印度文化：為什么有些印度人用手吃飯？

Kushal D Murthy, works at Texas Instruments India在德州儀器（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.

大多數印度人用手吃飯有多種原因。認為印度人用手吃飯是因為印度人不會生產勺子或叉子，這種解釋是完全錯誤的。對于一個長期以來唯一能夠提取鋅的國家，在制作勺子方面不會有任何問題。沒有必要用復雜的方式吃飯來展示文明的程度。這就是為什么印度人堅持用手吃飯。

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、在把食物放進嘴里之前，你可以感覺到食物的溫度。幾乎沒有人用手吃東西燙傷嘴。請注意，大多數印度人更喜歡吃剛剛做的“熱飯”，而不是冷凍的包裝食品以及昨天放在冰箱里的食物。
2、當你用手拿起食物時，你的身體會為食物進入消化道做好準備。比如分泌唾液等。
3、當你吃食物時，你可以看到它，聞到它，當你在咀嚼它（比如如果它是脆的）或從盤中拿起它時，你甚至還能聽到它的聲音，當然你還會品嘗到它的味道。如你所見，這里唯一缺少的感覺就是觸覺。我們喜歡完整地享受食物，所以當我們拿起食物時，我們甚至可以感覺并享受到食物的質感。
4、我們大多數人在進食前會洗手，如果可能的話，還要洗腿和臉。我們對自己手的衛生很有講究，所以 用手吃飯。
5、大多數印度菜用手吃最合適。試著用勺子、叉子、刀子、筷子吃東西看看，它需要在多個配菜中蘸一蘸才能進入嘴里。祝你好運！

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、我們不會把所有不必要的東西都標準化。尤其是涉及個人的話題。我們盡可能地給予個人自由。如果一個人對一種飲食方式很滿意，那為什么要剝奪他的快樂呢？我將用一個例子來解釋這一點。伊德利桑巴是印度南部最常見的菜肴。然而，不同的邦吃它的方式卻大不相同?？布{達人和泰盧固人傾向于拿出一塊伊德利，蘸在桑巴里吃，而馬拉雅蘭人和泰米爾人喜歡把伊德利壓碎，然后混著桑巴吃。事實上，很多人都在用自己喜歡的方式吃某些特定的菜肴，你可以在一個家庭里發現吃同一道菜的不同方法。
這并不意味著沒有規矩和禮節。你所看到的“混亂”背后是有典范的。例如，大多數印度南方人只會用右手吃飯，而不會用左手接觸食物（原因是你可以用左手端菜，這樣你在端菜時不會留下唾液）。飲食自由背后的這種深思熟慮的典范決定了文明的程度。要想看到這種典范，你需要忘記西方的偏見。
7、試著在黑暗中吃東西。你的手總是知道你的嘴在哪里。在黑暗中用勺子你必須調整和估計勺子的位置。我不是要求要在黑暗中吃飯，我想說的是用手吃飯對人類來說是很自然的。這是我們認識到自然的生活方式，并盡可能地與自然生活在一起，除非能推動社會的改善和個人精神的進步，否則我們盡量不與自然背道而馳。

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、伙計，我真想馬上用印度的方式吃印度菜！不幸的是，現在是晚上11點，而我在比利時；
2、順便說一句，問題應該是為什么大多數人都用勺子和筷子吃飯！
3、不僅僅是印度人，還有很多人用手吃飯。你認為大多數美國人是怎么吃漢堡的呢？
Vikas Vimal, Project manager. And other things...專案經理。而且還做其他一些事情……

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:

我是個工程師。我去過很多國家，印度也是我的祖國。我有門薩俱樂部會員級別的智商。我來自一個學院，它的校友遍布世界各大洲、各大城市和許多小城鎮。簡而言之，感謝上帝的恩典，我和許多“文明”的人有聯系。所以我的答案很值得參考。（炫耀完畢?，F在回到正題上）
利用我的經驗和能力賦予我的權力，我可以證明以下事實：

· 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、文明人可以用手吃飯。（通常在用肥皂洗手后）
2、嘗試用筷子或叉子夾烤花生會令人惱火。（兩者都有）
3、即使在富裕階層，徒手吃飯也是一種常見的做法。（我在津巴布韋、印度尼西亞、中國也這么做過。我的同胞可以證明這一點）
4、人們看到別人徒手吃飯確實會感到不舒服。會認為他們沒有肥皂和水。
5、看著外國人在哈拉雷的印度餐館里用刀叉吃印度馕真是太糟糕了。
6、我很少去沒有洗手場所的餐館。我只在沒有洗手或者偏愛用勺子或叉子的人數量很多的情況下，才會使用餐廳提供的餐具吃飯。一般都會提供餐具，這是常識。

· 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、中檔餐廳提供的湯匙中，有80%上面會粘有一點洗滌劑或一塊以前食物的疙瘩。
8、我發現，用刀叉吃飛機航班上提供的庫爾切餅真的很難。如果你不小心的話，碎片和肉汁會濺起來。如果你身邊坐著一個漂亮的姑娘，那就更難了。（我選擇了用手。）
9、話雖如此，我寧愿用勺子和叉子吃sajja mureo，而不是徒手。因為玉米粥和粘糊糊的手指松餅肉汁有點讓人討厭。吃炒面和雜菜時候也一樣。
10、印度食物是在徒手吃飯的基礎上發展起來的，所以我們發明薄餅。中國人喜歡吃面條，因此使用筷子。歐洲人有勺子和叉子，那么他們吃什么呢？
11、我最近嘗試過濕巾。它有點像用抗菌液體浸泡的香紙（我更喜歡不含酒精的）。它很棒。我現在去旅行已經離不開這些濕巾了。如果您訂購超過100張濕巾，每次擦拭的費用約為1盧比。你會知道用它們會被用來做什么。
這次就總結這些，如果時間允許的話，我還會補充更多。
Yerram Swetha, Interested in Chronological Changes of Ethnicity, People, and Cultures 對種族、人和文化的歷史變化感興趣

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:

大多數印度人用手吃飯，不使用餐具。這不能稱之為粗俗，這種做法背后有一些科學原因和好處。因為這是人類最自然的進食方式。如果這樣真的很惡心的話，為什么世界上很多人都會用手吃披薩或蘋果？如果我們在餐館使用餐具，我們實際上同樣不能保證它是干凈的，但我們從不稱之為惡心。大多數印度人飯前飯后都要洗手，以確保雙手干凈。印度菜很容易使用，用手吃味道最好。如果一個人不了解別人做某事背后的原因，就不能隨便稱之為粗鄙。最重要的是，用手吃飯對健康有很多好處。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：根據阿育吠陀的說法，我們都是由五個主要的生命氣息或生命能量組成的，這五個元素對應于我們手上的每個手指（你的拇指代表火，食指與空氣相關，中指代表天空，無名指代表地球，小指代表水）。任何一種元素的失衡都可能導致疾病。當我們用手吃飯時，我們通常會用手指和拇指來進食，這實際上是一種手印，它是一種摩陀守護神的形式，或者對手印和它們治療身體能力的修煉。所以當我們吃東西的時候，我們把所有的五種元素放在一起，使我們吃的食物充滿活力，從而幫助我們變得健康，保持我們所有的能量平衡。這些手印有助于刺激我們大腦中的某些神經，幫助我們保持消化系統的活力。
促進消化：觸覺是身體中最強烈和最常用的感覺之一。當我們用手觸摸食物時，大腦會向我們的胃發出信號，表示我們要吃東西了。這反過來又使胃為消化它將接收到的食物做好準備，釋放消化酶從而幫助更好的消化。

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.

推動用心進食：用手吃飯需要注意你吃的東西。你需要經?？粗澄?，并專注于您要放入嘴中的食物。這種做法也被稱為“用心進食”，它比用叉子和勺子機械地進食要健康得多。用心進食對你的健康有很多好處，其中最重要的好處之一就是它能促進你所吃食物中營養物質的吸收，增強消化能力，從而更健康。
保護你的嘴不被燙傷：你的手也是一個非常有效的溫度傳感器。當你觸摸你的食物時，你很容易判斷它的實際溫度，你也不太可能把太燙的食物放進嘴里，從而有效地防止你的舌頭被燙傷。
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.gdsfy.cn 轉載請注明出處

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)

我對這個問題的看法完全不同：
人類過去一直像猿一樣用手吃飯。只有在特殊情況下才會使用工具和設備，同樣一些猿類也是如此
如果我們觀察一下早期社會的性質，就會發現歐洲人為什么會使用工具（餐具），以及為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

歐洲人最初是狩獵采集者，他們需要使用切割工具從整個尸體中取出一部分肉。另一方面，印度人從一開始也是狩獵采集者，但比歐洲人更早地發展了農業。我們今天所知道的烹飪和文化習俗，已經經過了1000多年的發展。
在印度，食材和菜肴不需要使用餐具就能食用。事實上，工具會成為吃米飯或面包的一個障礙，而這些東西需要配上肉汁和調味品才會吃起來更美味！因此，人們不需要餐具。直到皇室成員開始改變他們的習慣，人們才開始使用餐具！即便如此，相對現代來說，這也算是近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.

歐洲的飲食也是如此，僅在過去300-400年間才開發了餐具（叉子和湯匙），而同樣皇室成員也是飲食文化進化的推動者。他們通過餐具改變了為了保持良好的衛生而用水洗手的習慣，這樣一來，在進食前后就不必用冷水洗手了！
另一方面，在印度，基本的飲食方式基本不變：吃米飯或面包的時候加上大量的肉汁和調味品，使之更加美味。飲食方式的進化并沒有改變這一點，因此也沒有對飯前飯后用水洗手的古老做法產生影響。在印度的大部分地區，找到水并不困難，溫度也不是什么問題。
所以，除了其他的“好理由”之外，印度人為什么要用手吃飯？顯然他們不需要使用一個工具來代替手指！這在文化上是無法接受的嗎？不同于印度次大陸，只有在每個人都被灌輸要使用工具的社會里，人們才會想知道為什么其他人會用手指來吃飯。
Sobia Khan, To win the world , win yourself first為了戰勝世界，要先戰勝自己。
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.gdsfy.cn 轉載請注明出處

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：
增強意識
許多專家都注意到了在用餐時放松身心的重要性。一個平靜、清醒的狀態可以使消化達到最佳狀態，并有助于避免暴飲暴食。用叉子和刀子吃飯會變得機械化，而且同時會心不在焉地看著電視。當你用手吃飯時，你會不可避免地感到與食物的聯系更加緊密。

*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 .

促進所有感官之間的聯系
你家里充滿了你做飯的味道。這頓盛宴看起來很開胃。當你吃第一口時，你會聽到它有多脆。當然味道也很好。但就感覺而言，你只能在口腔中感覺到食物的紋理。那么你不妨用手抓飯，這樣會給你的食物增加一個觸覺的維度，并吸引你所有的感官。有些人堅信，要想完全享受你的食物，你必須要用手指來吃。
這不是我自己寫的，是我在某個地方轉載來的。
但在我看來，這個答案不錯。
看了這篇文章，沒人會再取笑印度人的飲食習慣了。
Jay Singh, Straight as an arrow!像箭一樣直！

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.

手被認為是我們最寶貴的行動器官。根據瑜伽的說法，我們的手和腳被認為是空間，空氣，火，水和地球這五個元素的管道。五個元素與手指一一對應。拇指對應空間；食指對應空氣；中指對應火；無名指對應水，小拇指對應地球。
在吠陀的傳統中，我們用手吃飯，是因為其中的五種元素開始轉化為食物，甚至在食物到達口腔之前就可以被吸收。這種轉化也增強了我們的感官，使我們能夠聞到、嘗到和感覺到我們所吃食物的質地。我們也能聽到吃東西的聲音。所有這些感覺都是召喚消化之火的必要前奏，從而為即將到來的食物做好準備。
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.gdsfy.cn 轉載請注明出處

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.

從在更大的維度上講，飲食的行為是精神上的盛宴。我們正在激活與元素相聯結的神之能量，刺激內在的覺醒意識的涌動。這是通過強大的手?。ㄊ謩荩﹣韺崿F的。它通過我們的手和手指將自然元素帶入食物中，然后與火神相結合。如果我們意識到自己內心之火被喚醒，我們不僅能夠消化食物，還可以使我們的思想更加順暢。消化之火與心靈之火齊頭并進。因此在進食時有六種特殊的手印。

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.

根據《鷓鴣氏奧義書》所說，我們進食不僅是為了維持身體，也是為了給我們的肉體和精神吸收宇宙的元素和能量，并滋養更強大的自我精神。因此，用自己手來品嘗食物不僅僅是對宇宙的尊重，也是與宇宙進行聯系的一種手段。