efore we go to India, first lets strike on the topic of food. Food is much more than the basic necessity of life. Its an art in itself. Some dishes like the Biryani, a piece of India's history, is a long process whose optimum taste comes only when cooked in a certain way; a beautiful complexity. At the same time, a dish as simple as panipuri manages to engross millions of Indians everyday. Now, we must understand that food is not only about taste. It appeals the eyes(sight), nose(smell), tongue(taste), fingers(touch) and, sometimes, ears(crackling of pakodas in oil). Food, in its own interpretation, appeals to all the five senses.
Now coming down to a different side of logic. I would like to request every user to look at their hand- its a mechanical device that can act like a lever, a pulley, a crowbar and what not. It can pick, put and pull. Lets compare each piece of cutlery we use to our hand and see which one wins this-
Fork- a fork might have 4 teeth, but hands have four fingers and a thumb. Moreover a fork can apply pressure only towards one side. However, our hand can concentrate the pressure towards a central point, giving us a better grip.
Spoon-which is definitely a more used piece of cutlery, can definitely be matched with our hand for some dishes. All of our fingers joined together can form a close prototype of the spoon. (Though I would never advise anyone to drink soup with their hand)
Knife-Now this is an equipment that is indispensable for dishes like steak, etc. However, India being the land where cows aren't even bullied by politicians, I think we can remove that from this discussion.
Moreover, there is nothing like holding a chicken leg piece with your hands and tearing the flesh away with your teeth. No device made of spoons, forks and knives can even give you the satisfaction. I think all KFC fans would agree. Now this is as far as logic goes.
Enough about logic. Lets come down to India or the average Indian. We have always been an interesting crowd of people since the beginning of forever. We manage to find meaning in everything, be it the sleep of a new born child or the passing away of a dear. The practice of eating with one's hands started from the Vedic times when people used to believe and respect food. They believed that our bodies are in sync with the elements of nature. Ayurvedic texts teach that each finger is an extension of one of the five elements. Through the thumb comes space; through the forefinger, air; through the mid-finger, fire; through the ring finger, water and through the little finger it is earth. The joining of all fingers while eating was believed to improve our consciousness of the taste of the food we eat. And we used to be a clean lot of people those days too.
Now coming down to the North vs South war. My question to you: How misinformed are you? I would like to thank Yeshwanth Venkatesh for the pics he has put up. I can only conclude from your question that you are India's latest victim of western perception of high society. If you don't know (I dont see the point of the if), fine dining has started embracing the concept of eating with our hands. Now it's fine to eat with your fingers: Etiquette experts say it's acceptable in restaurants.
The choice of cutlery depends on the type of food. One can't drink soup without a spoon and one can't eat noodles without a fork and one just can't devour on a chicken leg piece without one's hand.