Category: Restaurants

Making organic baby food

Making Organic Baby Food

The benefits of organic food have been debated for several years but, until just recently no one was really 100% sure that organic foods really were healthier than commercial, non-organic foods. Research and studies comparing organic and non-organic foods have been more controlled, as well as more accurate, in the past few years and have proven that organic foods really are more nutritious.

Organic farming practices ensure natural soil that is free of harmful chemicals and full of rich nutrients. This is in sharp contrast to intensively cultivated soil used by mass producers.. Current research has proven a number of health benefits of organic food, including
– Increased levels of essential minerals, like iron, calcium, and magnesium.
– More vitamin C for stronger immune systems.
– Higher amounts of antioxidants that prevent several types of cancer.

Organic tomatoes were found to have twice as many natural flavonoids than non-organic tomatoes, significantly lowering the chances of heart disease. According to these new observations, just 2 to 3 servings of organic fruit can give you all the nutrients you would receive from the recommended 5 servings of non-organic fruit.

For more on the benefits of organic food please click on the link below this article.

What About Baby?

With all the benefits of organic food, you can see why it is the best choice for you, as well as your family. Organic foods are especially good for your baby. Not only is organic baby food more nutritious, you can feel good about giving your little one all natural ingredients that are free of the chemical residues from pesticides and fertilizers found in processed baby foods.

Making organic baby food is the best way to give your baby a healthy, nutritious diet and it is actually quite simple to do. Homemade baby food is also a less expensive and much fresher alternative to processed foods. Before you get started preparing your little one’s first organic meal there are a few things to keep in mind:
– Most infants prefer yellow or orange fruits and vegetables, like bananas and sweet potatoes. Green vegetables, like peas or green beans, are usually less appealing but may be blended with other favourites for a better reaction.
– Certain ingredients, including eggs, honey, and peanuts, should not be included in your child’s diet until he is at least one year old.
– A few seasonings can add flavour to your baby’s diet, but avoid making organic baby food with spices that may be harsh on her mouth or stomach.

Making Organic Baby Food At Home

Baby food is simply ingredients that are mashed into a smooth consistency to be eaten by an infant. Homemade baby food can be made from the same organic ingredients you feed the rest of your family and it gives you the ability to introduce your little one to many more types of food.

Before you get started making your own organic baby food at home, there are a few basic tools you will need to have on hand.
– A steamer and roasting pan will come in handy for softening fruits and vegetables.
– A hand grinder, food processor, blender, or even a potato masher can be used to make the baby food.
– A cookie sheet and wax paper will come in handy if you plan to make your own infant cereal.
– A cutting board, paring knife, and grater will also be useful in the preparation process.
– An ice cube tray is ideal for freezing small portions of homemade organic baby food. Freezer bags, small freezer containers, or clean baby food jars can also be used for storing.
– You will need freezer tape and a fine tip pen to label and date the baby food in the freezer.

Once you have all your supplies, you can plan your baby’s meals and go shopping. Begin with simple cereals made of toasted grains and then start introducing fruits and vegetables to your baby. Select fresh, organic ingredients, but beware of possible nitrates in organic root vegetables like carrots. Too many Nitrates can be harmful to infants under 6 months old so keep the carrot content low.

Peaches, apples, and more exotic fruits like mangoes are excellent first fruits for your homemade organic baby food, while vegetables like squash, potatoes, and asparagus tips are possible choices as well. Once your baby has tried a variety of single fruits and vegetables, you can start making organic baby food with a combination of ingredients to expand her/his sense of taste.

How to Make Homemade Baby Food

Making organic baby food at home is not really a complicated procedure. Start with quality fresh ingredients. Scrub the fruits and vegetables before peeling, cutting, and preparing them.

Boil the food with a small amount of water, steam the ingredients, or bake them to preserve nutrients. Once the ingredients are softened, mash, puree, or grind the food into a smooth, almost soupy consistency, adding water, formula, or breast milk as needed. Remember to strain mashed fruits to avoid seeds.

As your baby gets older, making organic baby food can be as simple as mashing a small amount of the family dinner with a hand grinder. The texture of the baby food can be less smooth as your baby grows as well. Salt, pepper, and other seasonings are not necessary, but herbs and spices can add variety to your homemade baby food as your little one’s taste develops.

As a parent, I’m sure you want only the best for your little bundle of joy. Making organic baby food can give your baby the healthy start in life that you hope for, with plenty of essential vitamins and nutrients that promise a strong immune system and proper growth. Homemade organic baby food is inexpensive, easy to make, and the healthiest, as well as safest, choice for your baby’s mealtimes.

How can Restaurants Reach Out to Community?

Restaurants are great places for people to socialize, throw parties or hold business meetings. Restaurants are the popular dating spots. Restaurants provide a platform for families to meet and spend some quality time together. The hosting of food festivals provides a way for entertainment that also adds to a veritable dining experience and knowledge of various cuisines.

Restaurants are no places you visit for just food. They are social platforms for community building. If you’ve finished your graduation, what’s the next thing you want to do? Or if it’s a birthday today or any occasion to celebrate, is it not a party or a visit to a restaurant that you’ll think of?

And how do you find the ideal restaurant that serves your needs? Say a birthday party. Search engines and review sites are the usual hangouts to find local restaurants that can offer special service for birthdays. With the Netizens sharing their real reviews on real restaurants; choosing a good restaurant is far easier these days.

A restaurants directory is a great place to search restaurants that suit your social occasion. User-generated restaurant recommendations are automatically summarized from a collection of online reviews from bloggers, professional critics and consumers; and this allows consumers to search restaurants based on their personal preferences. They spruce up the search for good restaurants by capturing the community vibe and social essence of existing online groups, and comparing these results to an individual’s search criteria; thereby delivering unsurpassed relevance with the broadest community reach.

The growing search engine technology is also helping local business owners track their reviews reputation online and capitalize on the growing trend of user-generated restaurant recommendations. Restaurants are hosting online services giving users an easy access to their menus, rates, services like home delivery and party arrangements.

People can find out what others are saying about a restaurant before they choose to eat there. With the web full of restaurant recommendations and reviews based on the diner’s experience – hunting for restaurant reviews has surely become the first step while choosing a restaurant. Restaurant search engines like BooRah have an algorithm that captures this wisdom of crowds to bring it back to the users.

With user-generated reviews, people can make an informed decision. Say you read ten reviews about a restaurant, of which eight are very good and only two user reviewers show dissatisfaction; it still assures that you are more than likely to have found a good restaurant recommendation. BooRah’s semantic scoring engine analyses what people have written and generates specific scores for food, service and ambience from their sentiments.

Moreover user-generated content is more of a continuous process. A diner reads reviews and chooses a restaurant based on the community opinion. And whatever the diner experiences in the restaurant’s food, service and ambience is back on the net as yet another review. The restaurant search engines encourage the community to write their own review, rate restaurants and submit updated information about local restaurants. In this way, local restaurant patrons help to keep the information current and can post their opinions about their dining experiences.

Restaurants and communities are interrelated. Restaurants provide a great social spot for people and people in return blog or write reviews on their restaurant dining experiences which adds to the information of the community at large.

Binge Eating Disorder – Symptoms and Causes

Binge eating also occurs in another eating disorder called bulimia nervosa. Persons with bulimia nervosa, however, usually purge, fast, or do strenuous exercise after they binge eat. Purging means vomiting or using a lot of diuretics (water pills) or laxatives to keep from gaining weight. Fasting is not eating for at least 24 hours. Strenuous exercise, in this case, means exercising for more than an hour just to keep from gaining weight after binge eating. Purging, fasting, and overexercising are dangerous ways to try to control your weight.

Binge eating disorder is a newly recognized condition that probably affects millions of Americans. People with binge eating disorder frequently eat large amounts of food while feeling a loss of control over their eating. This disorder is different from binge-purge syndrome (bulimia nervosa) because people with binge eating disorder usually do not purge afterward by vomiting or using laxatives.

Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder

When you have binge-eating disorder, sometimes called compulsive overeating, you regularly eat excessive amounts of food (binge). A binge is considered eating a larger amount of food than most people would eat under similar situations. For instance, you may eat 10,000 to 20,000 calories worth of food during a binge, while someone following a normal diet may eat 1,500 to 3,000 calories in a day.

Children and teens who sometimes eat a lot don’t necessarily have binge eating disorder. Kids can have huge appetites, especially during growth spurts, when they need more nutrients to fuel their growing bodies. So it can be difficult to determine whether a child has binge eating disorder. But several signs distinguish someone who binge eats from someone with a “healthy appetite.”

Binge eating symptoms are also present in bulimia nervosa. The formal diagnosis criteria are similar in that subjects must binge at least twice per week for a minimum period of three months. Unlike in bulimia, those with BED do not purge, fast or engage in strenuous exercise after binge eating. Additionally, bulimics are typically of normal weight, are underweight but have been overweight before, or slightly overweight, whereas those with binge eating disorder are typically overweight or obese.

Causes of Binge Eating Disorder

There is no single cause for eating disorders. Although concerns about weight and body shape play a role in all eating disorders, the actual cause of these disorders appear to result from many factors, including cultural and family pressures and emotional and personality disorders. Genetics and biologic factors may also play a role.

The causes of binge eating disorder are still unknown. Up to half of all people with binge eating disorder have a history of depression. Whether depression is a cause or effect of binge eating disorder is unclear. It may be unrelated. Many people report that anger, sadness, boredom, anxiety or other negative emotions can trigger a binge episode.
Impulsive behavior and certain other psychological problems may be more common in people with binge eating disorder.

Biological vulnerability may play a role in developing binge-eating disorder. Both genes and brain chemicals may be involved. In addition, researchers are studying appetite regulation of the central nervous system for clues, along with gastrointestinal changes that might shed light on causes.

Certain behaviors and emotional problems are more common in people with binge eating disorder. These include abusing alcohol, acting quickly without thinking (impulsive behavior), not feeling in charge of themselves, not feeling a part of their communities, and not noticing and talking about their feelings.

The Dining Experience of the Restaurant Toronto

Toronto has everything when it comes to the available cuisines; for instance, the Toronto Restaurants can provide their customers with international menus and the whole dining experience will thus be transformed into a memorable and pleasant one. The restaurants of this city can be categorized by using their cuisines and prices but they can also be considered according to their main features and presentation. Most of the Toronto restaurants will serve seafood, chicken, catfish, steaks and other delicacies that may be very tempting for almost every visitor and food lover.

The menus are prepared in order to meet all the demands coming from the visitors and clients and one of the most attracting features of these restaurants is the fact that kids’ menus are also available. These kids’ menus are comprehensive enough thus transforming the restaurant into a family type one; the restaurants have focused their attention ion these special kid’s menu thus becoming a true family delight.

Just like other Canadian cities, the restaurants in Toronto have decided to change their offers; therefore, new concepts have come along n order to attract more potential clients. These concepts are revolving around a particular theme thus strengthening the customer base. Some food specialties were introduced on the main menus of the Toronto Restaurants but these are some restaurants that are mainly focused on the ambience features.

These patterns were transformed in order to become real and unique selling propositions that may be very tempting for every customer. For instance, one may discover that there are many restaurants that are mixing the traditional features with the more modern ones; one may also experience the quite classy fusion that combines the supper club vibe with the rustic cuisine. Creative dishes have been designed in order to attract more customers to a particular restaurant; one may also take into account that reservations may not be highly necessary when planning to dine at a Restaurant Toronto.

These reservations are not to be regarded as the main norm because you can actually dine at a restaurant without needing them. People can get seats quite promptly without having to worry about prior reservations. But if you want to avoid the constant worries especially when there a lot of people in town, you may consider these reservations in order to avoid the mad rush; therefore, the reservations can be used as a sort of safer bets in order to make sure you are going to dine at your favorite restaurant.

Toronto is famous for its restaurants, fine cuisine and casual eateries; classis ambience and multiple cuisines are mixed in this city and this mixture s likely to satisfy everyone’s taste buds because it was created in order to address various demands. Every food lover will be delighted to discover the restaurants from Toronto because this city has a lot to offer to each of its potential visitors. This city is quite bustling when it comes to its cuisine and restaurants and these features are to be taken into account when planning your future holiday in Toronto.

You have to leave aside all your worries because the Toronto chefs are trained in order to satisfy all the taste buds. The restaurant employees will also be required to cook the food in a particular manner in order to avoid loosing its qualities and nutritional balances. The Toronto Restaurants place a great value on the natural ingredients; for instance, the vegetables, fruits and meat will be used in their fresh state in order to avoid spoiling the food.

But if you are trying to control a particular health problem, you will have to make a little research in order to find out what restaurant is going to work in your case. You will have to choose only the restaurants that may provide you with a fighting chance; you should not worry about this aspect either because most of the Toronto Restaurants are likely to be loaded with fresh ingredients such as fruits and vegetables.

The slow food movement explained

Slow Food: The answer to a fast life

Contrary to what the name implies, the Slow Food Movement is not wholly about eating snails and turtles, nor is it about having lousy service at a restaurant. Instead, it is an anti-fast food movement, a grassroots international campaign to slow down and preserve the pleasure of enjoying food.

The concept of eco-gastronomy, or the relationship between what we eat and our environment, is the driving force behind the movement, founded in 1986 by Carlo Petrini. The Slow Food Movement simply strives to keep food good, clean, and fair:

GOOD: Slow Food should taste good. Supporters of the movement believe that we must learn how to taste food again by awakening our senses to what we are eating: the textures, flavors, and scents. We can learn this from various food experts and from sharing with one another. The Slow Food Movement has several venues for food appreciation education. The most basic is a convivium, or a local chapter of the movement. These groups meet together and participate in various activities to enhance understanding and knowledge in the community. Taste Workshops are held at larger events, and feature experts who teach tasting and pairing of food and drink. The Slow Food Movement even has its own university: The University of Gastronomic Science, to unite the study of science and food.

Good food also comes from our cultural heritage, and a major focus of the movement is preserving these food traditions. Enjoying food in all its varieties and styles-from organic vegetables to artisan bread, heirloom tomatoes to handmade cheese, Southern dishes to Northwest wines-is an important aspect of the Slow Life. Taking the time to savor and share these traditions increases the sense of pleasure in life for families and communities.

CLEAN: Slow Food should be clean inside and out. This means that it should be healthy for us and for animals, and that it should be healthy for the environment. The Slow Food Movement seeks to promote methods of food production that are eco-friendly and sustainable. The goal is a network of sustainable food on local, national, and international levels. The Slow Life also includes taking steps to preserve and appreciate our surroundings.

FAIR: Slow Food is fair to the producer. Slow Food believes that the industrialization and mass-production methods of today corrupt what is good and pure about food. The movement encourages and supports producers and methods that create quality food. Events and networks are organized on the local, national, and international level to help connect those who produce excellent products with consumers. We as consumers are referred to as co-producers, because our informed choices can benefit and affect the direction of food production and consumption.

The Slow Food Movement is indeed a revolution on a world-wide scale, with a presence in 50 countries on five continents. Hundreds of thousands of producers and co-producers attend their international events, while over 80,000 members make up the many convivia around the world. The Slow Food Movement and its Slow Life have a unique perspective on making the world a better place to live. It is a movement that is coming-slowly-to a table near you.

Types of therapy for eating disorders

Size zero is the new hot and trendy fashion for today and if you’re one of the girls who wear this type of size, you have to take concern from an eating disorder called anorexia and bulimia, really? Are all girls wearing a size triple zero are suffering from this? Well,just models and actress, they liked it. Not to mention the Binge-eating disorder, this is a (non-stop) rather uncontrolled eating habits.

There are various therapy for eating disorder. One should put in mind that eating can be define as a good habit and a bad one. Mostly, girls who wanted to be a super dooper sexy afraid to eat, but little did they know that a body who look like a stick, is just like a stick and a post. It’s too terrible to look at.

Anorexia Nervosa.

This type of disorder can be sometimes fatal. It triggers to more complications in some vital parts of our body, it can lead to cardiac arrest or imbalance of electrolytes and oftentimes suicide. Anorexic people are those who refrain from food gatherings,their problem is more than just a food,they starve themselves to the point of nothing to eat. The fear of getting fat overwhelms them. They said that there is no main reason that cause anorexia but in biology, it may genes, a hormones, factors that leads to this type of disorder. This can be treated through counseling and frequent visit to doctors, nutritionist and expert. Family members too, should play a main motivator to the person who suffering from this. If this will diagnose early, it’s better. Mostly, they are treated as outpatient but some needs hospitalization to watched out their weight. Psychotherapy which dealing with emotional issues is one way to help them;group therapy session, but what more important is the nutritionist, to advice the patient about the proper diet and eating habits.

Bulimia Nervosa.

Another kind of eating dis-order where a person eats a lot of food in a short span of time, and take something, a pills or thrown up the food she/he eat to prevent from gaining weight. This person will do every possible ways, like she eat but exercise a lot to think that what she/he may eat may reduced by exercising or take a pills to prevent from gaining weight. Sometimes, they eat little or nothing at all. Mostly, this happen to a Caucasian female who’s affected by their culture, families, lifestyle changes. If your family suffer from bulimia, there’s a hint that youngsters will feel the same. This can be treated by a therapist, cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy,family therapy, supportive-expressive psychotherapy and physician is needed to treat this type of disorder.

Binge Eating Disorder.

This type resembles from bulimia but unlike bulimia, they eat a lot but do not purge their bodies of excess food. Uncontrolled eating or binging characterized as an eating disorder, they feel that when they start eating they can’t refrain themselves from the food, they won’t stop unless they are comfortably full. Sufferers from this disorder has a history of weight fluctuation and they are often obese, it is said that 30 percent of this people, shows that those who participate in medical supervised weight control programs suffer from this type of disorder. This can be treated if diagnosed early. Family and friends who supported them plays an important role in assessing this kind of problem. Nutritionist and physician might be needed to solved this type of problem.

Eating disorder can be solved. There are many therapist and other help self method to treat with this kind of disorder. If this will diagnosed early, the better. Our body is important, so we need to take care of it.

Restaurants in Pune: the Best Place to Experience Great Pleasure

Since Pune refers to the cultural and educational center of India, every year thousands of people step into this city to fulfill their dreams. In fact, this city is rich in every aspect; be it culture or education, this city has a lot of wonders to amaze every visitor. This city is also famous for its exotic tourist places and supreme restaurants; these restaurants not only serve the great taste of Indian cuisine but also delight your tongue with continental and Italian flavor. The biggest specialty of restaurants in Pune is that every restaurant serves its own different flavors; moreover, you will observe that in Pune each restaurant possess an ambience and personality of its own.

This city always welcomes everyone with open arms and provides him or her with every possible luxury and taste. In fact, some restaurants in Pune are incredibly good; one can never imagine such hospitality and services even in restaurants of metro cities. There are n numbers of restaurants and cafes that serve pure flavor of Maharashtra, their menu include every sweet and sour taste of this state. If you are not comfortable with Maharashtrian food then also you can find the perfect taste of your region and sate with these restaurants. For people, who come to visit this city all the way from abroad, having food in restaurants in Pune can be the most memorable moment. Since international tourists get food according to their taste, they really praise this city and its restaurant a lot.

So what if your kids do not like Indian food? They can also enjoy every aspect of this city and can make their trip most happening and mouthwatering as there are many fast food centers like McDonald’s, Pizza Huts and Domino to delight them. If you are worried about the exact location of these restaurants, then you can get a comprehensive idea about restaurants in Pune through internet. Since these restaurants also offer home delivery services, you can also enjoy their delicious cuisine without stepping out of your hotel. You just need to search for the available list of these restaurants as with this list, you will also find links to browse their own websites. By following these links you can get comprehensive idea about these restaurants including menu, rates and delivery modes.

However, by this way you can miss the exotic environment of these restaurants but as it seems to be quite convenient this can be kept as an alternative. In fact, no other place in India can beat the hospitality and services of restaurants in Pune. These restaurants also offer golfing, tennis, racquets and swimming to pass the idle hours; these restaurants are not only the perfect way to unwind on a weekend but also the great place to spend a romantic and quiet evening. However, some of these restaurants take their time to serve up but the food is really worth waiting. Therefore, do not restrain yourself anymore and visit this city to delight your tongue with a large variety of mouthwatering cuisines.

Teen advice: How to tell if you have an eating disorder

You might be surprised to find out that weight and eating disorders don’t always go hand in hand.

First of all, as a teen your weight will naturally fluctuate as you grow.

Eating disorders fall under a category of diagnosis’s that can affect your health and well being.

Adults and teens can be over or under weight and still not have an eating disorder. Or, they can be of normal weight and have all the characteristics of an eating disorder.

If you suspect that your eating habits are interfering with your life, then your instincts are talking to you.

These are early warnings only you will know about:

1)You start eating in solitude.

You might feel that people are watching or judging the way you eat or how much you eat.

Eventually, you excuse yourself from the dinner table only to eat later in your room alone, or sneak downstairs for a midnight meal.

2)You start hiding food.

This is called hording. You might find that you are buying or stealing food then tucking it away for later consumption when you’re alone.

The main thing is that you will feel sneaky or guilty, but don’t think it’s a big deal because you think you are in control while the food piles up.

3)You eat to extremes.

There are three extremes when it comes to eating disorders.

You can be really hungry and refuse to eat, at least until you can control the situation, like being alone in your car.

Or, you could be really nervous, upset, or just had a bad day, so you binge. This means you eat a lot of food in a short period. People usually binge on the food they’ve horded because they know what they’re doing is wrong and they don’t want anybody to find out.

Then, there are people who binge until they are so full they vomit. There are also people who binge and force themselves to vomit. Either way, people who do this describe the feeling of getting rid of the food as a release of tension.

4)You find yourself lying about your eating habits.

It’s only a matter of time before people notice you’re not eating, or not eating in front of them.

At first you might try to show them that you’re eating, but eventually the anxiety of eating for show will drive you to start lying.

“I ate before” , ” I’ll eat later”, and “I’m not hungry right now” may not feel like lying, but in your heart you know you are losing control, and no matter what your method of extreme eating is, it’s getting harder to satisfy the control.

Most eating disorders are about control. It may be that you’re controlling feelings of anger, or sadness. You could be trying to control the people around you by controlling your body and what you put into it.

But for what ever reason, know that by taking action and getting help you are taking control and fighting for your body and your health.

Talk to your parents. If they are in denial (which sometimes happens) go to a trusted adult such as a school or camp nurse, counselor, or you can call your pediatrician or doctor.

There are many treatment options available, especially if you are ready and willing to participate in your care.

For more information and support:

http://www.anad.org (the association of anorexia nervosa and associated disorders)

http://www.aedweb.org (the academy of eating disorders)

Get in touch with someone today. It will change your life and put you back in charge.

Overcoming an eating disorder

Binge Eating

“You are describing to me, all the characteristics of a binge eating disorder, which is common among men.”

A what? A disorder? Seriously-a disorder? Wait!-what kind of disorder? Did I hear her right? Eating disorder? What was it she said? Binge eating? Is that it? Binge eating disorder? Wait!-this can’t be right, at all. First off I eat and I don’t purge and I don’t think of myself as fat. But this did all start with my wieght didn’t it? That’s why we are sitting here discussing my eating habits. She thinks I am underweight. I don’t. Sure I am slender, and maybe a little less than muscular, but certainly not underweight. Realizing my mind was racing all over the place and I wasn’t reacting, I finally said, “I’m sorry. Did you… Did I hear you correctly? Did you say…binge-eating…disorder? ”

That was how I remember the exact moment that I first learned of binge eating disorders in men. I was not so closed-minded as to think that men were exempt for eating disorders, but I guess I did sort of perceive it was more of a female problem. I suppose it is just more common to hear stories of young girls who have anorexia or bullemia, than to hear of men with eating disorders. However, that is exactly what my doctor was telling me, that afternoon.

I use the term “binge eating disorder”, because we never got around to diagnosing a specific disorder. In fact she said I was standing on a line between poor dietary habits and binge eating. For arguments sake, it could be said that I had fully developed the binge eating habits, but was not yet suffering the physical ramifications of that behavior. I almost feel guilty even talking about it, because I was not suffering from it to the degree that many do. Ironically though, it was the fact that my own condition was so mild, that I grew to have a great appreciation for those who suffer from severe eating disorders. After all the difficulty I had inovercoming a mild condition, I could not begin to imagine what it takes to come back from a severe one.

Bing eating by men is much more common than people would probably realize. I never thought of mens’ eating habits bordering on binge eating in everyday life, throughout all parts of society. Think of a father, a boyfriend, a roommate, a brother,…any guy you know, who seldom eats breakfast or lunch, but consumes large dinners when he gets home from work. He could be possibly be binging and not even realize it. That is how I was doing it, but never saw it that way. Not until I started to lose weight and get ill repeatedly one fall. Upon visitng the doctor for treatment of a head and chest cold, she started to ask about my nutrition. I hadn’t realized until that moment that I had really bad eating habits. It just never occured to me.

Proper dining etiquette in India

Dining in India is a communal event.One rarely encounters a person dining alone.While there are no written rules of etiquette for dining, everyone seems to know what rules to follow.

Traditionally,people always sat on the floor while eating. The western concept of the “Dining Table” was introduced only when the British came on the scene. Even then , it was viewed as a foreign concept, and most Indians sat on the floor. Today, with space limitations, convenience and modernization, the Dining Table is a standard fixture in a majority of the India homes. There are still some rural areas though, who still practice the old system. Modern or not, during ceremonial events, weddings, etc, one may briefly revert to the system of sitting on the floor to eat, just to keep the tradition.Sitting on the floor should not be thought of as sitting on the bare floor. Far from it. Depending on the status of the family, the diner may sit on a mat, a small wooden decorative plank , or even a silver plank.

In earlier days, food was served on a Banana leaf. Now a days it has been replaced by plates for everyday meals.The plates are usually made of stainless steel. China or porcelain plates are rare. One eats with their hands. At the best, spoons are given while serving sweet puddings in cups. Forks and knife are unheard of, since the common meal of Roti and curry or rice and lentil soup does not need the use of them. For this reason, rule number one is, always wash your hands before sitting down for a meal.

Water is always served with any meal. It is usually served in a stainless steel glass placed to the left of the plate.

There is a reason for the position of the glass of water. This is to indicate that the diner uses his left hand to grab the glass of water and eats with his right hand. Only the right hand is used for eating. It is considered very demeaning to eat with the left hand.

In a lot of households, even today , an elder person will serve the food to the diners. Courtesy and respect is shown to this person. Food is served in moderate portions. The server does not mind returning to serve a second portion. Serving a lot at one time is discouraged because it may lead to wastage, which is much frowned upon.This rule applies when seated at the dining table and serving themselves.

Offering food from one’s plate, even if the item is untouched, is a great offense and never done.Probably this originated in ancient times to discourage the free exchange of germs between people sharing their food.The theory behind this custom,is lost, but the practice continues.

Chatting while dining is okay, but speaking with one’s mouth full is not tolerated.

Everyone waits for one another to finish up. Considering the fact that food is served, this usually means that all are proceeding at the same pace through the various courses of the meal.

Unless it is a very special event, each diner picks up his own plate and glass and takes them away to be washed.

The meal finishes with everyone washing their hands with a generous amount of water.

Small children are free to leave at his point, but the older ones have the task of cleaning up the floor. The floor is well cleaned, washed and mopped after every meal.