/ck/ - Food & Cooking

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Thanks for responding. I hesitiated to ask the question, not so much because of the expected "poo in loo" jokes, but because a lot of Indians and Indian-Americans seem to have an inferiority complex and get angrily defensive. (Because the jokes get old, and also because they know that India does have certain sanitation issues.) But personally I find the old-country taboo quite reasonable, and I would not think anyone "backwards" for continuing to follow it.

Compare: When I was growing up, we had no problem with wearing shoes in the house, but I know people (not just Asians, but certain Eastern Europeans, among others) who find that practice disgusting. And even though Americans in urban/suburban areas are not routinely walking through horse & cow dung during our daily errands anymore, I do accept that the practice of switching to indoor shoes/slippers is not only more hygenic, but also more civilized, even today, and so I have generally changed my own habit.

The original question has a more general practical aspect. For example: When shopping at Indian grocers in the US, I have sometimes wondered if I inadvertantly caused offense to the qt3.14 desi-auntie cashier by unthinkingly giving her money or receiving change with my left hand. (Even though money is not food; it is filthy anyway.) Now, this is America, and she should not actually be surprised or offended. But still, I have entered a place which is almost like an "embassy" of a foreign culture. (America is not England; Indian food is still exotic here, not assimilated.) And if I can do a little something extra to show respect, something that is easy and morally unobjectionable, then why not do it?

Or would this be considered as silly as a white American trying to eat a fortune cookie with chopsticks?