Why Do Indians Eat With Their Hands?

We are often asked why do we Indians eat with our hands and not with spoons?
A large part of the Indian population eats with their hands and it is culturally acceptable. It is an ancient Hindu custom to eat food with the right hand. Nowadays as we grow more and more modern and copy the west, we eat with the fork and spoon. But do you know eating with hands has a very logical and scientific significance? Indian regular food consists of rotis, paranthas, curries, idli, dosa, etc. Eating them with forks and knives will be quite a task to deal with.

Here are the reasons why we are encouraged by our traditions to eat with our hands:

Eating with hands keeps all our vital life energies in balance:

As per the Ayurvedic texts, we have five main pranas or life energies in our body – Prana, Apana, Samana, Udana, and Vyana. These are related to different body parts and have definite functions and are essentially in charge of the entire physiology of the human system. We generate our physical energy from food. The food is converted to glucose which is broken down in the cells to produce energy. The five Prana Vayus control the assimilation, distribution, excretion of food and managing the energy to keep the body functioning smoothly. Any blocks in the Prana movement can be controlled by mudras. The mudra of eating food – bringing all fingers together and holding the food in between keeps the prana in balance.

Eating with hands keeps the five elements of the body balanced:

Earth, water, fire, wind, and space are the five elements of which our body is composed. These five elements correspond with each finger on our hands. Where there is an imbalance of any of these elements, it leads to diseases. The mudra of bringing all the fingers together before eating food also brings together all the elements of the body and balances them. The food held in between the fingers in that mudra also energizes the food and keeps us healthy.

*The three Shaktis – Sri Laxmi, Sri Saraswati, Sri Parvati reside in the center of our palms. Eating with our hands means the food we eat is blessed by all of them we also receive Their Energies and Grace. Every bite of food is Prasad or Grace. Eating food consciously in this manner energizes the food with divine energy which is assimilated in our systems.

It improves digestion:

Once we touch the food with our hands, the brain signals our stomach that we are ready to eat. This helps the stomach to get ready to prepare itself for the food, thus improving digestion. Touching the food with our hands gives a great sense of satisfaction. Touching food helps us understand food at many levels and enhances the taste too.