Finger-licking Good

Finger-licking Good 

There’s a video of Zohran Mamdani eating with his fingers that’s going viral. Not for the biryani he was enjoying, but for the heartburn it caused in his mayoral political opponent, who caustically commented that he should “go back to the third world” for not eating with a spoon and fork.

Expectedly the blatantly racist remark has sparked outrage in the online world.

In India we say first we eat with our eyes, then smell the aroma wafting from the plate. After that the fingers do the next part – of feeling the food before you, the different textures, the varying temperatures, and even before you have taken the first bite, your other senses have already signalled to the brain of the joys waiting to be tasted.

When you mix the dal or sambar with the hot rice with your fingers, add in a spoonful of ghee, then blend this with some poriyal or sabzi, and now carry this delicious mix to your mouth, you have engaged all your senses and the act of eating is now a beautiful confluence between the food and the eater.

When we eat the desi way, the food, the fingers, the palate all come together to create a perfect symphony of texture, temperature, taste, felt fully and wholesomely.

No spoon and fork can offer this level of complete sensorial delight.

Imagine eating a dosa without touching it with your hands. Or a mango for that matter. Half the taste and enjoyment would be lost.

Let the world say what it wants, we like our food finger-licking good.

Pullout  

Eating with hands makes our food a complete sensorial experience