Ate with my left hand at a family dinner in Lahore, big mistake

Went to visit my cousin's in-laws last month and they served a huge platter of biryani. I'm left handed, so I just grabbed a piece of naan with my left hand without thinking. The whole table went quiet, then my cousin's aunt pulled me aside and said eating with the left hand is considered unclean in their culture, it's for bathroom stuff only. I switched to my right hand but kept dropping rice everywhere, felt like a total fool for 20 minutes. Has anyone else messed up a basic cultural rule like this without knowing it, and did people actually get mad or just quietly judge you?

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black.amy18d ago

My buddy did the same thing at a wedding in Morocco, grabbed food with his left hand and an old guy just stared at him the whole meal without saying one word. He still jokes that the guy's eyes were laser beams the entire time.