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(506)

Trajectories in Flux

Trajectories in Flux

Episode #428: This panel gathers five voices from Myanmar’s unraveling present—specialists in food, economy, energy, education, and digital life—who together trace the anatomy of a country still fight...

10 Marras 20252h 41min

Meditating on History

Meditating on History

Episode #427: Daniel M. Stuart describes his newest work, Insight in Perspective, as the product of decades of scholarship and meditative practice, aimed at practitioners and academics alike. The book...

7 Marras 20251h 36min

Reclaiming Ground

Reclaiming Ground

Episode #426: The Karenni Interim Executive Council was formed in 2023 to provide services to people in dire need, with an estimated 80% of the civilian population displaced by the conflict. As people...

6 Marras 20251h 51min

A Borderline Personality

A Borderline Personality

Episode #425: Dr. Lalita Hanwong, a Thai historian and analyst, has dedicated her career to understanding Myanmar and its ties to Thailand. “I’m morally attached to the peoples of Myanmar,” she says, ...

4 Marras 20251h 47min

Through Other Eyes

Through Other Eyes

Episode #424: This episode opens the first of a three-part Insight Myanmar Podcast series recorded at the Decolonizing Southeast Asian Studies Conference at Chiang Mai University. The gathering brough...

3 Marras 20251h 11min

Snap Judgments

Snap Judgments

Episode #423: Ian Taylor is a Canadian photographer whose life shifted from the film industry to decades of work and travel across Southeast Asia. His first experience was with a government-sponsored ...

31 Loka 20251h 54min

At The Edge of Self

At The Edge of Self

Episode #422: “There is beauty in owning one's racial identity. There's beauty in owning, valuing, and respecting one's heritage, ancestors, sexual identity, and gender identity. But on the other side...

30 Loka 20252h 14min

You’ve Got Harm

You’ve Got Harm

Episode #421: Saijai Liangpunsakul, whose first name means “the link between two hearts,” speaks of her journey through the turbulent conflict of Myanmar, and how the kindness and resilience of the My...

28 Loka 20251h 44min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

aikalisa
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
politiikan-puskaradio
tervo-halme
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
viisupodi
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-podme-livebox
rss-asiastudio
otetaan-yhdet
the-ulkopolitist
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
rss-hyvaa-huomenta-bryssel
linda-maria
rikosmyytit
rss-kiina-ilmiot
rss-polikulaari-pitka-kiekko-ja-muut-ts-podcastit
rss-vain-talouselamaa