Becca wrote (I started a new thread):

> My mother never allowed us children to eat with our hands. We had to use
> utensils, if we wanted to eat. Her mother was the same way, and she was
> French. I wondered where this came from. It is still difficult for me to
> eat foods like hot dogs or pizza, without using a fork.

Ribs, tacos, egg rolls, and hot dogs are NOT AS GOOD if you don't eat them
with your hands. Sushi is MEANT to be finger food; eating sushi with
chopsticks is a sign of cultural ignorance. Many Indians will express a
similar feeling regarding eating curry with rice: It's *better* if you eat
with your hands.

I'd never heard of the Italian aversion to eating with their hands before.
Is the attitude taken because Italians don't want to get their hands dirty,
or because they believe their hands *are* dirty, and they don't want to
contaminate the food? (I note that hands are often the most pathogen-laden
parts of the body, so I don't mean any ethnic slur by the second part of
that question.)

Bob, remembering that kili uses chopsticks to eat egg rolls