Chinese Using Fingers to Eat

This photo was damn susah to take, ok ... must juggle camera with left hand while eating with right hand.

Whenever a Chinese eats with her fingers in public, you can be sure of getting many stares and comments.

The Malays and Indians will usually be impressed and encouraging, whilst the Chinese will usually give negative comments which pisses me off. Here are a few recent incidences when I used my fingers to eat:

1) I was using my fingers to whack rice, thick Indian curry and vegetables at a small shop opposite my office. A few Chinese bitches walked in and when they saw me, they whispered in Cantonese amongst themselves in a digusted tone, "Eee... ah... eating with fingers."

2) I was eating nasi briyani with fingers in my office cubicle. One of my Malay colleague walked pass me looking puzzled. She said she feels awkward seeing a Chinese using fingers to eat because she has never seen any Chinese eating with their fingers before! Apparently I'm the first!

3) At an office dinner, I was eating with my fingers. A Malay collague sitting beside me and using fork and spoon said rather embarassingly, "You Cina pun makan dengan tangan, saya pula guna sudu dan garpu." (Translation: "You're a Chinese but you eat with your fingers. I'm a Malay but yet I eat using fork and spoon")

Isn't it a shame there are many Malaysian Chinese who are not open towards other cultures? What is so wrong about using your fingers to eat, even if it's not part of your own culture?

Living in a multicultural and multiracial country like Malaysia, these close minded Malaysian Chinese needs to learn to experience the culture of their fellow Malaysians.  

In fact, wouldn't it be an advantage being able to eat using all possible ways - fork & spoon, fork & knife, chopsticks and even with the fingers?

I wonder whether the Malays and Indians make nasty comments whenever they see their own kind eat with chopsticks.

Let me tell you a few reasons why I use fingers to eat:

a) My dad was a Peranakan from Malacca and so we all ate with our fingers at home, with the exception of my mum who is pure Chinese. If you want to know the difference between a Peranakan and a Chinese, go Google it. Too long to explain lah.

b) Eating banana leaf rice or any other rice dishes like nasi beriyani, nasi tomato and nasi minyak tastes much better when eaten using fingers ;-)

c) If I use cutlery to eat at home or in the office, I would have to wash 'em after use and I don't want to pollute the waters with the washing liquid. So I'd rather use fingers whenever I can.

So the next time you see a Chinese gal eating with her fingers in public, don't make any negative comments cause the gal could be me, and then my finger prints are gonna end up on your face when I beat the crap out of you.