Is it ever okay to eat with your hands at a restaurant? George and Karla Walsh set the rules, rebrand the world's worst food names, and Chef Vivek Surti of Tailor Nashville explains why "curry" doesn't actually mean anything.

George Duran and Karla Walsh open the fine-dining rulebook and start crossing things out. Which foods are you allowed to pick up with your hands — and who decided that? There's a list. It involves bones, buns, edible wrappers, and one very firm position on tomahawk steaks.

Then: the science on whether touching your food actually makes it taste better, how the fork went from scandalous foreign object to table standard, why China went a completely different direction, and the international cuisines where eating by hand isn't a lapse in manners — it's the point. Plus a cautionary tale about a finger bowl that mysteriously emptied itself.

After the break, the rebrand segment. Head cheese contains no cheese. Rocky Mountain oysters are not oysters. Imitation crab is not crab. Spotted dick is not what you're worried it is. George pitches replacement names, Karla judges them, and a strong case gets made for calling prunes "dried plums" from here on out.

Finally, Chef Vivek Surti of Michelin-recommended Tailor in Nashville joins to answer the Indian food questions people are too polite to ask. Why is nearly every Indian restaurant in America serving the same handful of Punjabi dishes? What does "curry" actually mean? Would he eat street food in India? And is it okay to pick up the lamb chop with your hands at his own restaurant?

Takeaways:

• Eating with your hands isn't a lapse in etiquette — in many cuisines it's the correct method, and there's research suggesting direct hand contact genuinely changes how food is perceived.
• The fork is a newcomer. It was condemned as decadent when it arrived in Europe and didn't take hold in America until the 1800s — humans have been eating with their hands for far longer than with cutlery.
• China's cuisine and its utensils evolved together: food cut into bite-sized pieces in the kitchen removed the need for a knife at the table.
• Restaurants signal permission. Wet wipes, hot towels, bibs, shell crackers, gloves, and finger bowls are the kitchens telling you to go ahead and use your hands.
• A lot of food names are actively working against the food. Head cheese, blood sausage, and imitation crab all describe delicious things in the least appetizing way possible.
• Sorghum is one of the world's oldest cultivated grains — gluten-free, drought-resistant, and used in everything from flour to syrup to biofuel — and George's only complaint is the name.
• American Indian restaurant food is overwhelmingly one regional style. Vivek Surti estimates 90–99% of it descends from Punjabi cuisine, largely because that's what British diners preferred and what first-generation restaurateurs could sell.
• "Curry" is a blanket term with no real meaning inside India. Ask an Indian chef to "make curry" and the honest answer is a question back.

Companies and people mentioned

• Vivek Surti — Chef and owner of Tailor, Nashville, Tennessee. Michelin-recommended, South Asian American / "first generation American" cuisine, tasting-menu only. James Beard Foundation semifinalist, Best Chef: Southeast. Located in Germantown. — https://www.tailornashville.com/
• Karla Walsh — recurring co-host; food and wellness writer — https://www.instagram.com/karlaswalsh/
• Charles Spence — Oxford experimental psychologist and gastrophysicist; author of Gastrophysics: The New Science of Eating
• Adriana Madzharov — sensory marketing researcher, Stevens Institute of Technology; author of the 2019 hand-contact study
• Maid-Rite — Iowa-founded loose meat sandwich chain
• Manwich — canned sloppy joe sauce brand (Hunt's)

Also referenced:

Journal of Retailing; International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science; Smithsonian magazine; Japan National Tourism Organization; MICHELIN Guide

I went on a date when I was in France.

Oh, gosh.

And this girl ate a hamburger with a fork and knife.

Oh, no.

She said she didn't want to get her fingers dirty.

Was there a second date?

There was not. Welcome to the Always Hangry podcast, where we break down the way we eat. The good, the bad, and the completely ridiculous.

I'm your host, George Duran. On today's show, is it ever okay to eat with your hands at a restaurant?

We'll explore the etiquette, the cultures that embrace it, and why some people still can't stand the sight of it. Then we're giving some of the world's most misleading food names, the rebrand they desperately need.

And later on, we'll speak to chef Vivek Surti, who's setting us straight on curry, Indian cuisine, and a few things Americans get completely wrong. Joining me now is the only person on earth who thinks every meal is fantastic, the wonderfully charming Karla Walsh.

I'm up for a good challenge. Thrilled to be here, George.

Do you eat with your fingers a lot?

Fair amount, yes.

Yeah. There are certain foods that you should be allowed to eat, right?

Yes, 100%. Well, we've all seen the controversy when politicians don't eat pizza with their hands or eat hot dogs inappropriately. There's just. It's a minefield.

Why is it that people like to eat with their fingers?

It's efficient. I mean, there's a lot of foods that it just makes sense to.

I mean, if you were going to try to eat a deviled egg with a knife and fork and do it in less than in multiple bites or something, it's just like this seems, like, inefficient.

I will never sit with you if you eat a deviled egg with a fork and knife.

Yeah.

I will leave the table. I'll just get up and leave.

Or like your bone in chicken wings. You know, it's just like there are certain foods that are designed to be eaten with your hands.

So wait, what do you do when you go to a fine dining restaurant? Even, like a tasting menu? And then you get the bone in chicken.

Exactly.

All right, so here's the list of foods that should be allowed to be eaten by hand at a fine dining restaurant.

According to George Duran?

Yes, that's correct. Foods with natural handles. Anything with a bone, like wings, ribs, lamb chops, especially fried chicken, of course.

Even those bone in rib eyes and those tomahawk steaks.

Okay.

When you get into a fine dining steakhouse, and you know how they Serve like the bone in rib eyes, and they cut the slices, but then they bring the bone just to kind of show it off.

Yeah.

That bone is mine.

Okay. Do you do it in the restaurant?

I do.

Okay.

It's the rule.

The rule.

If there's a bone, I'm eating it, I'm picking it up with my fingers, and I'm gnawing on that bone.

I think the kitchen staff would totally.

Respect this, like a vicious wild animal that I am. It's the best flavor. The best flavor is on the bone.

Yeah. I think that's appropriate.

Why do you think people love ribs?

Exactly.

All shellfish.

Yeah.

Yeah. I want to. I want to, like, suck the heads off the crawfish.

Yeah.

In person.

I mean, a shrimp cocktail, 100% french fries or chips. Yes.

All tacos and burritos.

Yes.

Period. That's obvious.

Yeah.

Anything with an edible wrapper, like egg rolls, stuffed grape leaves, empanadas.

Yeah.

And finally, anything between two buns, a burger, club sandwich, hot dogs. If it has two buns in any way, I'm using my fingers.

I think the only exception to that rule would be is if it's over the capacity of my mouth, it's ability to expand.

Have you seen my mouth? Nothing is over the capacity of my mouth.

There's some really tall burgers these days.

And researchers found that people who normally have a lot of self control around food actually enjoyed it more. They wanted it more and ate more of it when they touched it with their hands first.

Wow.

It also found that as restaurants have become more casual and even fine dining chefs have become more experimental, eating with your hands has become much more accepted, like you said.

Yeah, I think so. I've been to some fine dining restaurants where they're like, here's how you eat this.

Because it's like, kind of confusing or like, we suggest that you pick it up with your hands and do it in one bite.

The French, however. Oh, the French. If it comes on a plate, it's always eaten with a fork and knife. Always. Almost usually. It's a very French thing to say.

In fact, here are the weirdest foods that I Witnessed the French eat with a fork and knife. Pizza.

Okay.

Yeah. I've seen French eat French fries with a fork and knife.

That's really difficult, especially if we're dipping.

And it's French fries.

The only time that's appropriate is if it's poutine.

I've seen French eat fried chicken with a fork and knife.

Yeah, I could see that.

I have seen the French eat hot dogs with a fork and knife.

No. Swear in the bun.

I swear in the bun. Of course. How else?

I don't know.

And then one time I went on a date when I was in France.

Oh, gosh.

And this girl ate a hamburger with a fork and knife.

Oh, no.

She said she didn't want to get her fingers dirty.

Was there a second date?

There was not.

Deal breaker.

That is the biggest deal breaker. Hamburger with a fork and knife.

Infidelity. Fork and knife for a hamburger.

I said no. All right. According to Smithsonian magazine, the personal dining fork was once considered bizarre and decadent in Europe.

Okay, that's fairly recent.

Yeah. We've been eating with our hands and our fingers for thousands of years.

Right.

Archaeologists have found bone and bronze forks in ancient China dating back to the Bronze Age and the Shang dynasty. But these weren't found for those everyday dinner forks. They were more for serving.

Okay, here's the reason why Chinese never adapted the modern fork in their cuisine.

Okay.

Chinese cooks increasingly cut food into bite-sized pieces in the kitchen, so the diners no longer need a fork and a knife.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Genius. We should all cut our foods into pieces here. Even a burger. Cut it into pieces so I can eat it with a chopstick. Please don't. Here's another reason.

Meals featured lots of rice noodles, dumplings, vegetables, and small pieces of meat, which are ideal for chopsticks, too.

Designing their cuisine around their utensils. It's really smart.

Genius. And then Confucian philosophy also discouraged having knives on the dining table because they symbolize the violence.

Yeah. I mean, it could be. Who knows these days?

Here's how you can tell that the restaurant is saying, go ahead and start eating with your hands and your fingers. They have wet wipes on or hot towels.

Uh huh.

You give me a wet wipe and a hot towel. I'm using my fingers.

Yeah.

Period. I've washed my hands. They offer a bib.

Okay. We're at like a seafood shack.

They give you a shell cracker.

Yes.

You're using your hands already.

Yes. I mean, that's what it's there for.

They give you disposable gloves.

Okay.

Some of those, like, seafood places.

Yeah.

You can use your hands, of course. And finally there's a finger bowl.

Okay.

Yeah, the finger bowl. You know what that is, right?

Yeah. Like when you go to a sushi restaurant.

Yeah. There's some. A lot of Asian restaurants, there's African restaurants. And they give you the finger bowl. They put a little slice of lemon in there.

Yeah.

And you just dip your fingers in there to clean as you eat or after you eat. And your hands are always clean.

I think that's a great sign.

However, I once went to an Indian restaurant with friends. This is about 10 years ago or something like that.

Okay.

So they had a finger bowl in there.

Perfect.

At the very end of the meal, I look at the finger bowl and the water's gone.

Oh, no.

Somebody drank the finger bowl water. No.

Did you tell them? What do you do?

We all looked in shock and nobody admitted to drinking it.

Oh, my gosh.

They thought it was like lemon water.

Oh, no. I mean, they have good gut health now. Wow.

We also have our. Whatever we put in our mouths in there.

Exactly.

Yeah. Here's a list of international cuisines where it's tradition to eat by hand, even in formal restaurants.

Okay.

All right. Indian and Southeast Asian or South Asian. Across many Indian regional traditions. Diners use the fingers to combine rice with curry.

Tear the roti and naan into pieces for scooping.

That makes total sense.

Do you do this at Indian restaurants?

Yeah, definitely.

In the Philippines, it's kamayan. Do you know kamayan refers to.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

It's eating by hand. It's especially associated with communal feasts.

They put the banana leaves all throughout the town table and they pop all their foods there and you eat all by hand.

It just seems like so bonding.

Now, Japan, it's not necessarily known for eating by hand, but certain foods are firmly accepted to be eaten by hand.

Okay.

Sushi is one of them.

Yeah. I think certain bites that you're just supposed to eat really quickly, right. While they're as fresh as possible.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, they say that chopsticks are generally preferred for sushi. But eating sushi with your own hands is pretty perfectly acceptable, particularly at high end restaurants.

Yeah.

So here are some of the unspoken rules on how to eat Japanese food. Maki rolls. You know the rolls, the Hand or the chopstick is perfectly fine.

Perfect.

So you can literally pick it up with your finger and eat it.

Okay.

Temaki hand rolls. They're hand rolls. You obviously have to eat it with your hands. Right. Sashimi. That's chopsticks only.

I feel like that's appropriate.

I don't think you should pick up a sashimi with your finger.

Yeah, I do.

That's a little weird.

Could be slippery.

And finally, nigiri. Regular sushi. Both hands or chopsticks.

And the Japanese National Tourism Board states that when dipping nigiri, the regular sushi, you turn it so the fish slightly touches the soy sauce. You do not want the rice to soak that soy sauce.

I feel like that could soak up a lot if you were getting the rice. It's very absorbent.

God, sushi is like one of the best foods on earth.

I know. Are we going for lunch?

Why don't we take a break and go for lunch? Seriously, let's take a break. When we come back, we're giving some of the world's most misleading food names. The rebrands they desperately need.

And later on, how much do we really know about Indian food? We're busting a few myths about curry and the cuisine we think we know. We'll be right back. All right, we're back with Karla Walsh.

Karla, have you ever refused to order something just because of its name? Like, have you ever heard of a name and it sounds weird and you're like, I'm not buying that. I'm not gonna order that.

Ooh. I can't think of a specific example, but I'm sure it's happened.

It always does. There are a lot of food names that I think need to get a little marketing makeover. So here's a list of foods that need better names.

I can't wait.

Head cheese.

Yes, rebrand.

Despite its name, Head cheese contains no cheese.

It's a centuries old cold cut made by simmering the meat from a pig's head, especially the cheeks and tongue, until natural gelatin binds it into a sliceable, delicious loaf. I would try it once, I think.

Yeah, I would. I will try anything once.

Sorghum.

Sorghum. What's wrong with that name?

Sorghum.

Because it's sore.

Sorghum. You try to eat that.

I've had sorghum syrup. It's delicious.

Sorghum is one of the world's oldest cultivated grains. First grown in Africa more than 5,000 years ago before spreading to Asia and eventually the Americas.

It's naturally gluten-free dairy, drought-resistant. And today is used in everything from flour and cereal to animal feed and even biofuel. And the syrup that you're talking about too. And you know what?

We just gotta change the name. It's the perfect grain. It's like a miracle grain. It's delicious and it grows everywhere in droughts. It's gonna save world hunger.

I know, I'm in.

Change the name.

It's not sexy, but quinoa did a.

Good job with grains.

Quinoa is a great name.

Lovely name. Hate to eat it. Lovely name. Something about quinoa, but sorghum, I love.

Sorghum is delicious.

Yeah, it is. Rocky Mountain oysters.

Yeah, that definitely is not an accurate name.

It's not an oyster. Despite its name. Rocky Mountain oysters obviously aren't oysters. They're the testicle of bulls.

Even though they use bison and sheep sometimes, and even pigs. They're peeled, sliced, breaded and deep fried and have been a ranching tradition in the American west for generations.

I think people have probably ordered that not knowing what they're getting for many, many years.

Have you?

I totally knew what I was getting myself into. I've only had them once.

Oh, go on. How does it taste?

It tastes like chicken

Spotted dick.

Despite the name, spotted dick is a traditional British steamed pudding and not something scandalous, of course. It's made with suet flour and dried currants or raisins, by the way. None of that sounds delicious. Which create the spots, of course, those raisins.

Spotted refers to the dried fruit, of course, while the dick is believed to come from an old English word like pudding or dough, even though people really don't know the exact origins. Have you had spotted dick before?

I have not. It sounds kind of like bread pudding.

Yeah, kind of. It's just. There's something about it, though. Hey, would you like to come over for some spotted dick?

Yeah. The name is not appealing.

Blood sausage.

See, that's another challenging one.

Blood sausage is exactly what it sounds like. It's a sausage made by combining animal blood, usually from pigs, with fat grains like oat, barley, rice. In Britain it's called black pudding.

Great name. In Spain it's called morcilla. That's what we call them in South America growing up too. France it's called boudin noir.

Yes.

And in Korea it's called sundae.

Sundae.

While the name can sound intimidating, blood sausage remains a beloved tradition all over the world. And let me tell you something. I love blood sausage.

You're totally in.

Oh, my God. I grew up eating blood sausage.

Yeah.

And it wasn't called blood sausage. And I promise you, if it was called blood sausage, I would have never tasted it as a kid.

It was called morcilla, and it is the best sausage on Earth because what.

Does it taste like?

It is? Well, they make it with rice in South America and Argentinian cuisine, Venezuelan cuisine, they make it with rice. And so it's a dark sausage.

And when they grill it in all steakhouses, it has this deep meat flavor, almost like concentrated beef.

You just need to call it by one of its synonyms.

Right. Anything but blood sausage. Please. Let's change that name.

Yeah, that's a challenging one.

Do you think there's, like, a blood sausage board in this country?

I feel like you should have them on for the interview at the end of this podcast.

Who's going walking around with a blood sausage tag?

Exactly.

Toad in a hole.

I feel like that is a fun name, but there's a lot of different names for that, right?

It is.

Have you found me some synonyms? It's like an egg in a basket, right?

Yes, yes. There's a lot of different names of Toad in the Hole.

So it's essentially you cut a hole in your toast, you add an egg in there, and you kind of fry it on both sides and you have, like, the egg incorporated in the toast. Here's what Toad in the Hole is also referred to as in the United States.

Perfect.

Egg in a hole. Egg in a basket. Bird in a nest. Bullseye eggs.

Wow.

One Eyed Jack.

I haven't heard of that one.

A Popeye.

Okay.

And Gas House eggs.

Gas House?

Gas House Eggs.

Who's Gas House? Is this, like, a restaurant?

It's something you don't do when you're in public.

Okay.

Ants on a log is another one.

Ah, yes.

Yeah, it has a little bit of a, you know, a name that's kind of weird. And by the way, I don't see a lot of people eating ants on a log anymore.

I. I actually think it's having a bit of a renaissance. Like, we're having that 90s nostalgia. I've seen it on some restaurants with, like, some, like, bougie upgrades.

You know, like, they're using, like, tahini or something like that and, like, different fruits.

No one knows who invented it. And despite becoming one of America's most iconic kid snack, its creator remains a mystery. Wow. Do you like Ants on a Log?

I haven't had it for years. I remember loving it as a kid. But I do have another dried fruit that needs a rebrand. Can we talk about prunes?

Oh, my gosh. Yes, please.

I feel like it's just like. It's not a sexy name. Everybody associates it with something that is not very glamorous, but they're just dried plums.

Dried plums is a fantastic name for a prune.

It's a better name. Right.

Can we please remarket that name? Prunes.

Yeah. It's like you think of, like, grandma when you think of a prune.

Yeah. And delicious, too.

Yes.

And you incorporate in stews. It adds sweetness and bite into it. It's fantastic.

Exactly.

I'm calling it dried plums from now on.

Dried plums.

I'm going to the supermarket. Where are the dried plums? The guy won't know what I'm talking about. Dried plums, man. Sloppy joe.

Ah. This is. You're speaking to my Midwest.

Yeah.

And I made it for a client because they wanted me to make a sloppy joe.

What's the official chef review?

It's delicious, right? It is. So much. It's amazing, because the best part about sloppy joe is that it absorbs in the bun.

Yes.

And then. And it's kind of sweet, too. It's so good. It's not like a Bolognese. It's just. It's kind of messy, but it's very sweet.

It has, like, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and tomato. And you can make it with any ground meat you want.

Exactly.

And then you just eat it, and it's, like, so yummy. It's so good. But everybody knows it as, like, the Manwich thing, the canned stuff. Yeah. And you can't judge sloppy Joe on that.

No. Mom's homemade Sloppy joes are something else. It's like barbecue sauce tossed with, like, ground meat of your choice on a bun.

How could you be mad about that in the Midwest?

Do they have that in the diners and, like, restaurants?

Oh, definitely. And we have a chain called the Maid Rite.

Okay.

That is like, a traditional loose meat sandwich, which is also in need of a rebrand, but it's a little bit less saucy, but it's, like, chopped up and some spices. Ground beef situation on a bun, usually with mustard and pickle, and it's just like a classic diner treat.

Amazing. All right, we got one more here. Imitation crab meat.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Despite its name, imitation crab meat contains no crab. It's primarily made from surimi, a paste of mild whitefish, usually pollock, that's flavored, colored, and shaped to resemble crab.

It originated in Japan over 900 years ago. And I love imitation crab meat.

Do you really?

They sell terrible imitation crab meat here in the United States. So here is a list that I came up for better names for imitation crab meat.

Ooh.

Tell me which one you like.

Okay.

Seafood sticks.

I feel like that's pretty good, but sticks. I feel like it's close to fish sticks.

Yeah, I guess so. Ocean delights.

Ooh, yeah. Okay.

Okay. Faux King Crab...Faux...King...Crab

It's getting a little too close to tricky territory, but kids will love it. Enunciate in you're safe.

Ocean bologna.

Sold.

Got it. And finally, the artist formerly known as crab.

That's my favorite. It's so good.

All right, we got it. Let's call the imitation crab meat board and get that rolling.

Let me know when I can sign the petition.

All right. Thanks so much for being on the show, Karla. Appreciate it very much.

Always an honor to be here.

All right, up next, Think youk Know Indian food. We're uncovering some surprising truths about curry, Indian cuisine and what we've gotten wrong in America. Stay tuned.

Joining me now is Chef Vivek Surti, the chef and owner of the Michelin recommended restaurant Tailor in Nashville, Tennessee. He's here to answer all the questions you've secretly wondered about Indian food, but we're afraid to ask.

From curry to eating with your hands, we're setting the record straight. Chef Vivek, welcome to Always Hangry.

Hey, thanks, George. Thanks for having me.

You know, when I think of Nashville, Tennessee, I do not think of Indian food. Is there a big Indian population there?

Yeah.

I mean, we.

You know, Nashville has been a growing city over the last few years, but, you know, We've had a large Indian community here since the early 70s, you know, when there were lots of immigrants kind of coming from India. You know, Nashville, I think, definitely gets the stereotype, you know, for being a country music capital and hot chicken and barbecue.

But it's also an incredibly progressive and diverse city.

You know, when someone says Indian food, to me, you know, Indian food is really diverse and complicated.

Right. You know, India is one of the oldest cultures in the world.

On the one hand, the Indian food that most people know are the things that you would find in a restaurant. Butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer, samosas, These kinds of things.

When you look at India as a country, however, it is comprised of 29 different states. Each state has its own very unique cuisine.

And because of all those differences in geography and people and cultures and colonization which has happened, you have this incredibly diverse country where, you know, if you grew up in one of the states, like, you know, where my family comes from in Gujarat, you might not know the other 28 cuisines.

And the food that you find mostly in restaurants is, you know, inspired by Punjabi cuisine because that was the food that British people enjoyed the most. It's generally milder.

It usually has more cream and butter, which makes sense because they're in a higher elevation place where cows are, you know, more. More prevalent. There's also tons of wheat production there. So you see breads like naan or parathas and things like that.

If you compare that with the city or the state of Gujarat, which is where my family's from, there the cuisine is more vegetarian.

It leans into a flavor profile which is more sweet and sour because a lot of Gujaratis are day workers, so they put sugar in the food to give them energy throughout the day, but they always balance that with sourness.

Then if you go to the south, the southern part of India, which is actually where my wife's family's from, the food will be hotter there, you know, the further south you go, because when the weather's warm, people eat spicy food because it makes them sweat, and the sweat cools them down.

Are we seeing a diversification of Indian cuisine in the United States, or are we still sticking with the. With that Punjab style?

I think the majority of it, I would say 95%, 90, you know, maybe even 98, 99% is the Punjabi style.

Oh, that's crazy. Why? Why is that? Why can't we just move? Just diversify that palette and the recipes. I like the idea of trying spicier, sweeter Indian Cuisine.

The playbook for people who moved here in the 70s has always been, you know, let's make Indian food cheap, let's not make it as spicy, let's make it mild, let's put butter and cream into all these things.

Like, you know, Indians that came to America in the 70s and 80s and opened restaurants, their goal was not, hey, let me show you the food of my home, it was, I need to make money because I've just moved here and I have $200 in my pocket. So a lot of these restaurants, even though they might have 50 things on the menu, 90% of what they sell is butter, chicken, chicken, tikka masala.

I think what you're starting to see now in America are the children of these immigrants who grew up with the food that their parents made at home, but also grew up with the influences of living here in America.

I think it's given chefs the ability to be like, you know what, let's focus in a little bit more on this regionality and start showing people that there is so much more beyond that which we've always known.

Yeah, can we talk a little bit about curry? By the way, what exactly is curry? In your opinion? Even if there's no opinion to it, what is curry?

Curry, I think for most people in America is a spice blend. In India, the word curry doesn't really exist because it doesn't mean anything.

So to me, I hate the word, you know, honestly, because it doesn't mean anything. If somebody was like, make me curry, I'm like, I have no idea what you mean. Do you want chicken? Do you want fish? Do you want potatoes?

Do you want this? Right. It's just a very open ended word. It'd be like somebody coming up to me and be like, hey, can you make me sauce? Like, great, yes, I can.

What do you mean?

You know, you know, one of the biggest viral things that you see online and social media is the street food in India. And it's obviously shocking at times. And there are some issues when people watch that and they say, I don't know who eats this.

Would you eat street food in India?

I do.

You do? Even if the sanitation isn't all there,.

There are gonna always be very, very high quality street food vendors. Then there will also be some not so clean ones. And it's just kind of knowing this one I can feel good about and this one I can't. But to me, it's.

It's a way, it's kind of a risk that, like, I'm willing to take. And to me, you sometimes in those areas, you find some of the best food that you will ever have.

We were just talking about eating with your hands and the etiquette, especially in a fine dining restaurant. In your restaurant, for example, is it okay to eat with the hands?

So, I mean, certain. Certain dishes, we encourage people to eat with their hands. As in, like, we will not mark them with any silverware.

When it comes to entrees and things like that, though, we always. We always will mark with silverware just as a default.

But if people want to, you know, it's like, sometimes, like, you know, on the current menu, like, we have lamb chops. And so, you know, some people eat it with just a fork and knife.

But I'll also, like, encourage people like, I'm like, hey, don't be scared to pick up the bone.

Do you want me to tell you what my biggest problem with Indian cuisine is?

Sure.

It tastes too good. You overeat all the time. My stomach is just inflated, and I still want to eat. Tell me that happens to everybody. Tell me that happens to you.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, Indian people are very generous when it comes to hosting others.

And so, you know, it's like growing up, you know, I remember my grandmother was always like, are you full? And I was like, yes. And she'd be like, great, eat some more. And, you know, the generosity to.

To the people of India, where, you know, it's like, they want to share their culture, they want to do those things.

Let's talk a little bit about your restaurant, Tailor in Nashville. What kind of cuisine is this?

Because I was looking through the menus, and I wouldn't even know what to order, and I would just get the tasting menu and be done with it.

Yeah. I mean, luckily, that's all we serve is the tasting menu, so.

Okay, good.

But we call it first generation American cuisine. It's the food we grew up with in the place we grew up in.

On New Year's Day in India, in Gujarat, we have black eyed peas and greens, because these are dishes that symbolize good luck for the new year. And down here in the American south, we have a little dish called Hoppin' John, which is black eyed peas and greens and rice.

There are ingredients that we see in the American south, squashes, okra, flat beans, pole beans, that we also see in all of our Gujarati dishes. You know, memorializing our family recipes is important to me. It's also important that we hold onto what is important about Nashville as well.

Chef Vivek Surti the restaurant's name is Tailor in Nashville, Tennessee. Go check it out if you're ever there. I know. I'm going to check it out. Thanks so much for being on the show.

All right. Thank you so much, George.

And folks, thanks a lot for joining us on Always Hangry. If you enjoyed today's episode, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the full video and clips on our YouTube channel.

Join the conversation throughout social media media and visit alwayshangrypodcast. Com for episodes, extras and everything. We're cooking up next. Until next time, I'm George Duran. Stay hungry.