Juan of Words

When is it not okay to eat with your hands?

When is it not okay to eat with your hands?
Photo courtesy of lets.book

No, really.  When is it not okay to eat with your hands?  I mean, sure I know there are social norms, etiquette and all that other good stuff.  No soy ignorante.  At least not about this, jaja!  But what I mean is who gets to make those rules and why do we all have to follow them?

Sure.  Maybe common courtesy or good manners dictate that when in the company of others, one should strive to make everyone else in the room comfortable and at ease.  If your host is using a fork, you probably should be using one too.  If they’re scooping up food with their tortillas, well, then you should feel pretty much at liberty to do the same.

I do that.  Even when I don’t necessarily want to.  But every once in a while I give myself permission to break the “norms” of our society and eat with my hands, even when nobody else is… especially if we’re at a Mexican restaurant.  Why do I do that?  Not because I want others to pay attention to me.  Not because I want to prove a point or anything.

As Raymond once said on Everybody Loves Raymond, “I’m not that deep!”

Instead, I do it because that’s the way I have always eaten Mexican food.  Growing up, we did have forks and spoons.  We used them every once in a while.  Although most of the time we just ate with the homemade tortillas my mother used to make on a daily basis.  So sometimes, every now and again, I use my hands even when nobody else around me is… when everyone else is eating with a fork or spoon.

It’s not a huge issue by any means… I mean who really cares how I eat my food?  But it did make me curious about when and where others might say it is not okay to eat with one’s hands.  This is definitely not an inquisition.  So don’t feel like you can’t tell me that I’m wrong.  If you think I am, tell me.  If you think I’m right, you can tell me that too 🙂

I do really want to know, though.  What do you think?  When is it not okay to eat with your hands?

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