A farmer winnows paddy in the Shan Plateau. Rice is the staple crop in Burma.
BURMA
The undiscovered treasures of this land of gold and gems are its culinary delicacies.
The weekly floating market at Ywama village, Inle Lake, is a colorful affair.
Burma, "The Land of Gold" of ancient Indian and Chinese manuscripts, has one of the Asia's least known cuisines. This is more a result of the country's long period of self-imposed isolation than the intrinsic quality of the food itself. However, as Burma-or Myanmar as it is now officially called-opens its doors to visitors and international business, more people are discovering its intriguingly different cuisine.
The Land and its People
Burma's beginning dates back some 2,500 years, when Tibeto-Burman-speaking people moved from Tibet and Yunnan into the northern part of the country. Kingdoms rose and fell over the centuries, many different tribes arrived and established themselves. The British gained control over the country little by little, annexing it to British India in stages, until the last king was dethroned in 1886. Burma regained its independence in 1946, becoming a socialist republic in 1974. In 1979, the ruling authorities changed the name to Myanmar.
Although religion and tribal customs influence the cuisine of the people of this polyglot land-in which today's specialists have identified 67 separate indigenous groups-it is perhaps the terrain and climate, which have had the greatest effect on regional cuisines. These factors determine the basic produce and therefore influence the dishes prepared by the people living in each area. The Burmese tend to classify their country into three broad areas: what used to be referred to as "Lower Burma," the humid Ayeyarwady delta around Yangon, and the land stretching far south into the Isthmus of Kra; "Middle Burma," the central zone around Mandalay, ringed by mountain ranges and thus the driest area in all of Southeast Asia, and "Upcountry," the mountainous regions which include the Shan Plateau and Shan Hills to the east, the Chin Hills to the west and the ranges frequented by the Kachin tribe to the far north.
The long southern coastal strip of "Lower Burma," Tanintharyi, is washed by the waters of the Andaman Sea and shares a border with Thailand. This region is rich in all kinds of seafood, which is understandably preferred to meat or poultry. While people in other areas of Myanmar eat freshwater fish caught in the rivers, lakes and irrigation canals, this coastal region offers a cornucopia of marine fish, crabs, squid, shrimps, lobsters, oysters, and shellfish.
Flowing in a general north-south direction for some 1,349 miles, the life-giving Ayeyarwady rises in the mountains of the far north, then branches into a maze of rivers and creeks that make up the delta-about 168 miles at its widest. This is the rice granary of the nation. Rice is the staple crop in Myanmar and is consumed not only for the main meals of the day but for snacks as well. It is eaten boiled, steamed and parched; in the form of dough or noodles; drunk as wine or distilled as spirits. A combined coastal length of about 1,492 miles and a network of rivers, irrigation channels and estuaries, particularly in the Ayeyarwady delta region, yields a dazzling array of fresh-and saltwater fish, lobsters, shrimps, shrimp, and crabs. The Ayeyarwady delta supplies the bulk of freshwater fish, sold fresh, dried, fermented or made into the all-important ngapi, a dried fish or shrimp paste (similar to Thai kapi, Malaysian belacan and Indonesian trassi).
Mandalay, where the last king of Burma ruled, is the cultural heart of the fiercely hot, dry plains of central Myanmar. Irrigation has made it possible to expand agriculture from dry rice (which depended on seasonal rain for its growth) to include crops such as peanut, sorghum, sesame, corn and many types of bean and lentil. Various fermented bean or lentil sauces and pastes are used as seasonings in this region, rather than the fermented fish and shrimp products typical of the south. Not having access to fresh seafood, the people of the central plains generally eat freshwater fish, with the occasional dish of pork or beef.
The most populated "upcountry" area of Myanmar is the Shan Plateau, a region of mountain ranges and wide fertile valleys with a mean altitude of 3,443 feet above sea level, adjoining China, Laos and Thailand. A wide variety of food is grown here: rice, wheat, soya beans, sugar cane, niger seed, sunflowers, maize, and peanuts; and vegetables including potatoes, cabbage, cucumber, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, hops, kale, kholrabi, lettuce, mustard, rape, roselle, tomatoes, and chayote. Soups from this region are more likely to be based on beef or pork stock than made with fish or dried shrimps. The soups are not as clear as those found elsewhere in Myanmar, as they are often thickened with powdered soya bean. One example of this is the Shan version of Burmese noodles (kyaukswe), which is based on pork in a soup thickened with powdered soya bean, rather than made with chicken and coconut milk as in the rest of the country.
A Unique Cuisine Evolves
Poised between two culinary giants, India and China, and inspired by the ingredients and styles of Southeast Asia, the cuisine of Myanmar has developed a unique personality of its own. China has had a marked impact on the food of Southeast Asia, including that of Myanmar. Noodles made from wheat, rice and mung peas are perhaps the most noticeable legacy of China. In Myanmar, these are found in noodle soups like mohinga, a spicy, fish-based dish with sliced banana heart that is virtually the national dish. Another widely available dish is chicken in spicy coconut gravy, ohn-no kyaukswe, which includes either wheat, rice or mung pea ("transparent") noodles.
The Indian influence on Myanmar food is seen in the widespread use of ingredients such as chickpeas, coriander seeds, cumin, and turmeric. But whereas Indian cuisine relies on a complex blending of spices, Burmese food uses only a few dried spices, adding extra flavor with many fresh seasonings and condiments.
The food of Myanmar has, perhaps, more in common with its Southeast Asian neighbors, Laos and Thailand, than with India. The use of fermented shrimp and fish products such as dried paste, fermented fish in liquid, and clear fish sauce has parallels in both Laos and Thailand, where these ingredients largely replace salt and give a characteristic flavor to many dishes. The sour fruit of the tamarind tree, most commonly used in the form of a dried pulp, is often preferred to vinegar or lime juice in many Burmese dishes.
Coconut milk, so prevalent in the cuisine of Southeast Asia, is also used in many Burmese dishes and for sweetmeats, while agar agar-a setting agent from seaweed-is also popular in Burmese desserts and drinks.
At the Burmese Table
Breakfast in Myanmar is traditionally a light repast of fried rice, or yesterday's rice warmed up, served with boiled garden peas and green tea. Many delicious alternatives are now becoming popular though. Breakfast today could take the form of steamed glutinous rice topped with roasted sesame seeds and fish or vegetable fritters; smoked dried fish; mohinga, thin rice noodles in fish soup; or ohn-no kyaukswe, wheat flour noodles in chicken and coconut gravy. Rice gruel garnished with chunks of fried Chinese dough sticks might be gulped down, as might naan, flat bread fresh from the tandoor oven, with either boiled garden pea salad or lamb bone soup. Alternatively, a steaming chickpea broth or a chicken curry might provide the morning's sustenance.
The main meal is not served in courses as in the West. All the dishes, soups, condiments and vegetable dips are arranged in the middle, with a large bowl of rice for second helpings placed on the side. Meat and fish dishes are usually prepared in the form of curries, with fish dishes being much more popular in the lands bordering the lower reaches of the Ayeyarwady River and the delta region, while up country palates are partial to beans and pulses and their various by-products. Most curries are prepared with a thin gravy, which is then drizzled over the rice, mixed in and eaten with the fish
