was eating with my left hand the entire time lol (I'm left handed)
Well, you are eating with hand that is specifically used to clean your a****** 😂😂
@@moktan289 that's ok u don't hv to judge
@@moktan289I'm going to clean my a** with my dominant hand which is the same hand I eat with. Why does that even matter? I'm going to wash my hands with soap and hot water between cleaning my a** and eating anyways so no big deal.
@@jimv1983It's a cultural thing. It's considered bad etiquette to eat with your hand that you use to clean bum. Also, eating with both your hands is considered bad etiquette. It's not that serious.
@@EggRoll0301 why is it bad etiquette if your hygiene is good? Doing things with your non-domonate hand is harder.
The problem is that they clean their hands on the clothes😂😂😂
Why I’m learning the proper etiquette of eating traditional Indian food I will never know
It’s 2am
I live in the UK
Entertainment? Algorithm? Pass time? 😅
It is easy just use your clean hand ❤️
I absolutely think food that is traditionally eaten with fingers tastes much better when eaten with fingers. Similarly, food that is traditionally eaten with wooden chopsticks tastes better eaten with wooden chopsticks (it tastes different when eaten with metal chopsticks or fingers or knife/fork/spoon). Same goes for knives and forks, it's not that practical to eat a rare steak with your fingers and equally impractical to eat dosa with utensils.
You shouldn't eat with your left hand unless the its very hard to torn or split something with one hand.
You can use your left hand to hold the glass or scratch if you feel itchy. The last thing you want is to rub your hand with spicy food to scratch your eye or skin, your cloths will also be ruined if you use your hand like that.
Different foods are eaten different while using different parts of hand. Its how you learned to eat and dont mind eating.
Most people in India just eat using one hand unless, the bread is too hard or you are eating 'jhal muri' or you are a child who's learning to eat with hand.
Thank you for this information I'm a lefty and didn't know this 😀
@@idfwy_ylsabiafwy182_GiGi epic bro😸
I don't use left hand while eating untill I want to tear apart some stuff like porota or something
You know some parts 9f india use their left hand for another reason.... a lot morr messier....
what about left handed people?
Yes, eating with your hands does enhance the tastiness of the dish, ex Sambar and Dosa, but Sambar and Vada has certainly eaten with a spoon.
We can get exact taste of food by eating by hand.expecially Indian foods.we can see also in this video the taste of love that when a mother feed food for children there will be happen the signature of love and care.
I know where my hands have been, I don't know where my spoon has been.
Ha ha😂
Food is related to culture.. you have a choice on what to eat...we can't force others to eat what you like
There are people who don't get food.. the best way is to not waste food
When I'm just at home normally, cooking and eating for myself or one or two others and sitting at the table, I find it immensely helpful to have a "clean hand" and an "eating hand"
It's especially hard for kids to eat with one hand until they develop the skills necessary by age 7 or so, and it takes until age 9 to develop strength and dexterity to pour yourself a glass of water with 1 hand. often I use my left hand to do everything from pour water, serve food, and I can eat chapati/dosa all at the same time with no problem.
It's part of the way things have been done for centuries, and the food practices surrounding food and the rituals and mantras you recite before food (nowadays I mostly do it only when traditionally dining on the floor with family), the whole brahmin culture around food, it's absolutrly necessary to tell kids over and over not to use their left hand at all when eating from the time they are a toddler, even though it's very hard for a 4 year old to tear a chapati with one hand and it takes a while, it is an essential skill to learn.
I am a very cleanly person ("cleanly" by american standards, and a germaphobe by indian standards) and in my experience, eating with your hand very often the best way to eat many foods, but the culture around eating with your hands here in america (holding greasy burgers and hot dogs with 2 hands, touching other stuff, wiping with a napkin [which doesn't even do much anyway] and especially using your eating hands to touch other parts of your body) is is very unhygienic compared to the simple but not easy alternative of eating with one hand.
The way I see it, the people who consider eating with hands gross or unclean are the same people who use both their hands to touch their phones while eating, and a whole myriad of other unhygienic practices that people who usually eat with silverware develop over time.
Particularly when eating with hands at indian restaurants (and restaurants with finger food like fast food places) I make it a point to wash my hands in the bathroom before, I try to always keep my eating hand ABOVE my plate, and keep my other hand AWAY from my plate
If you are someone who wants to learn how to eat with your hand, first develop the habit of keeping your eating hand (dominant hand) above your plate at all times and don't let it go near anything other than the food going into your mouth. Your other hand should never go near your plate, or touch anything dirty or oily.
For me, who is the only one who cares this much about germs in my extended family (idk why, maybe cuz I grew up in America) it's just become a very normal and natural process for me.
I am western and tried eating with one hand and some flat bread. I sat and tucked my left hand behind my back to stop myself from letting it interfere.
The process of taking off bread and scooping it was really fun and I know that with practice, I will get use to eating with the correct bread and just my hands.
My parents were saying things like it's... barbaric and gross but I found I was more connected to my eating, and it was very enjoyable!💜
You completely changed my perspective about the subject. Thanks a lot. It really opened my mind.
The comments from non natives are ridiculous. It's your own hand! Do you not have soap back home? How do you eat burgers, fries, nachos etc? Without washing your hands?
Licking food off your elbow is just disgusting though. Never seen anyone do that.
Yeah do those people not know how to wash their hand? Do they carefully cut their burger with fork n knife? And in these usually the palm isnt even used its just the fingers and then so you never lick the palm or wrists. Maybe some people lick the tip of their finger only
There’s food that can’t be eaten with utensils, like burgers or fries. And then there’s food that CAN. Like rice. This thing at 2:11 is simply pointless. He’s grabbing the whole rice with his bare hand and squishing it into a snowball for no damn reason. Like use a fork and eat it
I don't eat burgers at all and nachos I've only seen in tv. I simply don't use hands to eat anything what will leave my hands sticky, greasy etc. A sandwitch won't do this so i use a hand. A pizza will, so I use knife and fork. It's just so simple. And that doesen't mean i don't have soap. I have, just like I have a dish washer and dish washing liquid so I can wash my hands AND my cutlery without making everything sticky.
@@AsterFoz pfft
@@windshearahead7012 burger can be eaten with cutlery
That is banana leaf make food tasty👍 and Contribute to Environmental friendly #Save earth from polyphene and plastic #BBC #TeamSeas
Well as a 29 year old mixed race American man (white+black) its interesting to find that when i eat indian food i prefer to use my hands it it feels and seems to taste better. And furthermore to find that i eat with 3 usually or 4 fingers and no palm. I dont't think that im superior to anyone but its interesting to think that if i ever visited Indian and was eating natural, one might be reminded of a higher cast hahaha.
You can try it to, not only while eating indian food. We were eating food for a long time of our history and its weirdly way more appetizing when you eat it that way. We might have special mechanism in our brain so it produce more hunger hormones - ghrelin - when you eat using your hands because that is how we used to do it from prehistoric times.
I know in England we have anglicized versions of Indian food but a typical order for our household is:
Poppadom's with mango chutney and onion chutney = eaten with hands, breaking bits off and dipping into the chutneys.
Lamb Samosas: eaten with a knife and fork, particularly if adding any sauce.
Chicken Bhuna/Balti with Pilau Rice & a Naan Bread: I will eat the meat with a knife and fork. However, I dip the Naan bread in the curry with my hands and sometimes use it as a way to grab a piece of meat or some rice/curry but mostly I finish the curry/pilau rice mix with a knife and fork.
This is how I would say most British people eat an Indian curry dish with starters and sides.
No generalization is accurate for the extremely diverse Indian subcontinent. Indians must never get influenced by foreign propaganda in our media. We must stick to our culture, food habits, etc. which are solid and time-tested. The ancient Aryans (many Indians are Aryans) were heavy meat-consumers since the Aryans understood the importance of the cows as a domestic animal they were worshipped. Thus the Sikh-Hindus must never consume beef. While people who follow Semitic-Islam must never eat pork. Not all Semites (Yehudi-Arabs) do not eat pork. The Christian-Arabs who are Semites consume pork. Thus the Muslims and Yehudis (not eating pork) food habits must be respected in India a great civilization. Most Indians thus by nature are heavy meat consumers and there is an effort for a political agenda to push vegetarianism on us via mainly false data. Note people of Hunza and Kashmir are among the heaviest meat eaters on our planet and are often extremely healthy and live long. Even in the Punjab most consume meat and many meat-eating tribes are extremely healthy. Earlier on my family (when hunting was allowed) killed quite a bit of deer, wild ducks, wild-pigs, etc. and enjoyed the meat. Thus let the vegetarians in India stay vegetarians and non-vegetarians as non-vegetarians. India is diverse land hence a colorful nation. In fact also among many Brahmans the Bhumihar Brahmans of Bihar, U.P., etc. are often heavy meat-eaters and love to consume the wild-pig.
Also the Semitic tradition of circumcision an important ritual of Semites (Yehudis and Arabs, though Christian Arabs do not follow this) must be respected but never followed by Hindu-Sikhs-Buddhists-Jains, etc. Much propaganda is being done mostly by Semitic Physicians to make this unnecessary and cruel tradition popular by false data. In the Punjab circumcised individuals are referred to as Sula (Solomon or Sulaiman) We Indians must continue to respect the traditions of all religions yet Sikh-Hindus, Buddhists-Jains, etc. only follow our own.
Thumbnail is Kerala Sadhya
Reason : It's colourful as a Rainbow 🌈
The children being fed reminds me of how as catholics we receive communion.
Licking finger is not common in urban areas. It's a rare scenario now a days .
It's all about individuals comfortability...there is noting so deep..You use spoon or hand.. Upto you... You cannot eat soup or ice cream with you hands and you cannot eat chapati with any spoon.... So it depends what food your eating and what your comfortable with...
Finally some real logic and no bakwaas
This
@@matias4145 Thanks man
Eating with your hand is for me ethical and also practical in some sense for example i try to eat using spoon and fork the usual with seafood like shrimp and crabs its a huge waste of meat after all that pretending to be ethical in the dinning table in some restuarant i realize f**ck it the hell everyone thinks, i eat with my hands with seafood more easier to peel the shrimps and more easier to get the meat from the crab and easy to separate the flesh of the fish from its tiny bones it gets messy but totally worth it, i eat rice with fried or dried type of foods with my hands i havnt tried using it with wet food.
you eat meat and still think you're athical? xD It's killing, no matter how you deal with the corpse.
@@AsterFoz yeah cause your culture is more ethical for not eating meat. I wonder what you think of the Japanese Thais, Mongolians the arabs the italians so is african tribes and many other culture...... Are you better than them and more cultured cause you dont eat meat? Why dont you preach many cultures around the world how to be ethical cause im sure im not the only one. Ohhh and i forgot some animals eat meat infact some of them eat them alive suffering in pain why do we have to exempt ourselves from eating meat??
@@typhoon2minerva I don't know why do you think "my culture" don't eat meat. In my home country it's unusuall not to eat meat. No matter what the culture people come from - when they eat meat and don't have to (I mean - other kinds of food are available) it's unethical. Why? I wrote it in the comment before. If death is not enough for you I really would be afraid to meet you. How can I know, I will go back home alive? I bet you have access to google and you can check yourself all the reasons (spoiler: killing is not the only one) why veganism is better than eating meat.
@@AsterFoz so if youre worried about death what about plants theyre living creatures harvesting them and consuming plants also is a death of life form how about start eating rock or sand
@@AsterFoz wow advance thingking?? Go to the third world country and tell them that were people eat what is available, talking about the previlege of having to choose your diet while others can only eat certain type of food due to scarcity and limited resources . yeah like i said start preaching that to animals who hunt other animals for food .
I am brown, I use my fingers not the whole hand. My girlfriend uses her whole hand and I kind of find it disgusting lol
Better eat with ur hands then wash hands with water . I just dont like using tissue papers . Also i think eating food with hands makes it more tasty (of course its my personal preference)
I'm hungry after seeing this 😭
As a Left Handed person. I wouldn’t know what to do. 😂
Don't worry lah! Rewrite the rules "for Left Handers ONLY!" I'll support you 100 % !
Very nice video. I am eating food in my hands. I don't think about this facts. Thaks.
India culture is really good especially the food.. but I can't help finding disgusting how people eat with hands there.. i just can't.
Why is it disgusting?
Food tastes better with hands and I’m not even Indian!
Indians are a few people who continue to eat with their hands and Indian food is best when eaten with hands. There is no use worrying or thinking what others think about how we eat. It is a don’t care. Others are eager to paint a picture that what they do is the right way and every other way is wrong. Let everyone be to themselves and do what is right for them. I love eating with my hands.
Forks and spoons just don’t cut it for me.
This is South India. India is not only South India. North Indian people uses utensils to eat like from North to Gujarat, Maharastra, Madhyapradesh all eat with utensils. Only featuring South Indian way to represent as Indian way is completely unjustifiable. Even when I was growing up it was consider to disgusting to eat with hands.
Wtf is disgusting?
@@naughtypotato5243 licking to elbow & eating with own bare hands while eating.
@@KaranPatel111 1.Licking to the elbow is very rare... nobody does it...
2.Just like u people wash ur cutlery, we wash hands before eating, how does that that make it unhygenic? Atleast noone has used my hands unlike the spoons.
3.A lot of Northies do use hand and Southies use spoon or fork as well. So stop generalising or looking down on a specific community just cuz u think its 'disgusting'
@@naughtypotato5243 All the South indian origin people, I encountered in my entire life, which are probably in thousands, all of them eat in this way.
@@KaranPatel111 bruh u talking to a South Indian pls
As long as your hands are clean, why not? I've tried it myself, saw no problem. But using a fork keeps my hands clean throughout the process.
I am not ashamed of eating food with my hands even in flight...
‘Every country is a custom’. We eat as we have been taught, and we have been taught by our parents from the very moment of our conception.... Every human being on earth is born to live. But to live you have to eat. Is someone who eats with his hands, for example, closer to the ‘Creator’ or is he a better person? We are all equal on earth. And for what are we equal to each other? Because we all die in one way or another!
Spoiler: you first have to wash your hands in it, then put your foot in it as well
Random question from a non local. Has this custom changed with CoVid??
Nope. We still eat with our hands.
@@saptarshibhattacharya9442 and will always eat
Just basic rule of Covid as Dr Faucci says, wash your hands for complete 20 seconds and stay happy, positive while eating :)
We always practiced the custom of cleaning our hands thoroughly before eating. We still do that and covid brought no changes in our ancient traditions and rich culture.
Thank you.
For generations we are asked and used to wash hands before eat not WIPE. So this won't change just because a random flu was invented...
At the end of the day once the food is on my plate I can chose whether to use my fingers or cutlery. What is more concerning is the lack of washing hands before or after a meal in India.
Whatever gave you that idea?? We do wash our hands before and after eating...
In Bengali dining etiquette, we never eat with both our hands. You use either your right hand or your left hand. Eating with your left hand is fine if you are left-handed. The hand which you are not using to eat food must be kept completely clean because you use it to hold utensils (like ladles, dishes, etc.) to serve the food to others and yourself. Touching the food on your plate with both hands is considered highly inappropriate (except for some special cases). Also, the palm is (almost) never used; you use only your fingers to eat. Wiping your plate clean with your fingers and licking your fingers are considered good etiquette since it appears to convey that you enjoyed the food (a gesture of appreciation for the host or the cook). In a multi-course meal, generally consisting of rice and different dishes, which is generally served by service à la russe, you should always eat each course separately, by mixing every dish with rice separately, and not by mixing all the dishes together with rice. Discarded bones of fish and meat should be neatly placed at one side of the plate. Wasting food is detested. The plate should be clean without any food wasted after the completion of the meal.
When I see indian people eat rice with their hands I always think of the scene from kill bill where beatrice eats rice with her hands cuz she doesnt know how to use chopsticks, and the master throws her rice away and tells her humans should eat with tools and only dogs eat with their hands.
Poor you, you have only this instance to think of
Dogs have hands?
Dogs eat with their hands???😂
I also eat with my hands using tortillas 😊
Its a whole different story. If you grab your dry tortilla with your hands, its not a big deal, but they are wringing the wet rice to mix it with curry. Which is unsafety and disgusting
this is the most important aspect of eating with your fingers.
Eating with the hands has a few disadvantages. One is that it is not pretty to watch -- all that slurping and licking. Second is that you cannot have long banquets where everyone is sitting around and chatting over 2 hours like in China or the west, because you cannot keep your hands messy with food that long. This is especially true in South India, I think, where the hands get messier.
Yeah maybe true. But I remember my parents used to say no talk while having food. When eating fully concentrate on that. Although that's more of an advice. People do talk while having food.
@@aswathik4709how much do you need to concentrate on eating?
@@jimv1983I don't think it's about concentration. It's a cultural thing I guess. I was also taught not to speak while eating but my parents never mentioned concentration or anything.
Nice video, thanks. Though I think it might be fun to eat ice cream with my hand, unless there is chocolate sauce because that would just be too messy even for me!
I don't get it. I just use a knife a fork. Yeah I dip nan and roti in the sauce but that's it. CBA to use my hands. Makes no difference to the taste either; load of nonsense when people say that!
@@kiranpatel6521 I guess it is mainly just culture for them, but personally I couldn't use my hands.
@@rainbowkitten8990 i think the person you replied to is Indian judging from their name and no we indians don't eat ice cream with our hands.
icecream is not indian food and therefore not eaten directly with hand
wow the assumption that it was as if mentioned people there drink water with their hands or something.
That's fine if someone wants to do that but I never could. Having wet messy stuff like sauce and gravy all over my hands would gross me out. I actually struggled to get through the video.
Also, food I would want to eat hot would have to be much colder than I'd like to prevent burning my fingers.
It's cultural differences.
@@Mscellany1 having nasty gross messy hands and burning fingers is a cultural thing. Fine. Then I don't care for that culture.
Like I said, others can do what they want but gross messy burning hands isn't something I'm a fan of.
I’d fit in really well,, I always eat like this when I’m alone
Isme bhi caste system daal diya
😂😂😂
It's so true though..maine ye notice kiya hai
What they said is true. Upper caste people generally never touch cooked food with both hands
It's BBC afterall.
@@aryanhassan4659 tumhara notice karna samajh me aata hai 🤣
I feel that this video may have exaggerated the portrayal of how South Indians eat. In North India, it's common to use more utensils during meals. However, it's important to note that many people in South India also use utensils. Even when eating with our hands, we typically maintain a level of cleanliness and etiquette. In my household, for example, I've been taught to keep my plate as neat as possible while eating. Licking one's arm for runny foods is generally seen as something only children do, and it's not considered appropriate for grown-ups, let alone in public settings.
You'll never convince me that cutlery isn't an advantage over your hands. Like I get it but at the same time we evolve with tool use. You can keep your tradition I'll happily keep mine.
Exactly… u can keep your tradition and we evolve with tool use is BS in my opinion…
@@prime5816 We have been blessed with the ability to improve our world by developing new tech to improve our lives. It's not that I'm against India or her traditional ways I just won't believe the hype that hands are better than silverware or chopsticks etcetera. Go ahead and call it bullshit doesn't change reality.
@@necrophagus9everything with latest technology doesn't mean progress. Also people who use their hands are equally evolved as anyone else who uses cutlery. Well... That's if you know what evolution actually means!
We also evolved to use pesticide and antibiotics and social media and smart phone, and now we realize it's a huge mistake.
@@commenter4898 false equivalence.
Eating with the hand is the oldest way of eating. If I could just eat my food with my hand, all the time, I would happily do that.
Very easily one can see by the way we take food to mouth which class a person belongs.
Eating with utensils or with hand eat with some etiquette.
North Indians eat with spoon and fork. South Indians eat with hands.
That's because North Indians are not Indians. They're from Middle East.
Lmao North Indians eat with their hand too
Do u use knife and fork for Parathas?
Speak for yourself. I don't. No one in my family does. It's only when we do out, we use a spoon to eat rice, never at home
What utter rot
Just because you always used your hands, doesn't mean you always should. We used to do alot of things that were gross and nasty and it's not just Europeans who brought utensils, I much more prefer chopsticks if the food isn't overly bulky.
Things change and along with it, our habits should adapt. We don't live in a cave anymore and we have running water. My impression of the one Indian restaurant where they ate with their hands was disgusting, they looked like pigs eating from a trough with food going every where. When I went to wash my hands, there was all kinds of old food in the sink because it could not be washed down. I think some people would vomit but this is the nasty environment they have come to be used to.
Miss me with that line - do it because you always have. No, learn how to constantly evolve and that would apply to a knife and fork, there are better utensils - just not your hands, and especially not in public. lol
I guess you don't have soap & clean water at home to clean your hands before eating
More like I don't want the sink clogged up with pig filth =-)
@@idocare6538 Because our sink is clogged when we eat with our hands? 😂 I haven't seen anyone's house with a sink like that. Maybe you can find it if you keep looking
@@EggRoll0301 Maybe the person washed their hands in the sink where dishes are kept to wash which would have leftover food in that sink. But god the person is so rude calling the view as pig filth when Indians don't even eat pigs.
i am indian myself ...for me eating with fingers is acceptable but eating with whole palm and fingers looks ugly
Have been living with Canadians and when they saw me eating biryani with hand and licking my food they almost went to coma . I know they r judging me .
In the west we eat junk food with our fingers but healthy food with knife and fork.
Very educational ❤
To people in west it may seem weird, but from our perspective using stuff like sharp metal forks and knives, that can even kill people, in your mouth!? That seems a lot more weird.
Tô aqui pela atividade complementar 👁💧👄💧👁
You are eating Indian food the wrong way when you follow some rules
So interesting. Very nice information
south people use only right hand eating chapati or right but north guys use both hands and break the chapati to 4 parts
No you wont eat a chapati or dosa with utensils. just like you wouldnt eat pizza or a hamburger with your hands. But gravy based foods (curry, dahls) with rice etc shuodl be used with utensils. Because it is unhygienic to mash your food up like that with you hands, your not mashing up a pizza or a hamburger thru your fingers so its not an even comparison - its plain unhygienic
Bruh South Indians eat Gravy based food, watery Rasam, Even Kheer/Rice Pudding with their hands off flat Banana leaves. It's quite irking. I suspect you must be a North Indian, We do use Utensils for Gravy based items and Rice, Although Biryani hits different with hands.
@@thesagarmahapatra nothing is annoying bruh. It is part of our culture to eat with our hands and we do that. Why cant we use hands to eat rice when one can eat chapati sabji with hands?
@@gowthamkrishna6283 Because Chapati(Not the South Indian one, We call it Roti) is dry not oily, Rice and Curry is wet and liquidy. Nice Deep Learning playlist btw
@@thesagarmahapatra I'm not arguing bro. It's just how most people in south eat , that's it. Don't get annoyed by that. Different places in our country have different practices and yeah we eat roti too in our home. Cheers!
@@gowthamkrishna6283 Yeah same not arguing, I've lived in South for a pretty long time, But Apart from Dosa and Idli which are relatively dry, Nothing else makes sense to eat with hands unless it is meat or fish. I was at a wedding where they served Payasam straight up on the Banana leaf. I was perplexed. I've been to Eastern India where they also eat with hands but some things are just not plausible - like Payasam, Rasam etc.
Roti yes, bread yes, flat bread yes, but rice I can't.
So sad, because that's the most enjoyable when eaten with hand.
Ya it's a personal choice
@@manubhatt3 it wouldn’t be for someone who wasn’t taught like that
That's South Indian style, North & Northeast have different styles, BBC bs media should know
is uncle ka koi school me admission krao.... inke dimag se caste system nikal nhi raha hai 😳
I don't think you have understood what Dr. Dalal, the anthropologist, is saying: He is making the case that eating with ones hands like we do in India is what people all over the world have done for the longest time -- and it is perfectly appropriate. He says that cutlery was a very recent European introduction to the dining scene.
I'm a lefty. I can't use my left hand?
No. In the East, the left is associated with waste because due to the majority of the world being right handed, they eat with that hand and wash after using the restroom using their left. Oh, and I'm a lefty. I wash with my left and learned to eat with my right after a mere month.
During an epidemic, it is necessary to change traditions and eat with a spoon, because it is not always possible to wash your hands.
1:19 Hands are not mimicking a spoon, its vice versa instead!
Exactly
In the pass, Thai people also use hand to eat like Indian. But we had change after we knew spoon and fork.
And you somewhere lost your authenticity
We debone fish with one hand.
Using untesils to optimize all the meat in the fish is also a SKILL.
And a POINTLESS one at that. Thank you.
@@panderichthys_rhombolepis pointless how ..?
@@sarahsarah0923 please try to eat Hilsa fish like that. Let me know how it goes.
@@sagniksingha ??????
@@sarahsarah0923 If you know what Hilsa fish is then you know.
They try to make it more complex than it is. Nah man that's a hard pass on that.
Not only is it unhygienic, its also messy and impractical.
Im no stranger to eating food with my hands, hamburgers, pizza, tacos... But those foods are adapted to being eaten with your hands. Curry and rice, nah man, a spoon is a way better alternative.
Ive also seen people grab food from the same pile...that means that they get the food in their mouths, then put their saliva in the same pile of food. No thanks
1. Wash your hands
2. Simply don’t eat from large shared piles if you aren’t comfortable
3. Don’t eat with your hands if you are comfortable
washing your hands doesnt protect you from the germs in peoples saliva if you're sharing food.
Also, you would have to very meticulously clean your fingernails every time you eat as well as remove rings from your hands.
So yeah, I'd rather use clean silverware.
2) yeah, that's exactly what im saying, im not comfortable, that's why I said hard pass on that.
3) yeah, I wont eat with my hands, again, exactly what im saying, again, hard pass on that.
Unless the food item is designed specifically to be eaten with hands. I'll use my hands for food where the mushy, soft, or wet ingredients are contained or held together with a solid, dry structure that helps in efficient and practical eating. For example: tacos, pizza, hamburgers, burritos, sandwiches, pitas, eggrolls, kabobs, cookies, corn on the cob, etc.
From East India and I agree. Eating Rice and Gravy/Liquid items together with hands is a South Indian thing. We use cutlery for forms of Rice and curry that are wet. Dry items like Naan, Roti can be easily had with hands.
Dude, its culture to eat with hands, why you're so rude, we wash our hands before eating also, its messy if you eat messy with hands, its not messy if you eat neatly with your hands, also, we touch our lips only during the eating, not the saliva. Also, how the hell it is impractical? 🙄🙄🙄🙄
@@carolinecharly-yw1cl bro really? 1st every culture used to eat with their hands then they evolved into more hygienic ways of eating food .
Second, im being rude? I literally listed all the actual reasons why i made that comment youre the one being rude by not acknowledging my reasons.
Third, you say you only touch your lips with the food, in the video, the lady clearly puts the food waay inside the kid's mouth at 3:50
Literally the video that you are commenting on disproves your points.
And you ask how is it impractical? You clearly see the food making a mess falling ourside their plates, being all over their hands, and all over their faces. I would call that highly impractical.
😮 Indjans do not drink soup esp Hot soups.
Steamboat cooking at the table is very popular in cold season
in China - not possible in India 🎉🎉🎉
If you find it gross to eat with your hands, it's pretty telling that you probably don't wash your hands in the first place...
So if you don't eat with your left hand because it's unclean what about if your ambidextrous or only have one arm for instance do they then have to use a fork?
Thats just old customs. Its not strictly followed everywhere. Most people I know who are lefties just use their left hand to eat.
Then I guess they might use their right hand for other purposes (iykyk)
*I don't know about upper caste lower cast thing. I don't care what caste is. Eat with ur hands as u like.*
Quite right. I am reposting a comment I just made.
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Cutlery was introduced as a means of reducing the risks associated with poor hand hygiene -- the poor physical hygiene of people from temperate climes (read Europe) in the Middle Ages was legendary.
For instance, women bathed a couple of times a year at most, and men far less. Interestingly weddings would typically take place in June after the first bath after winter. So that should tell you a lot about the general filthiness and lice infested state of the European population.
The idea of washing one's hair with special oils and soaps was introduced into Britain from the Indian subcontinent - the English word 'shampoo' is a semantic corruption of the Hindustani 'champi'.
So contrary to what Mr Kurush Dalal, the culinary anthropologist, says, cutlery was NOT introduced by the upper crust of European society.
Brahmins don't break rotis or hold using left hand but other class and north indian use it...that is how it is .
Wrap veggies in rice! GENIUS