Across food courts, kitchens and canteens, a great debate is on, a debate that many of you may engage in daily. The debate is muted and unless action is taken, one feels we could lose a large part of our culture. The issue is about eating customs.
Indians are one of the few nations left who eat rice and curry with their hands en masse, as others have adopted the spoon and the fork. Eating rice with our hands is a large part of our cultural identity, and as the flavours are mixed together, the food tastes better.
City Express elicited opinions from five professionals across Bangalore to understand which side of the table they sit on during the debate.
Wayne is a 36-yearold fitness instructor while Dhaksha is a 21-year-old agricultural consultant. Richa is a 27-year-old branding and advertising consultant, Niki, a 21-year-old fashion blogger (provider of men’s clothes and other male furnishings) and Tirrin, a 22 year old events manager.
Wayne has used the hand, the spoon and the fork, making him culinary ambidextrous. His weapon of choice is the spoon, but this is largely due to work pressures.
Wayne says “As I work in a gym, I eat with a spoon. The gym users do not like to see me eating with my hand and thereby, creating a mess. Gyms have to be a very clean environment”.
Wayne’s experience in the gym has made him pessimistic about the ‘future of the hand’ as he believes the “richer Indians use the spoon”, indicating that he associates the hand with traditional, anachronistic eating cultures.
Richa though demonstrates that many wealthy, cosmopolitan and educated Indians hold onto traditional eating customs. She is educated beyond degree level and many of the people at her marketing agency hold prestigious MBA awards.
Richa says “I eat Indian cuisine with my hands. I was brought up, even conditioned to use my hand and I believe it tastes better”. Richa added, “I hope the tradition carries on as it is a large part of Indian culture and is part of our identity”.
Niki and Dhaksha shed further light on the issue. Niki has spent large amounts of time living in London and finds it difficult eating curry with her hand, though eats food such as burgers and pizza with her hand as she finds it more comfortable and efficient.
She emphasises it is a matter of personal taste but believes the tradition will continue as long as our generation passes it onto our children. Dhaksha too intends to do that. She always uses (her) hands.
Though she is uncertain whether the tradition will continue and although Tirrin finds eating with her hands natural, she is not sure whether the tradition will survive as in the cities she has noticed that the younger generation are increasingly using cutlery.
Eating with our hands is a tenant to our history and culture. At the moment it seems to be the preferred eating style and it looks like the tradition is safe for now. Eating with our hands though used to be a tradition, and the fact that people are questioning the practice suggests that its future may be threatened. American journalist Malcom Gladwell would have plenty to say on the issue.
His book, The Tipping Point argues that as social customs like eating rice with our hands get questioned, they begin to “tip” towards new practices such as eating with a spoon. This causes the old practice to lose momentum and as this happens, eating with our hands could become relegated to history.
Presently, India’s young is “tipped” in favor of eating with the hand, but the spoon is likely to pose a growing challenge to the ancient practice.