Western Kenya and Ethiopia have something in common; they love eating with bare hands. It does not matter whether it’s eating injera or ugali. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I noted that they leave out the fork, spoon and knife and eat using their hands, even in high-end hotels.
They do it with ease, just like my lake brothers “squeeze ugali while eating it with stew. Ethiopians told me they have no time to celebrate events like birthdays. Why complicate life more?
Growing up in the countryside makes it easy to explain eating with bare hands. Our food was not “continuous” like injera or ugali, making it hard to use bare hands.
Let’s be sincere: using bare hands is versatile and relaxing, just like walking barefoot. Using forks, spoons or knives is not natural, but “class” forces us to use these tools.
History has also taught us that using tools is part of advancement and civilisation. Remember early man? It would look odd to use bare hands in a five-star hotel despite the price one pays, so we think.
Yet, Chinese and other Easterners use chopsticks, and no one raises any issue.
Chopsticks are even on sale in the supermarkets. Some hotels add them to the forks, spoons and knives on the table. Why don’t we use bare hands in top hotels?
The use of bare hands opens a bigger debate. Why do we adopt other people’s way of life? It makes our lives harder and more costly.
Making things sophisticated, including simple things like eating, adds to the price of service. Think of fine dining. We don’t mind paying more because of our class consciousness.
Let’s go beyond bare hands. Why do we have several towels in the hotel room when we normally use only one? Adopting other cultures is an indirect control over our lives and pockets. But we love it.
And entrepreneurs never run out of ideas, espousing products and services that make us feel guilty for not owning or using them.
In Africa, we rarely impose our cultures, from language to mannerisms, on others. We are forever on the receiving end. How did China and other Easterners retain their identity and culture and still conquer the world economically? Could our weak cultural anchor be our soft underbelly? What do you think?
