Spoon And Fork

Three days ago I received an email from Ate Edith about a racist controversy in Canada, about the eating habits of Filipinos, and the way it was handled by Canadian authorities, especifically by the school system. It happened when a grade school student named Luc Cagadoc ate a meal using both spoon and fork. A school supervisor insulted the child and said that it was disgusting to eat using two utensils at the same time. Where did that come from?

It's absurd. I can eat with fork only if the food was spaghetti or noodles, and spoon only if it's soup. Why can't we eat with both? Why does such stupidity occur in Canada of all places? And that's not even the traditional way of eating in the Philippines as was mentioned; Filipinos (and perhaps other ethnic groups as well) use both bare hands for eating (after washing of course). This we call kamayan (using hands). Try to eat crab (freshly boiled and unshelled) with spoon or fork (or even both). To better savor the taste, it's best to eat using hands (without any utensils). Luc Cagadoc's behavior in eating is very normal, nothing to be ashamed about. Westerners should not be shocked to see people eating with hands (kamayan). If you watch a cooking show, a lot of times the chef handles the food (or ingredients)! It's okay to handle food directly as long as strict hand washing is done.

Now, because of the risk of disease, eating using spoon and fork is recommended. Since these utensils are readily available (folks in remote rural areas don't even see such utensils), why not use them? Hygiene is one factor, but from experience and observation, people who eat using no utensils come out stronger and healthier than people who used utensils. Perhaps the immune system is challenged in such cases. But that's beside the point here.

Let's learn about the cultures of other people and then at least try to respect them. God bless the Philippines!