Consider this scenario: You decide to make eggs for
breakfast. What do you do? You would probably lightly grease the pan with oil
to make cleanup easier, cook the eggs in whatever fashion you prefer, and then
eat them with just a fork. Not if you’re Nicaraguan. If you’re Nicaraguan, you
would probably pour so much oil into the pan that you practically deep fry the
eggs, then you would drown them in salt, and eat them with a spoon.
Here’s another scenario: You sit down for a lunch consisting
of beans, rice, cheese, tortillas, and some veggies. How do you eat it? Maybe
you use a fork or a spoon to make a burrito, then eat it with your hands. Maybe
you mix everything together (minus the tortilla) and eat it with a fork. Not
if you’re Nicaraguan. If you’re Nicaraguan, you may very well tear the tortilla
up into strips, and use them to pick up your food to eat it (seriously, I have
yet to see anyone else here make a burrito).
One more scenario: You sit down for a dinner consisting of
mostly steak. How do you eat it? You would probably cut it up into manageable
pieces with a fork and a sharp steak knife, then eat those pieces with the
fork, right? Not if you’re Nicaraguan. If you’re Nicaraguan, you would probably
just pick up the steak with your hands and rip off pieces with your teeth.
 |
| The above statements are based on my own experiences here, eating with three Nicaraguan families. Also there was some obvious exaggeration. |
I’m not trying to imply that all Nicaraguans cook and eat
the same way; that would be as ridiculous as saying that there’s no variety in
the ways that Americans eat. I’m also not trying to imply that Nicaraguans are
backwards people who need to learn how to eat properly. My point is that the
idea that there is a proper way to eat, that there’s some way that you’re
supposed to act at the table, is complete bullshit. Proper table manners don’t
really exist, they’re just a social construct most likely designed by people
who want to make themselves feel superior to others. The difference between
“food” and “finger food” is basically nonexistent here (pretty much just soup).
That doesn’t mean that people always eat with their hands, just that they can
if they want to.
The definition of “politeness” varies hugely between
cultures. In this sense, table manners are a lot like language, in that nothing
is ever truly “right”. There is no right way to talk, there are only various
culturally accepted ways to talk; there is also no right way to eat, there are
only various culturally accepted ways to eat. If you’re telling someone how
they should eat in a certain social situation, remember that you’re not giving
them a set of objective facts, you are giving them your opinion. And if
somebody is being a stickler for “proper manners”, just quote The Dude: “Yeah,
well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.”
