Where and how we eat impacts our enjoyment and digestion of food

I went to an exhibition a few weeks ago called "Hard Graft" about the impact of physical work on health and the history of worker's rights. One of the exhibits wrote of how the servants ate in the kitchen while their employers ate in the dining room. And it got me thinking – As our society has become more "civilised", we've moved further and further away from our food source. We've also moved further and further away from the ground and further and further away from our body.

We've moved from eating outdoors under the sun, to eating on our village kitchen floors, to eating on our kitchen tables, to eating on the sofa or even in the car or while on the go, rushing about. Notice a moving away from nature, the source of food and the ground?

And then we've moved away from eating with our hands to eating with cutlery or even out of plastic wrapping. We have very little direct physical contact with the food we eat apart from certain scenarios.

There might be practical or convenience-related reasons for this but, there are real benefits from eating outdoors or eating while sat on the ground or eating with our hands in direct contact with our food.

Posture

Eating with our hands whilst seated on the ground engages all our senses and improves digestion. Sitting cross-legged on the ground (Sukhasana pose) has many benefits compared to sitting on a bench or chair. Firstly, there is less back discomfort (1) as the posture maintains the spine’s natural curvature possibly because different muscle groups are being engaged (2). Secondly, there is better circulation around the body, facilitating digestion. Sitting on our heels (Vajrasana pose) has also shown to have benefits post-digestion as it allows for a greater proportion of blood supply to the abdominal and pelvic region, improving our digestive capacity (3).

Third, we are calmer (greater parasympathetic nervous system activity) when sitting cross-legged (4). This may be because we are closer to the ground so feel a sense of stability but this posture has also been shown to improve our balance (2) which could be a key factor in enhancing a relaxed feeling.

Eating with our hands

Touching our food is the body’s initial cue to get ready for digestion. In Ayurveda, the power of the five elements are represented in our fingers and thumbs. This helps the five elements to stay in balance within us and also activates Prana (life force) so digestion starts at this point, readying our internal system to receive nutrients. Modern science supports this by showing that touch initiates enzyme release in the body (5).

Touching food also gives us important clues about how ripe or fresh foods are and their temperature. Think about when we go to the market and pick up fruit and vegetables to feel the firmness or to smell them.

To top it off, research shows that touching food increases our sensory perception and enjoyment of it (6). For some reason, the feel of food in our hands influences our mouth-feel experience of it (7).

When we think of people using their hands to eat, we often think of specific populations such as those in South Asia. However, Spence (8) has carried out a considerable amount of research in the space of gastrophysics (the study of gastronomy and human perception) and explains that it had been the norm in many places, giving the example of Italians eating spaghetti pasta with their hands. Eating with our hands was a universal thing.

Eating outdoors

As for eating al fresco, this also carries benefits for our digestion and overall wellbeing. For starters, eating outdoors usually means we are away from distractions such as the TV and this can increase our mindfulness and the attention we pay to our meals. The sights and sounds of nature whilst eating have also shown to stimulate positive emotions and reduce stress (9) which will support the body to remain in a state that supports relaxation and digestion.

Ancient practices for modern times

The practices mentioned above – different postures, using our hands to eat and eating outdoors – are what we’d today call ergonomics. They support our interaction with our environment in a comfortable way and support both our mental and physical health. And if we think about common modern-day health concerns such musculoskeletal pain, poor posture, digestive disorders and stress, medical diagnoses aside, it may be a case of re-thinking how we interact with our environment, including where we choose to eat. Just some food for thought the next time you take your meal – can it be turned into a picnic or something close to it?

References:

1. Dutta & Dhara (2012) Evaluation of different seating postures of rural primary school boys in the classroom. Journal of Ergonomics, 2(105)

2. Alsirhani et al. (2025) The effects of cross-legged sitting on the lower limb muscles and body balance and the implications in rehabilitation. Applied Sciences, 15

3. Thakur and Bhatnagar (2016) Vajrasana and its physioanatomical aspect. International Ayurvedic Medical Journal, 4(7)

4. Ghimire and Mukhopadhyay (2024) Impact of slouching on heart rate variability and cardiovascular health among medical students. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences, 15(10)

5. Petersen et al. (2016) Kinetic disruption of lipid rafts is a mechanosensor for phospholipase D. Nature Communications, 7

6. Madzharav (2019) Self-control and touch: When does direct vs indirect touch increase hedonic evaluations and consumption of food. Journal of Retailing, 95(4)

7. Barnett-Cowan (2010) An illusion you can sink your teeth into: Haptic cues modulation perceived freshness and crispiness of pretzels. Perception, 39(12)

8. Spence (2022) Interacting with food: Tasting with the hands. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, 30

9. Vanhatalo et al. (2022) Nature ambience in a lunch restaurant has the potential to evoke positive emotions, reduce stress, and support health food choices and sustainable behaviour: A field experiment among Finnish customers. Foods, 11(7)