In a Google Arts & Culture article, Yẹ́misí Aríbisálà, "Nigerian essayist, writer and food memoirist", states the following:
There are scientific claims that fingers have powerful nerve receptors linked to the digestive system so handling your food releases digestive juices and enzymes that enhances the meal.
Even if those "scientific claims" exist, I still don't see the relationship, but this mainly depends on the nature of the claims so I think first we would need the paper(s) to examine them.
I don't clearly see either how the release of juices an enzymes enhances the meal (it's not even explained what "enhances" means here).
Anyway, the main assertion ("handling your food ... enhances your meal") should be separately tested, juices an enzymes being released or not.
Where this comes from?
- Is there actually any scientific work that proves the assertion?
- Is there any scientific work misunderstood or over-stretched by Yẹ́misí Aríbisálà?
- Yẹ́misí Aríbisálà has a book where "she takes an in-depth look at the wonderful, underestimated art of eating with your fingers in Nigerian food". Is this just a made-up attempt to give scientific ground to her belief that eating with your hands is essentially better?