Why Zohran Mamdani’s act of eating with his hands is a power move when it comes to digestive health

Avantika Bhatt was surprised when her eight-year-old son requested a knife and fork when she packed dosas in his lunchbox. “The other kids make fun of my greasy hands,” she recalled her child’s reasoning. “I couldn’t even blame him, but it broke my heart to see him having dosa this way,” said Bhatt, who has been living in Seattle for the last decade.

Recently, Republican supporters got triggered after Zohran Mamdani, the Indian-origin Democratic nominee for the post of New York mayor, dug into a piping hot plate of biryani using his fingers. Mamdani, however, managed to win several South East Asian hearts with his move. Anumita was one of them. “I felt so seen! Almost like someone gave me fresh permission to do something I grew up doing since I was a kid,” she said.

Things turned serious when Texas Congressman Brandon Gill reshared the video with a caption criticising Mamdani’s actions as a refusal to adopt Western customs, and urged him to “go back to the Third World”. Gill’s Indian-origin wife joined in support, claiming that her Christian family living in India also used forks to eat rice instead of their hands.

Between fighting colonial hangover and dealing with subtle racism, NRIs have found themselves becoming unspoken representatives of Indian tradition on a global platform. When you are miles away from your homeland, grasping onto threads of your heritage and embracing cultural practices becomes more than an attempt to feel at home in a place that systemically tries to keep you out – it becomes a power move.

Food and culture researcher Ranjoy Gupta revealed from his personal experience that such racially loaded comments are generally thrown around by non-Asian communities at large, besides wealthy people who consider themselves superior to others. “Some middle-class and poor people also do this to feel like they match the status of wealthy people, and they do not feel shame about what rich folks are telling them to do,” he said.

Eating with one’s hands is hardly a new practice. Beyond Asia, Europeans and Americans have grabbed on to meaty burgers and folded slices of sauce-dripping pizza with their bare hands. But when a particular community comes under scrutiny for doing the same, questions arise as to the intention and possible racial intent behind the criticism.

Remember when Rani Mukerji’s character Debika Chatterjee in the film Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway feeds her child with her hands, Norwegian child protection officers take it as a mark of disrespect and deem her unfit to be able to care for and bring up her kid? Sociologist Adrija Majumder believes that eating with hands is culturally embedded and is an integral part of Bengali cuisine and culture. “Debika Chatterjee feeding fish and rice to her child with her hands reflects the essence of Bengali culture, since I don’t think eating fish (typically the pieces with bones) is possible with a spoon or fork,” she said.

Across religions and cultures, people have been eating food with their hands. (Source: Freepik)

Rooted in sacred texts 

Gopi Byluppala, CEO and founder of Hyderabad-based Culinary Lounge, which claims to be India’s first social-culinary hub, highlighted how Indians have eaten with their hands for centuries.

“We consider it a mindful act and also a spiritual act. In the Vedas and Upanishads, they say that it aligns the body, mind and food. Our five fingers represent earth, water, fire, air and space,” he said, adding that this is a common practice across Southeast Asia, except in Vietnam. Festivals like Kamayan in the Philippines – where food is served on banana leaves and eaten with the hands – are a great example.

In fact, Byluppala pointed out that many Islamic cultures from the Middle East and North Africa also consider eating with the right hand both a cultural and spiritual norm, rooted in Islamic teachings. “For example, the Prophet Muhammad encouraged eating with the right hand (as noted in hadiths like Sahih Muslim). Dishes like biryani, naan, hummus are still commonly enjoyed by hand in homes and traditional gatherings, though cutlery naturally appears in the urban and modern contexts,” he explained.

Expert says: forks are fast, fingers bring focus

According to culinary nutritionist Dr Avantina Sharma Bhandari, hands-on eating is not just tradition, it is smart science. “In many parts of the world – from Indian thalis to Indonesian (rice) nasi padang – eating with your hands is the norm. Yet in Western culture, it is often seen as messy, even uncivilised. But here is the truth: eating with your hands can actually be healthier, more mindful, and better for digestion. It is a practice rooted in ancient wisdom and now backed by modern science,” she said.

According to her, touching your food activates your sensory system. It tells your brain, “Hey, food is coming!” This kicks off the cephalic phase of digestion, where saliva and digestive enzymes start flowing — prepping your gut before the first bite. Better digestion means smoother metabolism.

Again, when you eat with your hands, you naturally slow down. You are more aware of texture, temperature, and how much you are eating. This boosts mindful eating — a proven way to reduce overeating and improve satisfaction.

Sure, even clean hands carry a diverse set of skin microbes, but when we eat with our hands, we expose our gut to helpful bacteria, which is especially important in early childhood. It is part of building a strong, resilient immune system.

Science is catching up to what ancient cultures already knew: not all germs are bad.

All in all, Dr Bhandari chalks up Western discomfort with eating using hands as colonial hangover more than hygiene. “Many cultures view eating with hands as respectful, even spiritual. Meals are shared, food is blessed, and hands become an extension of gratitude. In Southeast Asia, Kamayan feasts unite families and communities. In India, mixing rice and curry by hand is a sensory ritual. It is tradition with purpose.

Feeding kids with hands is excellent for picky eaters (Source: Freepik)

Boon for picky eaters

In fact, nutrition consultant Pooja Chavan elaborated on how eating with hands can be helpful for picky eaters, especially children.

A reason for rejecting food is a phenomenon called the “mouthfeel” in which the way some foods feel in the mouth is different from the way it tastes. “Children refuse to get the mouthfeel from eating something that they are not exposed to. It is important for them to get exposure to food and know the texture of food, like crispy, slimy, smooth, etc, by something called tactile exposure, meaning a sense of touch,” she said, adding that this familiarity will eventually increase their liking and acceptance for food.

Byluppala considered it funny how the West made such statements about our cultures. “They too eat burgers, pizzas with their hands but the same act done by Asians or Indians is seen as backward. It is a clear double standard. They forget that cutlery became widespread in Europe only from 1600s. Before that they too were eating with their hands. These standards were imposed during colonial times to mark other cultures as ‘uncivilised’.”

This kind of labelling is not just a misunderstanding of Indian culture and customs, it is a blatant dismissal of huge parts of the world. “This shows how such judgments are not just cultural bias but a civilisational arrogance that lumps entire indigenous and religious traditions as ‘backward’, while ignoring how their own histories once did the same,” said Byluppala.

However, the world is changing, even if the process is slow. Chavan shared that her recent experience studying abroad at the University of Glasgow has been positive. “I have made friends from multicultural backgrounds across the world. They saw me eating with my hands, but never criticised. Some of them even joined me and ate using their hands. Some did not, but they never had a problem with my way of eating,” she said.

Eating with your hands isn’t just “okay”, it is great for your digestion, your brain, your culture, and your soul. So next time you are about to pick up a fork…maybe don’t. Try using your hands instead.