Zohran Mamdani just can’t stop making news, and sparking controversy.

A video of the Democratic New York City mayoral candidate eating with his hands is blazing through cyberspace, drawing criticism from the right-wing.

The footage, originally part of Mamdani’s campaign material, resurfaced on far-right social media channels.

Amplified by the Trump-aligned page End Wokeness, the clip shows Mamdani eating rice with his hands, a practice common in South Asian and African cultures. The page captioned the clip, “Zohran says his worldview is inspired by the 3rd world while eating rice with his hands".

Among the more extreme voices, Republican US representative from Texas Brandon Gill reposted the video, stating: “Civilised people in America don’t eat like this. If you refuse to adopt Western customs, go back to the Third World.”

Others on X and Instagram joined in, calling for Mamdani’s deportation and accusing him of cultural regression.

Identity politics and questions of performance

While Mamdani’s supporters defended him against what they called xenophobic attacks, some critics claimed the footage reflected a “constructed persona to make white liberals feel special and in the know.”

Avatans Kumar, author of Gods in Exile and Indian Renaissance: The Modi Decade, weighed in. “There is nothing wrong in eating with hand, rice or roti. It is clean, hygienic and elegant if done right. We eat with our hand all the time,” he wrote on X. But Kumar also questioned Mamdani’s motivations. “@ZohranKMamdani is a child of Academy Award-nominated successful filmmaker and @Columbia professor. He is not poor by any means. His acts are demeaning to people of the so-called 3rd world.”

Mamdani responds

Mamdani, 33, addressed his food habits in an interview with Bon Appétit published earlier this month, where he was candid about growing up eating with his hands and continuing to do so even as a public figure.

Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani said he found the question of how he eats perplexing.

“I have to eat with my hand,” he said. “In Uganda we even eat salad with our hands.”

In the same interview, Mamdani emphasised how food shaped his worldview. “Well, I have long been a foodie. You know, despite having gone on hunger strike a few times, food really is, in many ways, how I see the world and see myself in the world.”

He added that food, for him, is not just a cultural practice but a political lens: “It tells the story of migration. It tells the story and the struggles and the joys.”

His approach, he said, is rooted in authenticity: “Be authentic or go home.”

Food and politics

When he campaigned for the New York State Assembly, Mamdani’s slogan was “Roti and Roses".

“Roti signifies that which is necessary. Roses signifies that which is often pushed off but is frankly just as necessary in that same life,” he said. “When I speak to New Yorkers about what you need to live a dignified life in this city, food is non-negotiable.”

“There are so many who are priced out of it, whether it’s when they’re buying their produce or whether it’s trying to find a place that they can sit down and eat with their family,” he said.