Going to dinner with friends doesn’t necessarily need etiquette. But you should follow them everywhere to have an impression on others. Especially the Indian Dining etiquettes you should be aware of in India. India has its own culture, its principles. And it has to be followed in India. So what are these etiquettes you should be aware of? Let’s get right into it.
Here Are Some of The Most Important Indian Dining Etiquettes You Should Be Aware Of
Here are the etiquettes India believes to follow while dining. So, let’s have the look at these etiquettes.
Wash your hands before eating
As part of common sense, you should always wash your hands before eating anything. The whole world follows this and India is not an exception. Whenever you are going to lunch, breakfast, or dinner, you should always wash your hands before it. This is done obviously to remove dirt and microbes from the hands that may cause harm to our body and have chances to enter the body through hands. This is the first etiquette you should follow.
Praying before starting to eat
Worship before the eat seems interesting. Let me explain it to you now. Indian culture believes the natural things as a god. The goddess of food is called “Annapurna mate” in Indian culture. That’s why to make the goddess bless us we have to say a special mantra so that she will bless us to have good food every day and we will never face a crisis regarding the food. So, when your plate is ready. Though it is a traditional etiquette, very few people follow this in today’s century.
Eat by hands
We Indians wash hands before they dine. We eat by hands without any fork or anything. And that is the etiquette here. If you think this is weird but the thing is that you can’t eat Indian food by the fork. The Indian food must be eaten with hands. This is another etiquette everyone follows here.
Share your food
Sharing food is not a big deal. Everyone does. But sharing food doesn’t mean sharing food from right the plate. It simply means that if anyone likes the sweet or chapati etc. then you can pass them. If you have extra on your plate then you can offer. That’s the sharing. You can offer someone to have the sweets.
Everything should serve once
Once you sit to eat, then the food items should serve once. Here is no serving one by one. All items made for the dinner should be served once on one plate. After that, if you want an item more then you can have it again. This is how the lunch and dinner work here. You don’t have the starters than the main course etc. Cause that impairs your digestion. The plate looks pretty when a lot of food items are served in the small bowls on one plate. The whole plate looks colorful and it seems like we are going on the journey of delicious foods.
Everyone should wash hands simultaneously
After finishing your lunch or dinner you should not leave the table and wash your hands immediately. Instead, you should wait for others to finish their dinner. Once everyone finishes then you are free to leave the table. Or one thing you can do that you should ask the members on the table that may I wash my hands, I have finished mine. So, they will allow you to wash your hands and then you should leave the table. This is followed in the villages and all but in the city area, this is not the case mostly. But the etiquettes should be followed.
These etiquettes must be followed in India and you will have a full experience of Indian life. The Indian etiquettes are related to traditions and culture. So, if you follow this etiquette while eating then you will have an impression that you respect Indian values and your behavior will not be awkward in India. Indian people are loving and caring, you won’t face any problem if you fail to follow these etiquette.
These were some of the most important Indian dining etiquette you should be aware of.
