Art of eating!!!!

mansimahi · Mar 25, 2012

Sometimes i feel there is a conspiracy among the cooks and chefs of the world ...to invent and create the most yummy food but make it tough to eat it elegantly. Alteast in my case...i feel that they have conspired to make me look like a slob with all my favourite food. :rant

So, last night my kids decided they wanted to have chaat for dinner and we decided to troop out to the new Indian fast food joint that promised yummy varieties of chaat...:drool my mouth watered all the way to the place thinking about the pani puris i was going to consume. I decided that this time i was going to be as graceful and elegant as possible eating those panipuris without becoming a source of amusement to my kids and dh. :hide: I mean, try eating pani puri without the juice dripping down the chin...or try gulping the entire puri – juice, stuffings and all without it choking you. I tell you, eating pani puri neatly should come under the category of “performing art” – an inborn talent which few are blessed with. But does looking like a slob stop me from eating them??? NO. I eat them with gusto... the liquid flowing down my chin, my eyes watering – a stupid grin on my face afterwards...and dh and kids trying to smother their laughter.

Another favourite food of mine... vada pav. The first bite, one has to open the mouth so wide that a dentist can personally go in and check each and every tooth and do a root canal surgery too while he is in there. :bowdown Vada pav and burgers are similar in this. If one is not careful, the burger and vadapav would unravel itself and fall apart...and you have to quickly collect the stuffings and hold them securely with both hands and eat them or else you would end up with having just the plain bread/bun while the stuffings lie all around you....smooth and elegant...NOT.

Let me not start about noodles... I love noodles..but there should be a ban on eating it outside in public. No matter how good you are with fork, spoon and knife and other paraphernalia required to feed oneself, there is always the rebel noodle that slides out of your mouth at the nth minute and you have to inelegantly slurp it and suck it up. It is alright when my 6 year old does it with her Maggie noodles at home but imagine her mum doing it in public...... :hide:

God is merciful because i am a vegetarian.... imagine me eating lobster, chicken legs or crab...i would certainly be a sight to behold. Bow

stork82 · Mar 25, 2012

Nice post! Keep'em coming!

chitu · Mar 25, 2012

so cute

shyamala1234 · Mar 25, 2012

Dear Mansimahi,

You are right. Some foods are tasty when we eat but difficult eating in public.Eating panipuri is a challenge. I tried once or twice but failed.Sitaphal is difficult to eat in front of others. Problem with noodles also. Using a fork and knife is always a challenge.They give it along with Dosai like dishes also abroad. But how to eat a dosai with fork and knife?

iyerviji · Mar 25, 2012

Mansi dear you brought a smile on my face with your post. A cute post in which you have frankly come out about eating pani puri, vada pav and noodles. I thought I only have problem eating them but good to know I have company. Like your open mind of telling things.

Balajee · Mar 25, 2012

Paani poori is a street food and no one gives a damn about the elegence and grace of eating it. Part of the fun is getting dirty eating it. The problem with vada pav one of my favourites is that it is smothered with chutney that makes the bun soggy and leads to it breaking up. Noodles Maggior otherwise, should be eaten at home and not at the roadside. And eating noodles are not meant to be a show of elegance either. Crab and lobster are fine as long as the meat is not served in the shell But if you ever become a non-veg dont' try to sstruggle with forks and spoons while eating a chlcken leg. The only sensible way to eat it is hold it in your hand and just chomp it away to glory.

Cheeniya · Mar 25, 2012

Dear Mansi
You write three threads within a week and then take a month and twenty days to produce your next thread. Is this the way to entertain your fans? Can't you hear the loud whisper of your fans asking each other if you have posted anything yet? And thank God you did! And what a thread!

I have fairly a good control over how I eat because God in his unbounded wisdom and mercy has endowed me with a mouth that can put a hippo to shame. So spilling has never been a problem with me once the stuff is inside my mouth. It is a more secure place for food than a python's mouth. All the spilling takes place only en route to my eager mouth. There are several reasons for such spilling. It may be because of my shaky hands. It may be because of my impatience particularly if the food waiting to be consumed is a top favourite of mine. The problem is that when it is my favourite food, I always try to take a lot more than my spoon can possibly hold because anything less than that will be too inadequate for my spacious mouth.

But these are minor problems. My major problem is the chomping noise that I make. It is alright when I eat in a wedding dinner as the cacophony of sounds will drown my chomping noise. In a silent upmarket restaurant my noise can be heard three tables away. I tried several methods to contain it but without much success. A good friend told me that the noise was due to my habit of chewing with my mouth open. He suggested to me to keep my mouth closed when I worked on the food trapped in my mouth. When I tried to follow this suggestion, everybody was of the unanimous view that I looked hideous doing this! They preferred the noise I made while eating to this hideous look.

I know I cause all round misery when I am engaged in my favourite activity of eating. What is pleasure for one may be a pain for others. It is an inevitable aspect of life!
Sri

Arunarc · Mar 25, 2012

Sumitha you made my mouth water with your post.
Naming the chaats, which I never get here.. the way you put in..hahahaha mind blowing sweetheart.. it is so true that is what happens when we grab on thos pani puries and start eating them as if you will never get to eat them again and u keep pouring the water down your chin...hehehehe:biggrin2:
Noodle especially sphegatti they slip down your fork within seconds like worm crawling away to find it's place to escape from us.....:rant
Let me tell you something that happened with me recently.....
I was given a whole cooked yummy crab to eat....I was just :drooling looking at it as it was so yummy to look at, but the whole crab how will I eat with just one hand.......:bonk
my cousin saw my plight and told me my dear NRI sis you cannot use your wonderful fork or knife here attack on it with both your hands....I was staring at him....what????
Yes do it and you will enjoy it.....hehehe and LOL yes I did it I started having with both my hands:biggrin2:....it was like a small kid eating his mango messing it's mouth and hands.. but I must say that was a wonderful experience and before leaving that place I almost went everyday to that place to have carb for all the 3 days of my stay there.
sometimes you need to enjoy them as it has to be, only then there is fun, you wnt to have it in a sophisticated way you will not get the real taste of it.

Megalife · Mar 25, 2012

Dear Mansi
Thanks for this melt--in- the- mouth post!

elegant as possible eating those panipuris without becoming a source of amusement to my kids and dh. I mean, try eating pani puri without the juice dripping down the chin...or try gulping the entire puri – juice, stuffings and all without it choking you. I tell you, eating pani puri neatly should come under the category of “performing art” – an inborn talent which few are blessed with. But does looking like a slob stop me from eating them??? NO. I eat them with gusto... the liquid flowing down my chin, my eyes watering – a stupid grin on my face afterwards...and dh and kids trying to smother their laughter.
Click to expand...

I used to pride myself for being elegnant in consuming golgapas...in style and clean. So once we had some European guests and I suggested we go in for chat and panipuri (obviously to show-off my golgappa eating skills)...and to my disgrace and embaressment the very first one goes pop .......spilling the juice on me and on my dear guests.
Over confidence...huh?
Mega