Hygiene in different cultures

From Morocco and Mali to Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and lndia: in many countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, meals are enjoyed with literally all five senses. “Eating with cutlery is like making love through an interpreter,” goes the saying in India, for example. [1]

Food in these cultures is therefore often eaten with the hands – but only with the right hand! After all, in many Asian, Arab, and African countries, the left hand is used for cleaning after using the toilet and is thus considered unclean. [2] It should therefore be kept out of the food – even if you have washed your hands thoroughly beforehand.

A place where this rule is likely to be followed particularly strictly is Ethiopia. Here it is not only the custom to eat with the hands and to eat together from the same plate. As a sign of friendship and respect, people in Ethiopia sometimes even feed each other during the so-called “gursha”. [3]

If you come from Asia, Africa or the Arab world and travel to Europe or the USA for the first time, you may be surprised to find only toilet paper in the restroom. In countries like Thailand, Turkey or Egypt, after all, it is quite common to clean your buttocks with water after going to the toilet. Hence, many restrooms there have a kind of bidet shower, which is often installed on the wall next to the toilet or directly in the toilet seat and works in principle like a French bidet. In Turkish, this device is called “Taharet Muslugu”. [7]

In Japan, too, cleaning with water after going to the toilet is widespread. In terms of technological advancement, however, the country takes it even one step further. The toilets here are often real high-tech products that not only clean the buttocks with water at the touch of a button, but can also extract odours, offer a dryer function and even play music on request to cover up unpleasant noises. Considering this level of technological progress, Europeans who are only used to using toilet paper at home may feel like they’re back in the Stone Age. [8]

Proctologists long confirmed that the Western world lags behind Arab and Asian cultures in regard to toilet hygiene. On the one hand, the frequent use of toilet paper can quickly lead to skin irritations. Cleaning with water, in contrast, is much gentler. On the other hand, the anal shower is simply far more thorough and hygienic. [9]

Being invited to someone's home as a guest usually allows you to get to know another culture in a much more authentic way. Those who receive such an honour in Turkey can expect to receive a particularly hygienic welcome gift as soon as they enter. In the country on the Bosporus, it is customary to offer guests a few drops of perfume to cleanse their hands. [12]

Because of its high alcohol concentration of over 80 percent, “Kolonya”, as Turks call it, is supposed to eliminate viruses and bacteria. During the pandemic, it was therefore increasingly used as an alternative to conventional hand disinfectants. [13] Yet, even though “Kolonya” may be effective, conventional hand disinfectants are gentler on the skin: products such as Sterillium® contain a special skin care complex that counteracts the drying effect of high-percentage alcohol.

Disinfectants, comprehensive sewage systems and access to a bathroom in one’s own home: in the field of hygiene, humanity has made enormous progress in the 20th and 21st centuries. Globally, however, these developments are by no means equally distributed.

According to studies by the WHO, no less than 1.7 billion people worldwide still live without basic sanitation such as private toilets or latrines. Almost 500 million people are even forced to defecate in the open, for example in gutters, behind bushes or in open waters. [16] Some 2.3 billion people also lack a basic hygiene infrastructure, including running water and soap, at home. This includes 670 million people who cannot wash their hands at all. [17]

These figures show that what many people no longer even think about, such as access to a toilet and running water at home, cannot be taken for granted worldwide. Where basic hygiene infrastructures are lacking, however, it becomes all the more important to pay even greater attention to your own health – for example, by disinfecting your hands with Sterillium®. Therefore, before your next trip to other regions of the world, be sure to check your first-aid kit and make sure you have everything you need.

Further useful tips are available in our article “Healthy Holidays”.