Food Etiquette

Once you’ve gotten used to eating Indian food all day every day, the next step is acclimating to the food culture. But wait, you may say, I can pull off a piece of roti using my thumb and fingers and scoop up some of that curry into my mouth without making a fool of myself. I can tell the difference between yellow daal and black daal and I know that naan and parathas are not the same thing.

You fool! There is so much more to learn.

First of all, you better be prepared to wait. Hungry now? Who cares. You will wait for your friends, your host siblings, your coworkers, that guy you just met, the people you don’t know but are sitting in the office so you better be cordial and wait for them too.

We learned how to share back on Chopatty Beach

Next, you better be prepared to share. And don’t just share your food, you need to offer it up to everyone around you. Oh, no, we won’t eat your food, they say. ASK AGAIN. No, I insist, you must have some. If they still won’t take any, don’t be deceived, they might still want some. Just take some and feed it to them yourself. My coworker and dear friend Malvika gives me endless trouble about how Americans don’t know how to share their food, recounting the tale of how, in my first week in the office, I had some biscuits and didn’t offer them to her. She sat there, wanting my biscuits, so she offered me some of her food in the hopes that I would return the kindness. No, thanks Malvika, I don’t want your food, I have my biscuits. I figured if she wanted one of my biscuits, she would ask. Cultural misunderstanding strikes again.

Some homemade pakoras... because this is a food blog and you
should be jealous of what I'm eating

So here I am, it’s about 3:00 pm, at the office, and I still haven’t eaten lunch. My tiffin (lunch box) is waiting for me in the kitchen, but I will certainly not be eating it now. Yes, I am starving. But I will wait for my friends and coworkers to come back so we can enjoy our food together, mixing all of our sabjis and rotis in a delicious mid day feast.