Parmesan Chicken Burgers + The Power of TOUCH

Happy Friday! Today I have a new recipe for parmesan chicken burgers with an arugula fennel slaw. We’ve been making these on repeat, and when I asked on Instagram if you all wanted the recipe, it was a resounding YES. So here we are! These burgers are incredibly tender and juicy from a few secret ingredients, with an Italian-leaning flavor that I absolutely love. I hope you’ll love them too. But before we get to the recipe, let’s talk about touch. Ooh la la!

Eating with our hands

I have to admit that burgers in general are in my top ten list of very favorite foods, but it honestly, it’s mostly because I get to eat with my hands. 

Our sense of touch is often overlooked. After all, we’re constantly bombarded with visual and auditory stimulation. Yet touch is powerfully healing. A simple hand on the shoulder or warm embrace can connect you to others. Putting your own hands on your heart or stomach can calm your nervous system. Feeling the weight a warm tomato in your palm can connect you to the sun, while a cool carrot can remind you of the soil it was pulled from. 

The power of touch

In the Western world we’re taught to use utensils and silverware when cooking and eating, and while they have their place, they also distance us from our food. However, if you’ve ever slipped a child a morsel from your plate, you may know that feeding somebody with your hands can be an act of generosity and love. If you’ve ever used a torn piece of flatbread to scoop up a bite of curry you might understand how feeding yourself with your own fingers can be a source of connection and comfort. Eating with your hands is a sensual act and can be a source of primal pleasure (remember how we talked about the power of pleasure a couple of weeks ago?). 

Many cultures around the world have long traditions of eating with their hands. I studied in Senegal in college, where all meals were served from a large communal bowl and eaten with the right hand. There was something deeply hospitable and connecting—both to others and to ourselves—about sharing food from one bowl by hand. In this Wall Street Journal article, Chandrahas Choudhury beautifully describes the practice of eating with one’s hands in India, and how, according to ayurvedic principles, our fingers represent elements of life. In many forms of Christianity, you take communion by hand, and eating becomes a form of sacrament. 

Our sense of touch has power, not only in connecting us to others, but also to our own bodies and to our deeper spiritual selves. 

Burgers as self love?

Am I’m arguing that eating a burger can be a form a self love? Hell yes. When we consciously eat with our hands, we can connect to the full sensual pleasure of being in a body. Eating becomes an invitation to move towards a deeper sense of nourishment—one that’s not just physical, but also emotional and even spiritual. 

I can hear my dad snickering (or grimacing) at this post, as the man eats everything with a knife and fork. If eating with your hands just isn’t your thing, then here are some other ways you can connect to your sense of touch in the kitchen:

• Rub your fingers together and feel your feet on the floor before you start cooking.

• While cooking, play attention to how things feel. Notice the sensation of peeling back an onion skin, feel the coolness of a carrot, press into the soft pillow of a piece of bread, feel the juice of an orange, notice the snap of a green bean between your fingers.

• Before eating, place your hand on your heart and take a deep breath. Feel your body.

• Feed yourself as you would a child, with tenderness and love (even if using silverware). 

Parmesan Chicken Burgers

These parmesan chicken burgers are a delicious way to connect to your sense of touch (see below for veggie burger options if you don’t eat meat). Ground chicken (or you can use turkey, although I prefer chicken here) is mixed with granulated garlic, Italian seasonings, parmesan cheese, panko breadcrumbs (gluten-free for me) and an egg. The egg helps bind the patties and provides moisture, but if you have an egg allergy you can omit it. The burgers are served with creamy garlic aioli and a zippy arugula and fennel slaw.

Watch how they come together in this video. You’ll have slaw leftover, which you can pile alongside the burgers (and yes, you can totally eat the slaw with your hands too! 🙌). If you want to take things over-the-top, feel free to serve the burgers with these Crispy Oven Fries, perhaps with these Ice Cream Sandwiches to finish (omg)? No silverware needed.

(And yes, these are gluten-free buns! They’re made by Christine Caruso @dishingupthedirt and sold at Marbled Meat Shop, and they’ve changed my life.)