How to eat with your hands ( like a south indian)

Eating with your hands as opposed to with cutlery has always been the norm in India.

This instructable is about how to eat a meal with your hands, like a south indian.

Step 1

Once the banana leaf has been served, press the banana leaf from the central stem, with your thumb and pointer finger so as to make sure the leaf does not curl inwards.

Comments

[raginilall]

haha :)

[astahim]

South Indians are great :)

[PKM]

I read some instructions on how to eat soup with your hands (yes, really- with the aid of dumplings) and the most emphasized instruction there was "bend your wrist and keep your fingers pointing downwards so liquid doesn't run down to your elbow".

I guess with more solid food this isn't as much of a concern but it struck me as a useful thing to bear in mind for people not used to eating with their hands.

The bit about which direction you fold the leaf is interesting, too- do you have any idea how it arose?

[raginilall]

no idea how it arose.
shall ask around and tell :)
interesting question !

[ironsmiter]

That was an interesting bit of social trivia there.

Sort of like chopstick etiquette but with your leaf-plate.

I have to say though, step one, for me, would be to "wash your hands".
might not be traditional, but if someone is gonna be insulted by my hand-washing, II don't think I care enough about their opinion to mind insulting them :-)

Kinda neat to see extremely organic, environmentally responsible eating dishes/utensils. Do those restaurants have giant banana leaf compost piles out back?

[raginilall]

haven't seen. shall check !

haha,well yes probably step one is wash ones hands,didnt mention it as it seemed rather obvious.