Trish is on a culinary mission following her escape from the demonstration-torn streets of Burma.
The expert cook and entrepreneur found herself feeding protestors in the wake of the 2021 Myanmar military coup. But she was forced to flee to the safety of Thailand as the junta authorities began to home in on her for possible arrest.
Check out her story on this Insight Myanmar podcast: https://insightmyanmar.org/complete-shows/2023/7/21/episode-180-cooking-up-a-revolution
Trish now lives in Chiang Mai, which, perhaps because of its burgeoning Burmese community, has added a number of new Burmese restaurants to its already vibrant culinary scene. Although the city has long been famous for its Asian cuisine, until recently it was limited to Thai, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese. For Trish, this hinted at an underlying prejudice that many Thais hold towards their neighbors; indeed, having worked in Thai restaurants, she is familiar with this kind of discrimination, noting how some Thai staff felt uncomfortable taking orders from a Burmese boss. And she feels the same is true about Thai attitudes towards Burmese food. “They are brainwashed to think that Burmese food is dirty and unimportant,” she says. “The way they think about food is also how they think about the people, and that becomes an issue. So, for us to raise awareness about what's happening in Myanmar, we have to… start breaking down the stereotypes as well. I find that food is like a very easy way. Food storytelling can entice people into talking about geopolitics.”
Yet Trish didn’t just see her cooking as playing an important role in helping break down Thai stereotypes about Myanmar. She explains how, just as Bamar culture has dominated her country for generations, so has Bamar cuisine. For that reason, she has taken it upon herself to research recipes from Myanmar’s many ethnic and religious minorities and expose them to a Bamar audience.
Interestingly, her mission to document her country’s indigenous dishes came from watching the television show Chef’s Table, in which a Mayan cook was explaining how preserving traditional recipes meant more than just food: it was a part of not losing their culture and history. “I wanted to bring that community and show people that how diverse Myanmar is, and there's so many different types of food.”
Check out her story on this Insight Myanmar podcast: https://insightmyanmar.org/complete-shows/2023/7/21/episode-180-cooking-up-a-revolution
