Smells and Bells

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Kurutob_eating_with_hands.jpg The presentation from the touch group today made me think about an element of my study abroad that I really enjoyed. In both Tanzania and India, a lot of the food that we ate we ate without utensils, just using our fingers. In Tanzania it was rice, ugali, beans, cooked cabbage, and some other food. And in India it was many of the traditional, well-known Indian dishes like dal, curry and masala. We ate these by just grabbing the food we wanted with our fingers, mixing it around if desired, and picking it up and eating it. Many Indian dishes are served with a tortilla that can be used to pick up food. It was a practice that took some time to get used to, but once I did I found that I really enjoyed it. For one, it was a good way to tell if the food was too hot to eat. But it also meant that we really were connecting with our food on a bit of a deeper level than the disconnect of using a fork or spoon....

       Finger food! When I went to Copenhagen to study abroad my Junior spring semester, I was told about all kind of Danish traditions, customs, and fashion trends. One thing that I found was that at almost every gathering the host would provide some kind of food or drink. This is certainly not uncommon in the States, however, rather than things being store bought they were homemade. Having homemade treats to share with everyone seemed to makes everyone more comfortable. In "The Deepest Sense" Constance Classen discusses the medieval traditions of eating together. "Eating as a group not only made the most efficient use of food and fuel resources, it also strengthened social bonds" (2) As in the medieval tradition, if a large group of people were gathering the food would be made so that you could eat with your hands as you walked around or sat on couches. I really like the way Classen described how eating with your hands "indicated that no artificial ...