WHY YOU SHOULD EAT WITH YOUR HANDS, ACCORDING TO AYURVEDA
Getting hands on with our food is something most of us have done in our kitchens — whether it be shaping cookies, massaging kale or simply chopping veg — but what we don’t do is get tactile with our food when it lands on our dining table — unless we’re talking finger food like canapes, seafood and sandwiches. In many regions around the world, such as the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, South America and in South East Asia like in the Philippines (where it’s known as Kamayan), eating with your hands is a part of cultural tradition. It’s a practice which with colonisation was deemed “improper” and thus discouraged but one which, according to Ayurveda, has so many benefits.
In this ancient health system, based on the wisdom of the Vedas, the hands are a significant part of the body and each finger corresponds to one of the five elements. When you eat with your hands, you naturally feel more connected to your food since there isn’t the mediation of a fork or spoon, and Ayurveda tells us that the nerve endings in our fingers actually help to boost digestion.
When I’ve worked with top chefs in restaurants I’ve marvelled at how, well before they taste an ingredient or new recipe, and perhaps only after analysing with their eyes and taking in the aroma, they touch the product. A lot. That touch tells them so much — how cooked it is, the moisture content, the texture, etc. and becomes a benchmark for knowing when the dish that they will create for hundreds of guests in the future is just perfect. I’m reminded of my Vaidyas (Ayurvedic doctors) who tell me that a good cook, an Ayurvedic cook does not taste the food while preparing it to preserve their own digestive fire for eating at the right times and in order to call on their other powerful senses for this mindful practice of preparing food to nourish the body.
Eating with your hands is a powerful part of mindful eating, that is engaging with every aspect of your food, through all of your senses, touch and sight as well as taste and smell. When we eat mindfully, we digest better. It might naturally help you to rush less, reduce mouthful sizes and draw your attention to the task at hand (especially as you master the dexterity of scooping up something that might usually require a spoon like dal and rice). Not to mention you won’t burn your tongue, because you’ll always be able to feel how hot your food really is.
We naturally have healthy bacteria or flora on our hands, as well as in other parts of the body. When we eat with our hands, we ingest some of that bacteria, which in turn helps prevent harmful bacteria from entering the body and could protect you from getting ill.
Now many of you reading this might be thinking — this is impractical, uncouth, messy. My mum is Filipino and eating with your hands was a way of life for her growing up and one that I have to admit I found a little embarrassing when I used to see her eating this way with her fellow Filipina friends around the kitchen table as I burst in with my friends as a very young girl. One day when I saw her eating a meal using her hands, and I asked her why she didn’t use cutlery. We were pretty much fork and spoon people growing up on my favourite diet of what I call “wet food” or “scoopy dinners” — pure comfort food that didn’t require a knife. She said “because I’m tired” and I remember this idea sinking in that she found her hands more useful at a time like this than a utensil. Now I totally get eating with my hands and naturally turn to it for certain meals when I’m eating at home or close friends' homes (and the odd eatery where they encourage you to get stuck in — OK I’m talking pizza 😂!).
When you actually take the time to really analyse the act of using utensils to feed yourself, it can suddenly feel quite alien. This magical food that becomes the building blocks of you — physically, mentally and spiritually! — we prod it with a metal tool and push it in our mouths, forgoing the information that our incredible hands — those hands that we take for granted in our everyday, with their sensitive fingertips — can help determine so much about this food. On my first trip to India and my first Panchakarma, we were encouraged to enjoy our food with our hands from thali trays, the metal ones with the little separate compartments — dipping and mixing between them and using fresh chapatis to scoop up the more liquidy elements (soup we sipped from mugs or bowls). Nick wasn’t too keen, even though he’s spent tonnes of time in Asia, including the Philippines, preferring the convenience of less fuss with a spoon (there wasn’t much in the way of cutlery where we stayed and he held onto his spoon tightly). On being invited to a local home for breakfast towards the end of our trip, he became the entertainment for the youngest child who giggled as she watched Nick fumble with his food (and sit uncomfortably on the floor in his too tight trousers) before her dad rushed off to find a piece of metal.
So if you’re ready to try eating something a little gooier with your hands, make sure to wash them well before sitting down to eat (wash them before you eat anyways of course!). It’s worth noting, now you’re in practice, that traditionally in India, Africa and the Middle East where the tradition of eating with hands is still very much the norm, though growing less and less (and not in hotels), etiquette is eating with your right hand (sorry lefties!). Then use the tips of your fingers as a spoon, using the thumb to help you pick it up and bring it to your mouth. Don’t take big fistfuls into your palm! Don’t worry if it all goes awry the first or 15th time you try it — remember it’s a dexterity skill worth working on, especially when you consider that people are able to eat curries from a banana leaf on their laps and not make a mess! Try tasting one dish or element of your plate at a time at first, so that you can properly appreciate its individual flavours. Then mix and match and scoop and savour — enjoying different ratios and combos to suit you. No licking fingers (until the end!). Now all that’s left to do is observe how you feel. Do you appreciate your food more this way? How about afterwards, do you feel more satisfied? Better able to digest the meal?
A conscious cook cooks with love and their hands, much demonstrated of late by recent TV chefs. Since we’re not always all able to cook every meal ourselves, can we at least eat with love and our hands?
