‘I heard Indian people eat with their hands still’: Oprah faces backlash in India over dinner remarks

‘I heard Indian people eat with their hands still’: Oprah faces backlash in India over dinner remarks. Oprah’s first meal in India appears to be a foot inserted into her mouth. We hope she used the correct hand.

CO2Insanity: Tired of the CO2 BS and all the other BS in the US and the world.

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  • I'm Indian and I was born in America and my family and I still eat with our hands. Obviously we wash our hands before the meal and after. I've never tooken into consideration that we use our hands. I guess it's just gotten so normal like an everyday thing. Oprah just needs to chill. It's not a big deal. Maybe you should have just brang along you gazzillion dollar food with you or should've done your research before you went.

    • Well, I am European American, and I LOVE to eat with my hands. I always have. My dad used to get so mad because I hated my fork (AND my chopsticks, which I learned to use as a toddler living in Korea). Even now, I will pick things off my plate with my fingers when I am at home, although generally it is more appropriate foods. I see nothing wrong with it, and as an adult foodie, I know that a lot of people agree with me. It seems that the tactile interaction may actually increase the entire eating experience.

      Oprah is ignorant, for all of her perceived sophistication, and I believe that she is a bigot as well. I met her when I was a teenager, and she was a newscaster in Baltimore. I was at the cosmetics counter in a nice department store, and she barged up to the cosmetologist and demanded immediate attention. I have remembered it all these years because she was SO rude and demanding. I don't remember exactly why I got the feeling that she was racist, but that stuck with me, even though I had no clue who she was at the time. She must have said something, or acted in a certain way though, because it was a distinct impression. Later, after she had her show, I recognized and remembered her - and never watched it. I was surprised to find out that her target audience was white women, because it was clear to me that she was not a "colorblind" person, at least not at the cosmetics counter of Hecht's a few years earlier.

    • point of order,
      Taken, never tooken,
      Brought, never Brang, unless you're a cheerleader tossing down the gauntlet of challenge to a rival band of teeny-boppers.

  • I guess the silly bitch has forgotten we Americans do pretty good with our hands too. Fried chicken, barbequed ribs or chicken, shrimp, kebabs of any kind, corn on the cob, who would be so lame as to try to eat any of it with a knife and fork?

    We use both hands though. The right, or left if you are a lefty, to get the goodies to your mouth and the left, or right if you are a righty, to grab more of them good groceries. Why does she think napkins or paper towels were invented for anyway!

    • I've been to an Ethiopian restaurant before, when visiting friends in the Washington DC area. Not only is Ethiopian food delicious, but it's eaten with the hands, along with pieces of bread, and served out of a common dish. I wonder if Oprah has ever been to an Ethiopian restaurant? And I wonder if she'd make that sort of statement about Africans?

      Indian cuisine is not monolithic; South Indian food is very different from North Indian food, for example. You do eat SOME dishes with your hands, but you also typically use naan (flat bread) or idli (little patties made of rice) to convey the food to your mouth. With all Oprah's money, she really should bother educating herself on the world's customs before she travels there and makes an idiot of herself.

      P.S. If I could pick only one cuisine and eat it for the rest of my life, it would be Indian food...any kind! Yum-licious.

      • Indian and Ethiopian food both rock! It's all about spices, and they do know how to do spices.

        • In Africa, they eat from a common dish and use fu-fu, a thick starchy paste to dip the food with ther fingers, then eat it all together. Did she miss that on her many African trips?

    • That's very racist and insensitive of you to mention ribs and fried chicken, you know......

      • He could refer to Tacos, which are hand food. Along with chalupas, sopapillas, grilled corn and more!

          • I once saw a woman in a restaurant eating her peas with a knife. I was so shocked, I dropped a whole handful of mashed potatoes.

          • I got into quite a ridiculous spat with one of my aunts when I was 8 or 10 or maybe an odd number of years old in that range, when we were all at my favorite pizza place. She made her kids eat their pizza with a fork and knife. So there I was with my parents, 3 cousins and their parents and one of my brothers. The place was always packed, still is. Brian and I scarfing pizza like normal people. Same with my parents. My dad's sister was always an obnoxious type, with me anyway. I closed my remarks by pointing out the 70 other people in the restaurant eating pizza with their fingers. Only ones using utensils were eating salads and pasta.

      • PsychoDad, I sinned against you and others with my un-Christ-like vitriol. I ask your forgiveness, Sir.

  • Oprah evidently comes from a long line of ignoramuses. She even got her name because somebody misspelled the Biblical name "Orpah" - who was the Moabite woman, sister-in-law of Ruth, who declined to accompany Ruth and Naomi back to Israel. Not a particularly good choice of name to begin with!

    Oprah is an attention whore and, as far as I can tell, a closet lesbian who pretended to have a boyfriend for many years. I guess that makes her a "bearded woman" - because she's no lady!

  • I heard muslims regularly shit on their feet and that's why they want foot washers installed everywhere. They should wash their sandals too, but they don't.

  • Wait till she visits a Muslim country and finds out what you do with the left hand......

  • A good thing she wasn't talking about American I...er, Native Americans, or else Lizzie Warren would have been all over her, so to speak.

    • I was kind of leaning towards no they don't eat with their hands still, they have to move them.

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