Eating with your hands...

Well, technically, "hand."

I have some good friends who typically do no use utensils to eat, so when I dine with them, I try to practice eating with my hand. I discovered that I had an unfounded bias about this. It's actually a complex skill, particularly to be graceful. Hambugers/fries/etc.? obviously easy (well, with two hands hamburgers are easy). How about rice? curry? or dosa and chutney? stewed lentils? The list of wet dishes with small ingredients goes on rather extensively.

Any one else have experience with this?

Also: yay waterbowls!

 

I've done it many times in private with varied results. I did visit a restaurant in Honolulu called Marakesh many moon ago. It was said to be authentic Moroccan cuisine and decor. No silverware all food eaten with your hands. It was different and at the time I had not been given any kind of instruction, so made quite a mess and probably a few faux pas.

 

I grew up eating with my hands. Don't do that so much any more.

 

I haven't done it very much. All I can recommend is practice. People that do it have been doing it a long time. How quickly did you pick up using a fork and spoon?

 

Well I used both methods from the get go. A lot of middle eastern cuisine is eaten by hand, which is why you get the flat bread to use as a scoop. On the other hand I can't eat rice with anything but a spoon.

 

It is pretty normal for a number of Asian cultures eat have rice, curry, wet dishes with hands.

 

On occasion I still using my hands when having Indonesian/Malaysian foods which are rice oriented, such as nasi lemak, nasi padang, pecel lele, etc.