Flavors of Freedom
Insight Myanmar12 Touko 2023

Flavors of Freedom

Episode #164: Yunanda Wilson has warm memories not only of the scrumptious fish noodle dish—known as mohinga—that her grandmother was famous for, but also its place in her family history. Her grandmother was an amazing cook and ran a market stall in Yangon that sold a variety of snacks, and the whole family would go each morning to help her run it.

Yunanda is following in her grandmother’s footsteps, recently launching a career for herself in Asheville, North Carolina, to showcase Burmese cuisine. Calling her company A Thoke Lay, she has a food truck and also caters events, with dreams of one day owning a brick and mortar.


Historically, she goes on to explains how Chinese, Indian, and Thai foods have found their way into Burmese recipes, ultimately describing Burmese cuisine as a kind of Southeast Asia fusion, albeit with a handful of unique dishes like mohinga, fermented tea leaves, and the variety of salads. She describes it as a creative cuisine that balances heat, acid, texture, umami, color, and presentation.


Yunanda also notes how for many Burmese, the realities of poverty and living in fear of the military play a role in how people eat. For example, when the Burmese can’t afford meat or fish, they improvise by adding protein such as chickpea flour, beans, and nuts. And although one might think that living in a state of fear and poverty would bring about greater selfishness in order to survive, Yunanda says it is the exact opposite, as the Burmese people are some of the most generous people in the world.


In closing, Yunanda describes how she wants to “help spread awareness about what's going on in our country, and shed some light on our resilience culture and what are we facing now. I feel this is my way, my path, to helping it

Jaksot(540)

Knocking on Malaysia’s Door

Knocking on Malaysia’s Door

Episode #525: Heidy Quah, founder of Refuge for the Refugees in Kuala Lumpur, describes her work supporting migrants and refugees in Malaysia, particularly those fleeing Myanmar. She began volunteerin...

24 Huhti 1h 57min

The Path in Question

The Path in Question

Episode #524: Max Ante’s story begins not with a gradual curiosity, but with a sudden rupture. At twenty, after a series of chance encounters, he found himself on a ten-day Vipassana retreat in the Go...

23 Huhti 2h 40min

A Life In Motion

A Life In Motion

Episode #523: The fourth episode in our five-part series brings you conversations recorded at the 16th International Burma Studies Conference at Northern Illinois University, where scholars, students,...

21 Huhti 1h 30min

The Transparency Paradox

The Transparency Paradox

Episode #522: “We became interested in understanding how distrust toward official institutions influences the way humanitarian aid actually moves on the ground, and how donors decide where to place th...

20 Huhti 1h 24min

Victims of Success

Victims of Success

Episode #521: “The weapon itself just cannot tell the difference between a soldier stepping on it, or a kid on the way to school, or your grandma on her way to the place of worship.” For Erin Hunt, E...

17 Huhti 1h 18min

The Akha Way

The Akha Way

Episode #520: “Ancestors are not dead. They’re not the living dead. Rather, they should be best thought of as ‘the always living.’” Dr Micah Morton, a cultural anthropologist and professor at Northern...

16 Huhti 1h 59min

Aniccā with Feeling

Aniccā with Feeling

Episode #519: Friedgard Lottermoser, a German student of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, describes the unique character of meditation at the International Meditation Center (IMC) in Rangoon between 1959 and 1971. ...

14 Huhti 3h 8min

The Leftovers

The Leftovers

Episode #518: The story of the KMT irregulars in Burma is a historical anomaly tied to the Chinese Civil War, the Cold War, and Burma’s early independence. Following their defeat, remnants of the Nati...

13 Huhti 1h 40min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
tervo-halme
viisupodi
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-podme-livebox
rss-pinnalla
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
aihe
the-ulkopolitist
otetaan-yhdet
rss-asiastudio
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-raha-talous-ja-politiikka
rss-vain-talouselamaa