Finger Lickin' Good

I have now been living Nepal for three months, so a lot of daily tasks that at first took time to adjust to, I now feel are a normal part of life. For example, every single meal here I eat with my hands, and yes, I do lick my fingers after eating. More specifically I eat with my right hand. If your wondering why I eat with my right hand specifically and how I keep my hands clean enough to eat off of, don't worry; everything will be explained below.

It is important to note that there are a lot of health rules that I am suppose to follow, and the both the Pitzer program staff and my host family follow when preparing food so that I do not get sick. For example, all the water I drink must be boiled for at least 20 minutes to kill all bacteria before I can drink it; all food dishes must be covered with a plate when they are not attended to so that flies do not infect them; my plate and mugs must be heated over a fire to disinfect them before I can eat off of them and I am not eating any raw vegetables unless they have been iodized. This means that I have to be very careful of what restaurants I eat at. However, following these health rules is a lot easier then they seem and I have been in fairly good health my entire trip.

Another important rule is that I wash my hands with soap before every meal and thoroughly dry them in the air. I must let my hands dry completely without touching anything to kill all lingering bacteria from the water. If water from my hands gets in my food, I run the risk of getting bacterial dysentery... After my hand is completely dry, if I haven't touched anything with my right hand, I can begin to eat. In Nepali culture everyone eats with their right hand, even if they are left handed, because in Nepal you are suppose to use your left hand to wipe your butt after going to the bathroom (we don't use toilet paper here, but I will explain that in my next post). Although, we wash our hands after going to the bathroom and also wash our hands before eating, it is considered and impure hand. However, after eating, your right hand becomes polluted and you cannot touch anything with it. There are a lot of rituals in Nepal which are polluting and purifying. The plate and cup from which you eat and drink, as well as your mouth also become considered polluted until they are washed. So after every meal and snack, I rewash my hands and wash my mouth, then wash my dishes. It gets complicated because then I can only turn on the faucet to wash my hands with my left hand, even though after I go to the bathroom I can only touch the faucet with my right hand.

Okay now that I have thoroughly confused and possibly bored you with eating logistics in Nepal I will make your mouth water by describing what I eat. Traditionally, Nepalis eat two daalbhaat's and a kaaja a day. Daalbhaat is a plate with rice, vegetables, lentil soup, and a spicy dish on it. Daal literally is the lentil soup and bhaat literally means rice. Kaaja is usually a large snack like flat bread and vegetables, flattened rice (like cornflakes), fried bread, a Nepali pancake, or something sweet and delicious. Most Nepali's eat their first daalbhaat around 9 AM and there second around 8 PM, with kaaja in between. After the second daalbhaat, if there is no electricity and therefore no TV to watch everyone goes to bed. I eat kaaja as my breakfast before school every morning. Typically I eat three rotis, which are flattened bread that my Aamaa, Didi, and I roll every morning and cook on our kerosene stove. I also eat either potatoes, a cooked leafy-green vegetable, cauliflower, or beans with my roti. I also never leave the house in the morning without drinking chiyaa (black tea). Then in between classes at school I have a chiyaa break with biscuits and peanut butter! And around 1PM I eat my first daalhaat of the day. On my days off, I eat every meal with my family so the order is switched.

When I get home in the afternoon I usually spend time talking with my Aamaa and Didi and then start cooking our evening daalbhaat with them. My job is usually to cut potatoes or put whatever spices my Aamaa tells me into the vegetables on the stove. The food is delicious! Typically my Aamaa puts masalaa and a few chilly peppers in the vegetables. Recently she has started to put ginger in our chiyaa and daal, which I appreciate. Every night there is a variation of vegetables and types of daal. At the kitchen table, my Daai (older brother) usually makes it home just in time for my Aamaa to serve food. There always seems to be the same fight between my Aamaa, Didi, and Daai at the table about how much food they each get. My Aamaa, like many mothers across the globe, wants my Didi, Daai, and I to eat a ton and take seconds or thirds, and we are always stuffed after our first serving. My plate is usually a huge mound of bhaat! My Didi always tells my Aamaa that she is full and covers her plate with her polluted hand so that my Aamaa will not add anymore food, but when my Didi turns her head somehow more food appears on her plate. My Daai does the same thing, but likes to add "give it to the dog, give it to the dog." This make my Aamaa a little upset and she then puts even more bhaat on his plate. Extra food does go to our dog though. Daai usually eats super fast and then runs up stairs to go to bed. At first I thought that he probably doesn't like being the only man among three women every night, but now I think he just is full and does not want to eat more because we literally eat a lot! So for those who worry that I am not getting enough food, don't worry I have an Aamaa pushing more food on my plate when I am not looking and guilting me to eat more when I am ukass mukas (stuffed).


Just to note, in the Nepali language there is a word for rice at every stage of its life - when it is a seed, when it is unhusked, when it is husked, when it is cooked, etc - which shows how important it is to the Nepali diet and culture. Saag is the term that describes all leafy green vegetables in Nepal. I eat a lot of saag, but sometimes it is lettuce, mustard leaves, spinach, etc.

While I have been here I have been able to get a burrito (which is something I craved in Turkey), Italian food, snickers bars, and a birthday cake. There are also a lot of different types of Nepali food I have tried, like chhuni, a flattened rice that gets deep-fried, and momo's, which are vegetable dumplings. So far, I have enjoyed everything.


Ramo sanga kannus! (Happy eating!)