The joy of eating with our hands

Case in point: Sriracha Honey Chicken Wings

Happy Friday, friends! Today I’m sharing a recipe for sriracha honey chicken wings, which are sweet and spicy with depth of flavor from tamari and fresh ginger. The wings are ultra tender and get bathed in a brown butter sriracha honey sauce (which you can make as mild or spicy as you like). They’re outrageously delicious.

As you may know by now, I love eating with my hands, which is probably why I adore wings. There’s a real pleasure that comes with feeding ourselves directly. We’re forced to get intimate with our food—messy and primal. With a bit of intention, eating with our hands can connect us with our bodies, reminding us that here we are, deliciously alive (even with the Super Bowl blaring in the background, which is what inspired this recipe). Speaking of which, I’ll be sharing my other favorite game day eats in next Tuesday’s bonus post, so stay tuned!

Since wings are a food that one must eat by hand (at least, in my opinion), today I’m re-sharing an essay about the power of touch (ooh la la). The essay originally accompanied these  Parmesan Chicken Burgers (which, btw, would make for cute little Super Bowl sliders along with these Banh Mi Burgers; but I digress). Let’s dive in. 

Eating with our 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 from which it was pulled.  

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. 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 the 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 (or wings) as self love?

Am I’m arguing that eating a burger (or wings!) 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. 

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). 

Invitation

This week, my invitation is to connect to your sense of touch. Get in your body and feel your way through the kitchen. Get sensual! Invite pleasure! This is the gift of being in a body. Ooh la la.

p.s Did you miss last week’s newsletter? The wings would pair spectacularly with this dip.

Is it okay to just be good enough?

The recipe this week is for paid subscribers, whose contributions completely fund this ad-free work. If you’d like to hop over, I’m offering a flash sale of 25% off paid subscriptions, which ends today! As a paid subscriber you’ll have access to all of the content, bonus posts, the full recipe archive, and other fun perks. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support! ❤️

Sriracha Honey Chicken Wings

These Sriracha Honey Chicken Wings are adapted from my first book, with a few upgrades. The wings are first marinated overnight in a robust mixture of garlic, ginger, tamari, sesame oil, sriracha, rice vinegar and honey. They’re then roasted until tender and tossed with a brown butter, honey and sriracha sauce (omg). A shower of sliced scallions brightens everything up.