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I eat with a knife and fork because that raises less eyebrows when I'm in the US. When I'm in India, I use hands because anything else would raise eyebrows. Th

I eat with a knife and fork because that raises less eyebrows when I'm in the US. When I'm in India, I use hands because anything else would raise eyebrows. That said, it's very liberating to eat with your hands. If you are concerned with hygiene (as you should be), wash your hands well before and after you eat. Remember, you know where your hands have been. You have no idea in whose mouths those forks have been, and how well they've been washed and handled afterwards. There's nothing inherently unhygienic about using hands. Those who don't wash their hands well don't care about hygiene, so there's no particular reason for them to be using cutlery. Those who do, are better off using hands as long as there's a good way to wash them available. Just rinsing with water is not good enough.

lusr 15y ago
While I have nothing against eating with hands (people who eat pizzas with knives and forks are insane IMO), stating that "You have no idea in whose mouths those forks have been, and how well they've been washed and handled afterwards" is absurd: by the same argument, you have no idea where the chef's hands have been, where the dishes the food is sitting have been, etc. There's no good reason to believe that eating with your hands is more hygienic (particularly for people with long fingernails or wounds).
- ninguem2 15y ago
  >people who eat pizzas with knives and forks are insane IMO You mean all Italians are insane?
- alphakappa 15y ago
  I'm not claiming that eating with hands is more hygienic. I'm stating that it's not necessarily less hygienic than using cutlery. Our assumptions about stuff is based on what we see, and we assume that that the stuff we don't see probably doesn't exist. We simply assume that the cutlery is clean, but that's not necessarily true. Note that I'm not claiming that cutlery is unclean either - just that hygiene is not a good reason not to use hands. That's an easily solved problem (wash hands well). There can be better arguments for/against using hands.

lusr 15y ago

While I have nothing against eating with hands (people who eat pizzas with knives and forks are insane IMO), stating that "You have no idea in whose mouths those forks have been, and how well they've been washed and handled afterwards" is absurd: by the same argument, you have no idea where the chef's hands have been, where the dishes the food is sitting have been, etc. There's no good reason to believe that eating with your hands is more hygienic (particularly for people with long fingernails or wounds).

ninguem2 15y ago
>people who eat pizzas with knives and forks are insane IMO You mean all Italians are insane?
alphakappa 15y ago
I'm not claiming that eating with hands is more hygienic. I'm stating that it's not necessarily less hygienic than using cutlery. Our assumptions about stuff is based on what we see, and we assume that that the stuff we don't see probably doesn't exist. We simply assume that the cutlery is clean, but that's not necessarily true. Note that I'm not claiming that cutlery is unclean either - just that hygiene is not a good reason not to use hands. That's an easily solved problem (wash hands well). There can be better arguments for/against using hands.