Why Malay Malaysia Eat Using Hand?
The Malays use the tips of their fingers only, rarely staining their palms. Deft finger movements tear meat, pick up vegetables and gather it with rice into a tight bite-size grip. Then using the thumb, this food is gently and neatly ‘shoveled’ into the mouth. Traditionally, Malays eat with their right hand even if they are left-handed because it is considered taboo to eat with the left hand. The left hand, it is understood, is reserved for an unmentionable personal use.
I would say eating with fingers is a Malay custom. It’s awkward if you’ve never tried it before but somehow, food always taste better when you eat with your fingers… must be the chemical makeup on the skin, i think. However, over here, we only eat with fingers for certain kind of food - certainly when eating nasi lemak, malay mix rice and the various rotis and tosei. When it comes to Chinese food such as noodles and such, we fall back to the fork and spoon or chopsticks. At some Malay or Mamak restaurant, it is the understanding that you’ll be eating with your hands, therefore cutleries would not be provided… if you really need them, you’ll have to ask for them. They would probably give you a pair wrapped in paper or a whole stack in a basket
There are mainly 3 major ethnic group in Malaysia; Malay, Chinese and Indian. Malay and Indian usually eat their mix rice using hand but make sure you are using right hand, eating using left hand is considered inappropriate. The Chinese usually use their chopstick. But in almost all restaurants/stalls/food court do provide clean cutleries.
Kenapa Orang Melayu Makan Guna Tangan
Setiap bangsa di dunia ini punya budaya tersendiri. Oleh sebab makan itu satu perkara yang wajib dalam hidup, cara makan juga merupakan satu budaya. Masing-masing bangsa ada budaya mereka tersendiri bagaimana mereka makan.
Misalnya orang Cina menggunakan kayu (chopstick) dan orang Barat pula menggunakan sudu dan garfu. Tentu ada sebab yang rasional kenapa mereka amalkan cara itu.
Orang Melayu makan biasanya menggunakan tangan kanan. Apakah rasionalnya dan kenapa orang Melayu makan dengan tangan ?
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