Saturday, November 26, 2011

Culture through Food

Since in Vietnam, we use chopstick and spoon, we face a big difficulty in the first time trying to eat Indian food. They use none of chopstick or spoon or fork, only hands. And remember this, only use right hand to eat !


The food was extremely spicy and sour. Most of them are vegetables, hardly to find non-veg dishes.India is really a country of extreme.I once asked my friend about it. He said "We love experiencing everything in an extreme way". That's true. One day I could be in the poorest city in India or even in Asia, I could saw beggars everywhere eating anything leftovers, and the next day finding myself covered by the most luxurious shopping malls, enjoy dining with the high class Indian. And while eating together with them, it's not unusual to see them put a whole chilly or a lice of lemon straight into their mouth.

I also found it interesting when noticing Indian men often drink lassi ( Indian yogurt) and chai (milk tea) instead of beer or alcohol like in my country.Maybe their religion requires them to do so or being a vegetarian can awake a good self in them. That should explain why I dont even see anyone playing gambling or lottery, or even pickpocketing.

There're many things I learned from India just by their food (the way they eat, which kind of food they can't eat,..). Although Indian food always upsets my stomach, it's such a great pity to me when I wasnt able to try all the dishes from my favorite restaurant there. Gotta go back some time. See you again, India

2 comments:

thebeautifulpig said...

Eating using the hand is also a part of Filipino culture although it is usually practiced at home together with the closest family. We think that eating a meal using the hand is much more enjoyable & especially if you're eating with your family.

It is also strange especially for Westerners to eat with spoon & fork (which is a common practice in the Philippines) instead of knife & fork. Since we eat a lot of rice I think it just makes sense to use spoon to scoop the rice.

Every nation has it's own culture about food & dining and I think that what's make each country unique and amazing :)

Lillian Phan said...

Spoon is really popular in my country but still they prefer chopsticks to eat. I find it really hard to eat rice by chopstick, the rice always falls out. Exploring food culture in every country is always my biggest dream :)

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