Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, defended Indians’ way of eating with hands in a conversation on X, bringing back the focus on what many call the “colonial hangover”. The incident began when a Florida-based social media user named Aka shared a video showing a couple traditionally enjoying a meal using their hands at what appeared to be a South Indian wedding. Aka captioned the video with a critical query on X: “Seriously question, why do they all eat with their hands?” Sanyal responded: “It is a simple test… if you cannot bear to touch it, and need metal instruments, then it is probably a bad idea to put it in your mouth.” In a follow-up comment, Sanyal pointed out the selective double standard of Western
critics, noting that the very same people who mock South Asian traditions will happily eat pizza, doughnuts, burgers, bread, and French fries with their bare hands.
“Well, you can wash your hands before eating just as easily as a metal instrument,” he replied to a user.
It is a simple test….. if you cannot bear to touch it, and need metal instruments, then it is probably a bad idea to put it in your mouth. https://t.co/omWQcETPDi
— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) September 5, 2026
THE 2025 CONTROVERSY
The modern debate was largely reignited by a high-profile political incident in mid-2025. A viral video showed New York politician Zohran Mamdani eating a traditional rice dish with his bare hands. In response, Texas Congressman Brandon Gill publicly criticized him on social media, claiming that “civilized people in America don’t eat like this” and telling him to “go back to the Third World” if he refused to adopt Western customs.
This incident drew immediate backlash and ignited a widespread culture war, highlighting how dining habits can be weaponized as political tools for racial and cultural profiling.
WHAT THE “WEST” WANTS
Mainstream Western dining dictates that food, especially meals with complex textures like rice, grains, and gravies, should be consumed using metal utensils (forks, knives, and spoons). Critics often mistakenly associate hand-eating with being “unhygienic,” “gross,” or “backward,” assuming that the use of a tool is inherently cleaner than skin-to-food contact.
Historically, European colonization promoted the narrative that adopting cutlery was a sign of modernization and refinement, casting non-Western traditions as “primitive”.
However, critics point out a glaring hypocrisy in Western food standards. Western culture enthusiastically accepts eating specific foods like burgers, pizza, French fries, tacos, and ribs with bare hands. The controversy only arises when non-Western foods, particularly South Asian or Middle Eastern dishes like rice and curry, are eaten in the same manner.
Defenders of the practice emphasize that eating with hands is a highly structured, evolutionary, and mindful tradition.
