The author seems to have knocked on wrong doors to understand the significance of eating with fingers. Indian philosphy categorizes food into three types. 1)Sattvic 2)Rajasic 3)Tamasic. The categorization is based on the intrinsic heat or 'pith' content of the food and it's effect on the thought process and spiritual pursuits of the person. There are several books written on this subject describing each type of food and the acceptable combination of foods . The advantage of using fingers are 1) You will know the correct temperature of food (would not burn your gullet as can happen with cutlery) 2)With fingers the Food (especially Indian) can be mixed thoroughly with different 'dishes' for the proper taste and softness. As an example it is impossible to get the correct proportion of mix if a person wants to eat - Rice , Gongoora , Ghee with spoon! 3)Fingers also help us identify hard stones or other material in Foods like cooked Rice before we put it in mouth 4)Fingers also help us in weeding out aromatic supllements like (Kari Leaves) which are removed from Indian Food while eating. (Try that with Spoon / Fork) Last but not least ,remember experience of running fingers in Hair
