Chewing Food With Your Mouth Open And A Runny Nose

[tigerfish]

it goes pretty much hand in hand with few other pet hates of mine, like picking ones nose in public and having a good old examination of the findings. a long with the use of a toothpick without covering ones mouth with a hand or a tissue.

but when it comes to eating food and chewing with your mouths being wide open it always puts me into somewhat of a dilemma.

i shall explain.

often i enjoy a good bowl of khutieow noodle soup, be it in the confines of my own home where the family business sells various types of noodle soups and thai dishes or just out in public when ever i fancy a bowl of something different. the problem i have usually starts a third of the way through any bowl or dish that a customer is tucking into. the mouth opens more and more and the sniffs become less sporadic as the hotness of the dish starts to kick in, depending on the chillie content.

me i usually like to take my time, dont bury my face into the bowl, often come up for air and the occasional sip of water to break a sweat and blow my nose as it does start to run a bit because i am quite partial to my khutieow being on the hot side of the taste scale.

what gets me though is the looks i get when i do blow my nose. id rather not sniff and cough out loud because as a young lad i was always told not too as it was considered rude with the threat of being clipped round the ear if i did. id never consider hocking up and spitting on the floor for the same reasons. as well as it not being particularly good for my health as i suffer with my breathing being an asthmatic. so i have no other option other than to have a good old blow or wipe my hooter.

it really does get to me though when i consider all the other less than attractive aspects of thai society and eating culture that i have been subject to in the twenty or so minutes that it takes me to polish off a bowl of noodle soup.

so what to do ? do as the romans do and sit there chomping away with my mouth wide open for the world to see like some kind of chimpanzee. whilst all the time letting a great big runny one drip down into my bowl. then at the end of my meal let one rip whilst coughing my guts up and exploring my two nasal passages with my middle and fore fingers to see what delights i can find. oh ! must not forget to have a good old pick at my tooth pegs too, before contemplating taking a dump.

forgive me, im bored and most of this was written with an element of tongue in cheek.

got to admit though, i do have some valid points though, hey ?

Edited November 22, 2010 by tigerfish

[smokie36]

Just throw your water bottle around a bit mate.....that will distract your audience and you can blow your nose without causing any offence whatsoever!

[Thongkorn]

My MUMMY always told me to eat with my mouth closed, But how do you eat with your mouth closed,

[johna]

You should not be looking at other people as they eat.

[Loz]

I was raised to chew with mouth closed. Anything else was considered very impolite. I don't think this was uncommon in the UK during the 70s. I've never dated someone who chews with their mouth open, answers the phone every time it rings regardless of where they are or who they are with, doesn't cover their mouth when they cough or sneeze and I am not about to start because someone says, " When in Rome....".

If You sniffed up your snot in my house, you handed a tissue and reminded that sniffing was not polite. Maybe this is all a left over from the Victorian era which took politeness to excess according to some, but I think it is basic consideration. Kinda like talking in a soft voice and not shouting everything regardless of where you are or who else is present. Common courtesy to all was the theme of my British upbringing and I don't see any flaws in it except in its projection onto other people. You can't control other people, you can only do for yourself what you think is right.

:jap:

[tigerfish]

You should not be looking at other people as they eat.

pretty dammed hard not too. seeing as in most noodle shops / thai food outlets, you are either sharing a table with someone you dont know, sitting directly opposite or very close to other patrons who are eating in the same shop at the time.

prime example of that would be, most khanom jhimme vendor outlets that you find in thai open air markets. where everyone is sat around the same table in order to share the large plates of vegetables that accompany the dish.

[JurgenG]

I was raised to chew with mouth closed. Anything else was considered very impolite.

Same for me .

My mother had a couple of golden rules, like the food goes to the mouth, the mouth doesn't go to the food. Also what goes to your mouth should never go out ...

I don't regret. It's easier to forget the "good" habits than to get them when nobobody ever taught you.

[473geo]

Just throw your water bottle around a bit mate.....that will distract your audience and you can blow your nose without causing any offence whatsoever!

Natural reaction isn't it...........your mouth is on fire, nose is running, you've just attended to that itch in your eye....with the same finger you lifted the chilli out of the soup, so your eyes are watering like hel_l, some poor person arrives to stand next to you requesting a few baht, the wife asks if you are ok, at which point you reach for your only saviour........the glass of water...vision impared you knock it over......your wife.....and the poor baht collecting person........as the water swirls towards you....you jump up banging your knee on the table, your stool shooting backwards and slamming into the people behind.....you let out an expletive......then calmly remove you hankerchief and blow......suddenly all is well with the world....

[evanson]

It's not only Thais, my Persian/Iranian friends (for example) would find it inexcusably rude to have someone blow snot into their table napkin. Or whatever fancy lace kerchief they happened to have to hand, and leave the table.

That notwithstanding, it (sorry chaps) does come down to class/education. I CANNOT bear sharing a meal with someone in the UK woofing down their food, mouth agape, accompanied by loud chomping/lip smacking sounds, and cannot bear it from those uneducated in table manners (the spoon biting thing gets me most) HERE.

But I've experienced good and obnoxious table manners in every country. I will only eat in large groups of chompers (so I don't notice it so much), or the more ummmmm, sensitive to their fellow diners. Thai or farang.

[phetaroi]

Over the years a couple of Thai friends mentioned how rude it was for me to blow my nose at the table...something I normally wouldn't do...but the chilis in most Thai food simply make my nose run a bit.

Finally I said two things that shut them up about it for good.

1. "Is my blowing my nose worse than the MANY Thais I have seen who pick their nose with their finger?" I have yet to hear a response to that question.

2. "If you would prefer not to eat with me, that's fine. Your choice." Particularly since more times than not I was the one paying, I never once had a Thai friend not want to continue to dine with me or dine with me in the future.

[remiss]

If I'm eating I would prefer people going away from the table before blowing their nose.

I chew with my mouth closed, If other people do I don't know, I rarely look at other people while I'm eating. To be honest I have enough with concentrating on my own food. When I'm eating spicy stuff sniffs aren't uncommon though. But I would strongly prefer people sniffing a little bit when eating spicy food than blowing their nose around my food.

2 cents from Norway

[richieudon]

It is considered rude to blow your nose at the table in Thailand.

I do it all the time though when I'm eating noodle soup because I like mine very spicy too.

I don't worry what people think. I certainly wouldn't do it in anyones direction and if I was alone on a table full of strangers I would probably walk to the kerb and do it.

On the other hand I don't pick my nose in public or chew with my mouth open or push in the queue at 7-11 or talk over people or... or....

[Forethat]

There are several Buddhist rules that guides your behavior and etiquette. One of them directly touches on the topic of chewing with your mouth open as well as stuffing too much food into your mouth.

What amazes me is that these rules clearly don’t mean much to the lower class Thai (in my opinion this is an issue related to education, which the average Thai clearly lack)

[Thaddeus]

I CANNOT bear sharing a meal with someone in the UK woofing down their food, mouth agape, accompanied by loud chomping/lip smacking sounds, and cannot bear it from those uneducated in table manners (the spoon biting thing gets me most) HERE.

All of those, plus slurping, drives me crazy.