Saturday 29 December 2007

Spoons and Forks

Why do we use spoons or forks while eating ? Back in India most of us don't use forks or spoon while eating at home.. But when we go out to restaurants or parties we manage to use them efficiently ;). What is the reason behind using this..?


If eating with spoons or forks is a good or healthy habit then why we are not following them at home ?
or
Its just a dining etiquette to be followed in public places ?
or
Is it just a eating style being followed from the western or the other parts of the world ?

Considering them as a healthy habit is a convincing reason, because our hands are maximum exposed to germs and dirt compared to the spoons and forks. In fact these utensils are sterilized in most of the places which makes them more safer..

Here is an article which speaks about the different ways of eating various kinds of food. Just curious to hear the history behind the usage of these spoons and forks.. :)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

The reasons why west uses fork and spoon should be hygiene, ease of use (its so much more easier and elegant to have western style non-veg when you use fork and knife) and it could've also been a fashion statement that help spread its use.

The type of food that we have in India, the way it is processed and the sophistication and the evolution of the food has been such that we don't really need to use forks and knives.

We dont eat boiled/marinated meat in India, we cook em well.
And meat is not the primary food, our staple diet is rice/roti with meat used side dish/sambars.

And, the best way for mixing rice with sambar or dipping the roti in
dal is by hands.And, can you imagine how difficult it would be if we were to have appalams using forks?

But then,we have been using spoons ; for how else would you mix sugar and coffee or enjoy a semi-solid paal payasam.

You'd find it challenging to have it with hands or take a sip directly off the tumbler..

I've also heard people say that eating with your hands brings out a special feeling.

Besides, cleaning your hands is not such a big deal, there is so much of shit going into your system when you breathe and from the hands of the cook and what about the germs in the water when you wash your hand or the fork?
And what about the rust in the metal spoons and forks or poisoning because of excessive consumption of metal particles from the forks and spoon..


Even if all of that turns out to be bullshit..we can always afford to lose a few million lives because of some plague that is spread by eating with hands, unluckily thats not the case for the west for thats their total population.

may be you can check these out too for fun.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fork
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon

ranjit said...

at last a post on one of your favorite area of interest...FOOD :P
no idea which is better or why one is followed..but I prefer using my hand.

You know what I once heard a story which may not be true, but I found it very witty.

It seems a Indian leader once went abroad and attended a dinner party hosted by his compatriot there. When our leader started eating with his hand, his compatriot was curious and asked him why he preferred not using the spoon, forks etc.. Our leader replied 'At least I am sure that I am the only one licking my hand'! :)

Unknown said...

Many a times even i prefer eating in hands rather than spoon.. Kalyaana saapada elaila pottu kaiyaala saapdura rusi eh sugam thaan.. :)

I have seen people eating Dosa in Spoon and Fork in my company cafeteria in Hyderabad... :)

Deepan said...

all coz of nature of food da .. neeye sollu . namma mess chappathi + chicken kuruma or kaiyenthi bavan idli+mutton kuruma .. ithellam spoon la sapta epdi irukum?? will u feel the taste? ;) similarly, most of the western foods are very comfortable to eat with spoons ..