Please do not touch

One dull Sunday afternoon I was watching with my flatmate cut her way through her much anticipated Sunday Lunch. As a Sunday treat she'd made herself corn on the cob, with succulent potatoes and a delicious mushroom sauce.

When she got to the corn I asked her if she didn’t mind eating the corn with her hands. And she said that usually she would eat it with corn clamps of some sort, but since she did not have them here, she really didn’t mind using her hands. Now, for most people that may seem normal. But when you come from a country that enjoys eating with their fingers, it seems a bit strange - the great lengths that people go to avoid touching their food while eating.

It’s strange, because if the reason behind this hygiene then – surely your hands are more hygienic than a factory production line? Which is where most of the food comes from. And most people are meant to wash their hands anyway before their meals? If the reason is that perhaps it appears civilised, when did using our hands become uncivilised? We use it for everything else. If the reason behind it is to perhaps enjoy the meal a little more, then I think that is just wrong.

Mainly because eating is a sensual activity, and cutlery denies the satisfaction of one of our most primary senses – touch. And even while shopping you'll see people touch the clothes on the rack. It’s instinctive. Hence, all the ‘Do not touch’ signs. I'm sure there must be many people who just can't wait to literally get their hands on their food, but they do so only when they are alone.

Admittedly it’s a bit difficult in some countries to then wash your hands later, but surely if somebody can invest in a corn clamp, a finger bowl will not be that difficult?