As Chris Rufo has noted many times, the left has always been fascinated with the exotic.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez understood this. Now New York's top mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, who's only been a U.S. citizen for seven years, plays this up even better for his wealthy white left-wing political base.

Here he is in all his glory, ostentatiously eating with his hands:

Now, there are some cultures that eat with their hands, India, the land of his heritage, is one of them. But it's mainly southern India, with its ancient Ayurvedic tradition where this hand technique is used most, and with his light skin and Muslim background, he looks pretty northern.

But he's not really northern Indian, either. Having been raised in the palmy elite environments of Columbia University and only with the elites, you can bet he didn't grow up eating with his hands.

What's more he ... doesn't do it right. Eating with the hands is a practiced art, you don't just scoop up food like a caveman as the video shows him doing. I see some effort on his part to get it right, using only fingers, but his thumb action is extremely clumsy. He doesn't do it with the swift, practiced, almost mechanical grace I've seen people in Singapore (which has a large southern Indian community) or Sri Lanka doing. He's pretty hesitant, actually.

According to Food Republic, there is a right way to do it:

First, washing hands thoroughly before eating is key. Use your fingers to create a utensil and the food itself as a tool. Rice, a grain, or flatbread provides the foundation for runnier dishes like a curry or soup. Bunch up a cohesive bite on the plate, and use your fingers to scoop or pinch the food. Do not stick your fingers or palm in your mouth. Instead, use your thumb to push the food in. It takes practice, but your fingers can act as a sort of spoon. It is also crucial to only use your right hand to touch food or drink, pass dishes, and greet others. To preserve cleanliness, the left hand is historically reserved for activities like going to the bathroom. More specifically, you should eat using only the thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and should only lick your fingers once you are done eating. Strict adherence to this custom varies, but in general, avoiding using the left hand while eating is very important.

He doesn't do it the right way. He does it more the cave-man way, counting on his white leftist supporters to be favorably impressed with how down in the mud with the proles of India he is. It's complete theatre, a showtime shoveling, not the real way he eats.

As Rufo notes:

The thing about Zohran Mamdani is that he is not an Islamist, but a regime leftist who understands that the symbols of the exotic Other are an extremely valuable currency within the world of the radical Left. He was able to very skillfully combine the outward appearance of the…

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) June 25, 2025

And actually, he's a knife and fork man, eating even a burrito with those utensils,

This isn't even the worst
Zohran Mamdani's worst eating habit! Mamdani knows how to use a fork & knife but apparently saves it for when he's eating burritos on the subway like an animal.https://t.co/Rh534SJKkO

— Izengabe (@Izengabe_) June 30, 2025

Cripes, who eats a burrito with a fork and knife? It defeats the purpose of the burrito. Just shake it all out onto the plate and throw the wrapper away, dude. I bet he eats pizza the same way, which ought to get him drummed out of New York.

Rufo has seen this going on for awhile -- note the date:

America’s radical Left has always had a fetish for violent Third Worldism. Fifty years ago, they worshipped Che, Mao, Cabral. Now they make icons of Hamas paragliders and chant for “decolonization.” Same ideology, same play-acting, same seething fantasy of revenge.

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) October 14, 2023

It's all about projecting the exotic. The exotic impresses white leftists (Tom Wolfe, in his Radical Chic long essay, noted this phenomenon, too), and Mamdani has found a way to impress them with his supposed eating skills. Too bad he doesn't eat that way and neither do people in India. His lack of skill is the big tell.

What a fake, phony, fraud he is. And you can bet many New Yorkers of south Asian descent are not going to be fooled. No wonder so many of his ideas are foolish nonsense. His bid to 'go native' when he isn't a true native is a big tell.

Image: X video screen shot