Indian Etiquette

Table Manners (1)

Does Indians all eat with hands?
Though Indian cooking uses an extensive array of
specialized utensils for various purposes, Indians
traditionally do not use cutlery for eating, as many
foods - such as Indian breads and curry - are best
enjoyed when eating with the hand.
Eating with one's hands is a technique that can be
quite clean when done correctly, but may require a
degree of practice. First, the hands must be thoroughly
washed, with particular attention paid to the fingernails.
Having long fingernails in India is considered
unhygienic.

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 Table Manners (2)
Right Hand
The cardinal rule of dining is to always use the right
hand when eating or receiving food and never the left.
The left hand is considered unclean and to use the left
hand when eating is considered uncouth.
The reason for this is because the left hand is
associated with wiping one's bottom.
However, since Indian tradition also dictates that food
should not be jutha (contaminated with saliva), only
the hand that is not contaminated with saliva (left
hand) should be used to transfer food from the serving
dish to your plate. Also, it is advisable to use the left
hand if there are any cutlery for taking food from the
dish onto your plate.
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 Table Manners (3)
Beef & Pork
Almost all Hindus consider cattle sacred, and do not
eat beef. Muslims consider the pig unclean and do not
eat pork. Restaurants in more conservative Indian
states, therefore, don't serve beef or pork, and if they
are not on the menu then one would not ask for them
for risk of offending the restaurateur.
Other rules
In formal settings, it is expected that everyone will wait
for the host or the eldest person - the elder taking
priority over the host - to begin eating before everyone
else starts.
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 Indian Etiquette Tips
In India, shoes are never worn in a place of worship or in
a home, and you might have to take your shoes off before
entering a museum or historic monument. Because of
this, you might want to buy a pair of inexpensive sandals,
like flip-flops( ). This way, you can just slide your
sandals off and on whenever you visit those places.
DON'T wear tight clothes or clothes that exposes skin in
more rural areas. Exposing skin or tight clothes may
suggest that you're either too poor to dress well or that
you're shameless about showing your body
DO fold your hands, bow your head, and say "Namaste"
when greeting.

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 Vocabularies
Extensive: Cardinal: ;
Array: , Wipe:
Utensil: Bottom:
Cutlery: Dictate: ;
Curry: Contaminate:
Thoroughly: Serve dish:
Fingernails: Advisable: ;
Unhygienic: Hindus:
Uncouth: ; Cattle:
Muslims: ; Sacred:
Worship:
Priority:
Monument: ;
Slide:
Shameless : ;
Rural :
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 Reference
Vayame http://www.vayama.com/india-
etiquette
Etiquette of Indian Dinning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiquette_of_In
dian_dining