印度文化：为什么有些印度人用手吃饭？

Kushal D Murthy, works at Texas Instruments India在德州仪器（印度）工作

There are multiple reasons why most Indians use hands to eat food. It is absolutely wrong to interpret that Indians eat with hands because Indians didn't know to make spoons/fork/... For the only country that knew how to extract Zinc for a long period of time wouldn't have had any problem making spoons. Eating in complicated ways is not necessary to show civilization. Here is why Indians stuck to eating with hands.

大多数印度人用手吃饭有多种原因。认为印度人用手吃饭是因为印度人不会生产勺子或叉子，这种解释是完全错误的。对于一个长期以来唯一能够提取锌的国家，在制作勺子方面不会有任何问题。没有必要用复杂的方式吃饭来展示文明的程度。这就是为什么印度人坚持用手吃饭。

1. You feel the food temperature before you put it in mouth. Hardly anyone burns their mouth eating with hand. Mind you most Indians prefer "hot meals" made freshly just before eating instead of frozen/packed foods and those kept in fridges from yesterday.
2. When you pick up the food by hand your body prepares your digestive track for food intake. Like by producing saliva etc.
3. When you eat food you see it, smell it, you can even hear the sounds of it when chewing(like if it is crispy) or when taking it from platter and of course you taste it. As you can see the only sense that is missing here is touch. We like to enjoy the food in its entirety so when we pick up the food we can even feel and enjoy the texture.
4. Most of us wash hands, if possible legs and face, before eating. We are sure about our hand hygiene and there is no need to avoid eating with hands.
5. Most of the Indian cuisine is best eaten with hands. Try eating dosa(dose/dosai), which needs to be dipped in multiple side dishes before it goes into your mouth, with spoon/fork/knife/chopsticks. Good luck!

1、在把食物放进嘴里之前，你可以感觉到食物的温度。几乎没有人用手吃东西烫伤嘴。请注意，大多数印度人更喜欢吃刚刚做的“热饭”，而不是冷冻的包装食品以及昨天放在冰箱里的食物。
2、当你用手拿起食物时，你的身体会为食物进入消化道做好准备。比如分泌唾液等。
3、当你吃食物时，你可以看到它，闻到它，当你在咀嚼它（比如如果它是脆的）或从盘中拿起它时，你甚至还能听到它的声音，当然你还会品尝到它的味道。如你所见，这里唯一缺少的感觉就是触觉。我们喜欢完整地享受食物，所以当我们拿起食物时，我们甚至可以感觉并享受到食物的质感。
4、我们大多数人在进食前会洗手，如果可能的话，还要洗腿和脸。我们对自己手的卫生很有讲究，所以 用手吃饭。
5、大多数印度菜用手吃最合适。试着用勺子、叉子、刀子、筷子吃东西看看，它需要在多个配菜中蘸一蘸才能进入嘴里。祝你好运！

6. We don't standardise everything unnecessarily. Especially in topics that concern just an individual. We give freedom to individuals as much as possible. If someone is happy with a way of eating then why take away his happiness? I will explain this with an example. Idli-sambar is the most common dish in south India. However the way it is eaten is very different from state to state. Kannadigas and Telugu people tend to take out a piece from idli, dip it in sambar and eat it where as Malayalis and Tamilians tend to crush idli then mix sambar and eat it. In fact many people experiment the way they want to eat a particular dish and you can find different ways of eating the same dish within a family.
This doesn't mean there is no etiquettes or manners. There is pattern behind the 'chaos' that you see. For eg. most south Indians will eat only with right hand, not touching the food with left(the reason being you can serve with left hand so that you don't spread saliva while serving yourself). This kind of well thought out pattern behind the freedom of eating is what determines civilization. To see this pattern you need to shed the western lenses.
7. Try eating in dark. Your hand always knows where is your mouth. With spoon you in dark you have to adjust and estimate the spoon. I am not asking to eat in dark what I want to say is eating with hands is natural to humans. We recognise natural ways to live and try to live with nature as much as possible unless if it causes a betterment of a society or individual spiritual progress we try not going against nature as much as possible.

6、我们不会把所有不必要的东西都标准化。尤其是涉及个人的话题。我们尽可能地给予个人自由。如果一个人对一种饮食方式很满意，那为什么要剥夺他的快乐呢？我将用一个例子来解释这一点。伊德利桑巴是印度南部最常见的菜肴。然而，不同的邦吃它的方式却大不相同。坎纳达人和泰卢固人倾向于拿出一块伊德利，蘸在桑巴里吃，而马拉雅兰人和泰米尔人喜欢把伊德利压碎，然后混着桑巴吃。事实上，很多人都在用自己喜欢的方式吃某些特定的菜肴，你可以在一个家庭里发现吃同一道菜的不同方法。
这并不意味着没有规矩和礼节。你所看到的“混乱”背后是有典范的。例如，大多数印度南方人只会用右手吃饭，而不会用左手接触食物（原因是你可以用左手端菜，这样你在端菜时不会留下唾液）。饮食自由背后的这种深思熟虑的典范决定了文明的程度。要想看到这种典范，你需要忘记西方的偏见。
7、试着在黑暗中吃东西。你的手总是知道你的嘴在哪里。在黑暗中用勺子你必须调整和估计勺子的位置。我不是要求要在黑暗中吃饭，我想说的是用手吃饭对人类来说是很自然的。这是我们认识到自然的生活方式，并尽可能地与自然生活在一起，除非能推动社会的改善和个人精神的进步，否则我们尽量不与自然背道而驰。

PS: 1. Man.. how badly I want to eat Indian food immediately the Indian way! Unfortunately it is 11pm and I am in Belgium :(
2. By the way, the question should be why most people eat with spoon and chop sticks!
3. Also not just Indians many others use hand to eat food. How do you think most Americans eat burger?

附言：1、伙计，我真想马上用印度的方式吃印度菜！不幸的是，现在是晚上11点，而我在比利时；
2、顺便说一句，问题应该是为什么大多数人都用勺子和筷子吃饭！
3、不仅仅是印度人，还有很多人用手吃饭。你认为大多数美国人是怎么吃汉堡的呢？
Vikas Vimal, Project manager. And other things...专案经理。而且还做其他一些事情……

I am an engineer. I have traveled countries, including India, which is incidentally mine. I have Mensa grade IQ. I come from an institute whose alumni are spread across all continents and in every major city and a lot of small towns across the world. In short, by God's grace, I have been associated with a lot of 'civilized' people. So that my answer is seen as somewhat credible.
(Show-off, Check. Now back to the point)
Using the power vested in me by my experience and abilities, I can attest to the following facts:

我是个工程师。我去过很多国家，印度也是我的祖国。我有门萨俱乐部会员级别的智商。我来自一个学院，它的校友遍布世界各大洲、各大城市和许多小城镇。简而言之，感谢上帝的恩典，我和许多“文明”的人有联系。所以我的答案很值得参考。（炫耀完毕。现在回到正题上）
利用我的经验和能力赋予我的权力，我可以证明以下事实：

· Civilized people DO eat with their hands. (Usually after washing hands with soap)
· It is irritating to try and pick roasted groundnuts with a chopstick or a fork. (Done both)
· Eating with bare hands IS a common practice even in affluent class people. (I did it in Zimbabwe, Indonesia, China. My compatriots would attest to that)
· People do get uncomfortable on seeing others eating with bare hands. I take that they didn't have access to soap and water.
· It is excruciating to watch foreigners in an Indian restaurant in Harare eat Peshawari Naan with a knife and fork.
· I rarely go to restaurants without places to wash hands. And I eat with provided accessories only when there is no provision of washing hands or I am hugely outnumbered by people who love their spoon or fork. They've got equipment, it's common sense.

1、文明人可以用手吃饭。（通常在用肥皂洗手后）
2、尝试用筷子或叉子夹烤花生会令人恼火。（两者都有）
3、即使在富裕阶层，徒手吃饭也是一种常见的做法。（我在津巴布韦、印度尼西亚、中国也这么做过。我的同胞可以证明这一点）
4、人们看到别人徒手吃饭确实会感到不舒服。会认为他们没有肥皂和水。
5、看着外国人在哈拉雷的印度餐馆里用刀叉吃印度馕真是太糟糕了。
6、我很少去没有洗手场所的餐馆。我只在没有洗手或者偏爱用勺子或叉子的人数量很多的情况下，才会使用餐厅提供的餐具吃饭。一般都会提供餐具，这是常识。

· 80% of spoons provided in mid range restaurants have a speck of detergent or a fossil of an earlier meal sticking on it.
· I found that it is REALLY difficult to eat kulche chhole they serve on jet airways flights with knife and fork. Pieces of chhole and drops of gravy take random flight on their own if you aren't careful. Especially difficult if you have a pretty damsel sitting beside you. (I chose to use my hands. Better a ganwaar than a clumsy douche)
· That being said, I would prefer to eat sajja mureo with my spoon and fork rather than bare hands. There is something iffy about corn porridge and slimy ladyfinger gravy. Same goes for mie goreng and capcay.
· Indian food evolved around eating with bare hands, so we made chapattis. Chinese loved their chopsticks, hence noodles. Europeans had their spoon and fork hence.... Wait, what do they eat?
· I recently tried something called wet wipes. Its something like scented paper soaked with antimicrobial liquid, (I prefer non alcoholic version). Its awesome. I am never going on a trip without a few of these wipes anymore. Cost about ₹1 per wipe if you order more than 100 wipes. You will know what to use it for....
· Gotta run, will add more as time permits....

7、中档餐厅提供的汤匙中，有80%上面会粘有一点洗涤剂或一块以前食物的疙瘩。
8、我发现，用刀叉吃飞机航班上提供的库尔切饼真的很难。如果你不小心的话，碎片和肉汁会溅起来。如果你身边坐着一个漂亮的姑娘，那就更难了。（我选择了用手。）
9、话虽如此，我宁愿用勺子和叉子吃sajja mureo，而不是徒手。因为玉米粥和粘糊糊的手指松饼肉汁有点让人讨厌。吃炒面和雜菜时候也一样。
10、印度食物是在徒手吃饭的基础上发展起来的，所以我们发明薄饼。中国人喜欢吃面条，因此使用筷子。欧洲人有勺子和叉子，那么他们吃什么呢？
11、我最近尝试过湿巾。它有点像用抗菌液体浸泡的香纸（我更喜欢不含酒精的）。它很棒。我现在去旅行已经离不开这些湿巾了。如果您订购超过100张湿巾，每次擦拭的费用约为1卢比。你会知道用它们会被用来做什么。
这次就总结这些，如果时间允许的话，我还会补充更多。
Yerram Swetha, Interested in Chronological Changes of Ethnicity, People, and Cultures 对种族、人和文化的历史变化感兴趣

There are some scientific reasons and benefits behind this practice. Most of the Indians eat with their hands and do not use cutlery. It cannot be called gross as this is the most natural way of having food among human beings. Why do many people all over the world eat a pizza or an apple with hand if it is really gross? If we use cutlery at a restaurant, we cannot assure that it is actually clean, but we never call it gross though. Most of the Indians clean their hands before and after eating to ensure their hands are clean. Indian food is easy to be eaten and tastes best when eaten with hands. Just because one does not understand other’s reason behind doing something, one cannot call it gross. Above anything, eating with your hands has a number of health benefits... Few of them are:

大多数印度人用手吃饭，不使用餐具。这不能称之为粗俗，这种做法背后有一些科学原因和好处。因为这是人类最自然的进食方式。如果这样真的很恶心的话，为什么世界上很多人都会用手吃披萨或苹果？如果我们在餐馆使用餐具，我们实际上同样不能保证它是干净的，但我们从不称之为恶心。大多数印度人饭前饭后都要洗手，以确保双手干净。印度菜很容易使用，用手吃味道最好。如果一个人不了解别人做某事背后的原因，就不能随便称之为粗鄙。最重要的是，用手吃饭对健康有很多好处。其中有一些：

Keeps all your vital life energies in balance: According to Ayurveda, we are all made up of five main pranas or life energies and these five elements correspond to each finger on our hand (your thumb indicates fire, index finger correlates with air, middle finger indicates sky, ring finger stands for earth and little finger indicates water). An imbalance of any one of these elements can lead to diseases. When we eat with our hands we usually join our fingers and thumb to eat, this is actually a mudra that is a form of mudra vigyan, or the study of mudras and their healing power on the body.Therefore when we eat we are putting together all the five elements and energizing the food we eat so it helps us become healthy and keep all our pranas in balance. These mudras helps stimulate certain nerves in our brain that helps keep our digestive system active.
Improves digestion: Touch is one of the most strong and often used sensations in the body. When we touch our food with our hands, the brain signals our stomach that we are about to eat. This in turn, readies the stomach to digest the food it will receive, release digestive enzymes thus aiding in better digestion.

保持你所有生命能量的平衡：根据阿育吠陀的说法，我们都是由五个主要的生命气息或生命能量组成的，这五个元素对应于我们手上的每个手指（你的拇指代表火，食指与空气相关，中指代表天空，无名指代表地球，小指代表水）。任何一种元素的失衡都可能导致疾病。当我们用手吃饭时，我们通常会用手指和拇指来进食，这实际上是一种手印，它是一种摩陀守护神的形式，或者对手印和它们治疗身体能力的修炼。所以当我们吃东西的时候，我们把所有的五种元素放在一起，使我们吃的食物充满活力，从而帮助我们变得健康，保持我们所有的能量平衡。这些手印有助于刺激我们大脑中的某些神经，帮助我们保持消化系统的活力。
促进消化：触觉是身体中最强烈和最常用的感觉之一。当我们用手触摸食物时，大脑会向我们的胃发出信号，表示我们要吃东西了。这反过来又使胃为消化它将接收到的食物做好准备，释放消化酶从而帮助更好的消化。

Promotes mindful eating: Eating with your hands requires you to pay attention to what you are eating. You often need to look at the food and focus on what you are putting into your mouth.Also known as mindful eating, this practice is much healthier than eating with a fork and spoon that can be done mechanically. Mindful eating has a large number of benefits for your health and one of the most important benefits is the fact that it improves the assimilation of nutrients from the food you eat, enhances digestion and makes you healthier.
Protects your mouth from getting burnt: Your hand also acts as a very effective temperature sensor. When you touch your food it is easy for you to gauge how hot it actually is, and you are less likely to put food that is too hot into your mouth – effectively preventing you from scalding your tongue.

推动用心进食：用手吃饭需要注意你吃的东西。你需要经常看着食物，并专注于您要放入嘴中的食物。这种做法也被称为“用心进食”，它比用叉子和勺子机械地进食要健康得多。用心进食对你的健康有很多好处，其中最重要的好处之一就是它能促进你所吃食物中营养物质的吸收，增强消化能力，从而更健康。
保护你的嘴不被烫伤：你的手也是一个非常有效的温度传感器。当你触摸你的食物时，你很容易判断它的实际温度，你也不太可能把太烫的食物放进嘴里，从而有效地防止你的舌头被烫伤。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Aniruddha Banerjee
My take on the issue would be completely different:
* Humans have always eaten with their hands, as did apes before them. Tools and implements were used in special cases, again as also with some apes
* If one looks at the nature of the societies in early days, it gives a clue as to why Europeans took to using implements (cutlery), and why Indians didn't need to (other than for serving from a cooking pot)

我对这个问题的看法完全不同：
人类过去一直像猿一样用手吃饭。只有在特殊情况下才会使用工具和设备，同样一些猿类也是如此
如果我们观察一下早期社会的性质，就会发现欧洲人为什么会使用工具（餐具），以及为什么印度人不需要使用（除了使用炊具以外）：

* Europeans were originally hunter-gatherers who needed to use a cutting implement to being out a portion of the meat from the whole carcass. Indians, on the other hand, were also hunter-gatherers to start with - but evolved to be agrarians much earlier than Europeans. Cuisine and cultural practices as we know it today, evolved over many 1000s of years.
* In India, ingredients and cuisine didn't need eating implements. In fact implements would be an impediment to eating rice or bread with something that makes eating it more interesting - gravies and condiments! Ergo, one didn't need implements. Until the royals started changing their habits, that is! Even that is a relatively modern 200 years or so of the recent past

欧洲人最初是狩猎采集者，他们需要使用切割工具从整个尸体中取出一部分肉。另一方面，印度人从一开始也是狩猎采集者，但比欧洲人更早地发展了农业。我们今天所知道的烹饪和文化习俗，已经经过了1000多年的发展。
在印度，食材和菜肴不需要使用餐具就能食用。事实上，工具会成为吃米饭或面包的一个障碍，而这些东西需要配上肉汁和调味品才会吃起来更美味！因此，人们不需要餐具。直到皇室成员开始改变他们的习惯，人们才开始使用餐具！即便如此，相对现代来说，这也算是近200年的事情。

* Ditto for European cuisine, where the implements for eating (forks and spoons) developed only over the last 300-400 years, and again at the instance of royals who were the patrons of cultural and culinary evolution. The problem they overcame with implements was the problem of cleaning hands with water in the interest of good sanitary practices - no mean task to wash hands with cold water, before and after eating!
* On the other hand, in India the basic necessities have remained essentially the same - eating rice or bread in sufficient quantity with a gravy / condiment to make it interesting. Culinary evolution has not changed anything in this, and hence not influenced the age old practice of washing hands with water - before and after a meal. In most parts of India it is not difficult to find water, nor is the temperature a deterrent
So, all other 'nice reasons' apart - why do Indians eat with their hands? Quite naturally they don't need an implement to replace the use of fingers! Is it culturally unacceptable? Not in the Indian sub-continent. It is only in societies where everyone was inculcated / indoctrinated about using the implements, one wonders why others eat with their fingers.

欧洲的饮食也是如此，仅在过去300-400年间才开发了餐具（叉子和汤匙），而同样皇室成员也是饮食文化进化的推动者。他们通过餐具改变了为了保持良好的卫生而用水洗手的习惯，这样一来，在进食前后就不必用冷水洗手了！
另一方面，在印度，基本的饮食方式基本不变：吃米饭或面包的时候加上大量的肉汁和调味品，使之更加美味。饮食方式的进化并没有改变这一点，因此也没有对饭前饭后用水洗手的古老做法产生影响。在印度的大部分地区，找到水并不困难，温度也不是什么问题。
所以，除了其他的“好理由”之外，印度人为什么要用手吃饭？显然他们不需要使用一个工具来代替手指！这在文化上是无法接受的吗？不同于印度次大陆，只有在每个人都被灌输要使用工具的社会里，人们才会想知道为什么其他人会用手指来吃饭。
Sobia Khan, To win the world , win yourself first为了战胜世界，要先战胜自己。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

There are numerous reasons :
*Heightened awareness
Many experts have noted the importance of being relaxed and "present" at mealtime. A calm, aware state allows optimum digestion and helps with not overeating. Eating with a fork and knife can become mechanical, done absentmindedly while watching TV. You'll inevitably feel more connected with your food when you eat with your hands.

原因有很多：
增强意识
许多专家都注意到了在用餐时放松身心的重要性。一个平静、清醒的状态可以使消化达到最佳状态，并有助于避免暴饮暴食。用叉子和刀子吃饭会变得机械化，而且同时会心不在焉地看着电视。当你用手吃饭时，你会不可避免地感到与食物的联系更加紧密。

*Engages all senses
The smell of your cooking fills your home. The feast looks appetizing. You hear how crunchy it is as you take that first bite. And of course it tastes delicious. But as far as feeling it, you're limited to the textures you experience in your mouth. Or are you? Eating with your hands adds a tactile dimension to your meal and engages all of your senses. Some people firmly believe that to completely enjoy your food, you simply must eat it with your fingers.
I've not written this content myself it is taken from somewhere on the net
But the answer in my views is the best.
No one can make fun of Indian eating habits after reading this .

促进所有感官之间的联系
你家里充满了你做饭的味道。这顿盛宴看起来很开胃。当你吃第一口时，你会听到它有多脆。当然味道也很好。但就感觉而言，你只能在口腔中感觉到食物的纹理。那么你不妨用手抓饭，这样会给你的食物增加一个触觉的维度，并吸引你所有的感官。有些人坚信，要想完全享受你的食物，你必须要用手指来吃。
这不是我自己写的，是我在某个地方转载来的。
但在我看来，这个答案不错。
看了这篇文章，没人会再取笑印度人的饮食习惯了。
Jay Singh, Straight as an arrow!像箭一样直！

Hands are considered our most precious organ of action. Per Yoga, our hands and feet are said to be the conduits of the five elements--space, air, fire, water and earth. One of the five elements courses through each finger. Through the thumb, angushtha, comes space; through the forefinger,tarjani, air; through the midfinger, madhyama, fire; through the ring finger, anamika, water and through the little finger, kanishtha, earth.
In Vedic tradition, we eat with our hands because the five elements within them begin to transform food and make it digestible even before it reaches the mouth. This transformation also heightens the senses so that we can smell, taste and feel the texture of the foods we are eating. We can also hear the sounds of eating. All of these sensations are a necessary prelude to beckoning agni, the fire of digestion, to ready itself for the meal to come.

手被认为是我们最宝贵的行动器官。根据瑜伽的说法，我们的手和脚被认为是空间，空气，火，水和地球这五个元素的管道。五个元素与手指一一对应。拇指对应空间；食指对应空气；中指对应火；无名指对应水，小拇指对应地球。
在吠陀的传统中，我们用手吃饭，是因为其中的五种元素开始转化为食物，甚至在食物到达口腔之前就可以被吸收。这种转化也增强了我们的感官，使我们能够闻到、尝到和感觉到我们所吃食物的质地。我们也能听到吃东西的声音。所有这些感觉都是召唤消化之火的必要前奏，从而为即将到来的食物做好准备。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

On the greater dimension, the act of eating is spiritual feasting. We are activating the energies of the deities aligned with the elements, stimulating a surge of heightened consciousness within. This is made possible through the powerful play of mudra (hand gestures). It brings the elements of nature through our hands and fingers into the food, and then joins it with agni. If we are aware of awakening the fire within ourselves, we digest not only the food but also our thoughts more smoothly. The fire of digestion and the fire of the mind, tejas, work hand-in-hand. As you see below, there are six specific mudras for eating.

从在更大的维度上讲，饮食的行为是精神上的盛宴。我们正在激活与元素相联结的神之能量，刺激内在的觉醒意识的涌动。这是通过强大的手印（手势）来实现的。它通过我们的手和手指将自然元素带入食物中，然后与火神相结合。如果我们意识到自己内心之火被唤醒，我们不仅能够消化食物，还可以使我们的思想更加顺畅。消化之火与心灵之火齐头并进。因此在进食时有六种特殊的手印。

According to the Taittiriya Upanishad, we eat food not only to sustain the body, but to assimilate the universe's elements and energies within our physical and emotional body and to nourish the greater, spiritual Self. And therefore, partaking food with your own hands is not just a gesture of respect for the universe but a means to connect with universe.

根据《鹧鸪氏奥义书》所说，我们进食不仅是为了维持身体，也是为了给我们的肉体和精神吸收宇宙的元素和能量，并滋养更强大的自我精神。因此，用自己手来品尝食物不仅仅是对宇宙的尊重，也是与宇宙进行联系的一种手段。