These are the weirdest eating habits in Asia

There is a lot to write about when you are travelling. Especially when it comes to food. After all, we eat 3 times a day. More than enough moments to get used to the craziest eating habits and strange local dishes. Eating with our hands has become quite normal, eating sounds like smacking and slurping are no longer dirty to us, we can take spicy food quite well and we haven’t used a knife for months. These are the weirdest eating habits in Asia!

Eating with your hands

Rice with curry is best eaten with your hands. At least, that is what the Indians and Sri Lankans think. And I’m only talking about your right hand. Your left hand is unclean; you use it for other things when you visit the smallest room of the house. Now you immediately know why they never have any toilet paper available in these countries…

It’s sometimes said that the food tastes better if you eat it with your hands. You use an extra sense besides smelling and tasting. You feel the food. Eating with your hands without making a mess of the table and you own clothes requires some practice, but once you succeed it is actually quite fun.

Chopsticks and spoons

You would rather have clean fingers while eating? In many Asian countries, people eat with chopsticks. It might not feel like one of the weirdest eating habits in Asia, but it does take some practice. When I was served a bowl of noodle soup with chopsticks for the first time, I didn’t know what to do. But when I glanced at another table, I saw how to do it. You hover over the bowl and lift the noodles out of the soup, using the sticks in your right hand. Then you slowly slurp them into your mouth. Not too fast, because then you have a chance that the hot strings will splash into your face. With a spoon in your left hand, get some soup into the mix so you can rinse the food away.

Eating habits in Asia: Only rice

A while ago it was immensely popular in the Netherlands: a low-carb diet. Without potatoes, rice and pasta the kilos seem to run away from you. And so you would expect the opposite to happen if you eat rice three times a day. You will become very fat. Well, that’s not the case. All those Asians here stay very skinny and yet they eat rice at least 3 times a day. When we wanted to treat our guide in Nepal to something else than always rice, rice, rice he thanked us kindly. “Why would you want to eat something else”, he wondered in complete surprise. He clearly didn’t recognize this as one of the weirdest eating habits in Asia.

Hot tea

If you have ever been to Asia, you must have experienced it: that moment when the food is so spicy that you think you’re spitting fire. The only thing you want is ice-cold coca-cola, lots of water and a large glass of milk. Funny enough, the Asians extinguish the heat quite differently. They do that with hot tea. That is why in some countries, such as Myanmar, there is always a thermos bottle filled with tea on the table.

Never spicy enough

Speaking of spicy. In this continent, food is never spicy enough. With a flaming hot curry in India, you get some chilli peppers served as a side dish. You can chew on them. Would you rather have it a little milder? Fortunately, in most countries, they know that those poor tourists will start sweating heavily from that hot food. A simple “no spicy” is more than enough to get an edible dish.

Rotten eggs and other weird dishes

In Thailand, they love rotten eggs. Well, rotten? That’s what they look like. The black coloured eggs have been inlaid for months in a mixture of clay, ash and salt. This changes the egg white into a black pudding and the egg yolk into a blue-grey ball. If you think this is one of the weirdest eating habits in Asia, you should know that in Cambodia they love deep fried tarantulas; in China, they eat fried silkworm; in Myanmar, grasshoppers with chilli sauce are a delicacy; in Vietnam, they like ant larvae and in India, they throw frog legs on the barbecue.

Slurping and smacking

Alright, for me this must be among the top of the list of weirdest eating habits in Asia. People who can’t stand it when other people make a lot of sounds while eating, better remove Asia from their bucket list. In this continent smacking, slurping and burping are signs that you’re really enjoying the food. So don’t be surprised if a small, innocent looking grandma burps in a way you have never heard before, while at the dinner table. If you don’t slurp and smack enough, the hostess may wonder if you really like it. So throw all your table manners overboard and head on to Asia! By the way, in Thailand, they can’t really appreciate all the slurping and smacking. Just so you know.

Sharing is caring

In most Asian countries it’s customary to share food with each other. You will rarely see people ordering their own meals and keeping everything to themselves. When Asians go out to eat, they order all kinds of dishes that they put in the middle of the table. So everyone can taste a little bit of everything. That’s why the tables in Asia are often round instead of square. This makes it much easier to reach everything and chat with each other at the same time. I really like this habit.

Eating habits in Asia: Starter, main, dessert

In most Asian countries they don’t know the concept of starters, main courses and desserts at all. Even if the menu says ‘starter‘ and ‘main‘, that doesn’t mean that you actually get the dishes in that order. In most restaurants, you get the food in the order in which the chef finishes the dishes. Not surprisingly, considering that in many countries they prefer to have all the different dishes on the table at the same time in order to share them. For example, think of the Indonesian rice table.

Had enough?

“Finish your dinner, otherwise you’ll go to bed without a dessert! I can still hear my mother shouting this warning, while I reluctantly try to finish the last couple of Brussels Sprouts. In the Netherlands you finish your plate, otherwise, you’re rude. In some countries, like India, it’s exactly the other way around. If you finish your plate completely, it means you haven’t had enough yet. Chances are that the hostess will fill your plate up with a big pile of rice and curry again. Just for you! If you are really full, then it’s better to leave a little bit on your plate and politely thank her for the wonderful dinner.

Eating habits in Asia: Leftovers

In Asia, leftovers rarely end up in the bin. The next day you can easily make something nice out of them. We once had dinner with a family in a remote village in Laos. The next morning we got the food of the night before for breakfast. And yes, also our packed lunches were filled with leftovers. Of course, we immediately adopted this habit and don’t mind eating vegetable leftovers on bread the next day. That also saves money! This might not fit in with the weirdest eating habits in Asia actually. I really love it! This should be the standard in every country.

Check out this blog on how to avoid food waste while travelling!

Having dinner without a knife

I already imagine that you are looking for a knife at the dinner table. No, they didn’t forget to give you one. In Asia they hardly ever use knives to eat with. Knives are weapons and they should not be on the table. They eat with sticks, forks and spoons. The dishes are therefore served in bite-sized pieces. So there is nothing to cut anyway.