One of the pleasures of travel to other countries is the sampling of unfamiliar food, learning how it’s prepared and sometimes how it is eaten.
In Dubai, one of the must-do experiences is a visit to the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding where you will learn about the Emirate culture and traditions, including the food – what they eat, how they prepare it and, even more fascinating, how they eat it.
Our host at the centre welcomed us with small cups of tea and platters of dates. This was a typical welcome that we would encounter at many of the places we stopped for a meal.
As we sipped and munched these inviting morsels, platters of food were placed on the floor before us. Our host knelt before the steaming dishes and began instructing us on how their culture eats their food, which in this case consisted of several flavourful curried stews and aromatic rice.
Only the right hand is used for eating. The host deftly scooped some rice and stew into the palm of his right hand and kneaded it together into a ball using his palm and his fingers. So skillful and practiced was he with this single-handed action that not one grain of rice fell to the floor. After what was only seconds of forming the ball in his fingers, he was able to mould it into a shape that held together so he could pop it into his mouth.
Using only one hand to eat grew out of a desire to avoid contaminating food. The right hand would be used for food preparation and eating while the left hand would be reserved for activities considered ‘unclean’.
We attempted the “rice ball” technique with varying success. Most of us resorted to knives and forks to finish our meal.
Our host joked that kneeling limits the tendency to overeat. When your knees start to hurt, it’s time to push yourself away from the food. A built-in diet plan.
Eating, for the Emirate people, is a social activity. Sharing food together, no matter where or with whom, is one of the communal traditions that binds their culture together.
Despite the lesson in eating etiquette, there was never a time in my visit throughout Dubai and Abu Dhabi when using my left hand, or both hands, to eat ever drew criticism. If you were to observe an Emirate eating, you would see they adhere to right-handed eating very consistently. Having learned and practiced this technique from birth, it’s an automatic response they don’t even think about. Like all other places in the world, traditions are not rigorously enforced. Instead, they are treasured for the uniqueness they bring to a region and its people.
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