In today’s busy lifestyle workaholics prefers take-away meals to spare a little time for supposedly better/productive activities they believe so. Eating on commute to work has become norm in metropolitan cities like New York. Ham & cheese sandwich in one hand and other hand occupied with large coffee to kick start the day OR a slice of pizza & soda-can before calling it a day. Fascinating stuff! How people have developed habit of eating On The Go.
I remember going to community hall as a child for marriages and other community occasions and functions where food was also served. So 500 to 1000 people would enjoy feast in a traditional Indian way of eating called Pangat. It contains… Sitting down on floor with your legs crossed inwards and overlaying each other in front of your plate(Thali) & then you eat your meal using only one hand. Right hand preferred. using Left hand for eating consider as Bad-Manner for many orthodox Indians. (I can talk about its benefits and disadvantages, but that’s for another post.) Sadly pangat tradition is fading away rapidly because Amazon is always having dining table sets on crazy sale price.
As the time changed buffet dinning replaced pangat tradition but one thing still remain same, eating with single hand! In an usual Indian marriage reception you would notice hundreds of people standing on their feets, carrying 8 inch large dinner plate in one hand and roaming around whole venue – one counter to another, lining up in long queues to collect different food items ranging from salads, breads, curries, sweets, daal, rice and fries. These guys be having four course meal on single plate with little to no cutlery. All of these proves that pangat is still partly alive in Buffet.
United States is credited for Fast Food eating culture but despite its popularity and following among citizens, It’s highly unlikely that you spot an American eating lunch/dinner on their feet at weddings. Similarly It’s hard to see an Indian eating while commuting on public transport. Both the world have their own way of practicing “Eating On the Go” habit.
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