Page 37 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

Food and drink BASICS 35
TOP FIVE BURMESE papaya salad, and it’s likely you’ll quickly become a
RESTAURANTS fan. it’s also worth trying samusa thouq (samosa
999 Shan Noodle Shop, Yangon salad), a delicious dish of chopped-up samosas
See p.91 served with the same toppings.
Lucky Seven, Yangon See p.92 Burmese tea-leaf salad (lahpet thouq) and ginger
San Ma Tu, Hpa-An See p.156 salad (jin thouq) are also worth trying, particularly
Esso Restaurant, Maungmagan the former, which is something of a national
See p.172 favourite. Fermented tea leaves (see box, p.324) are
Shan Ma Ma, Mandalay See p.296 topped with vegetable oil, fried garlic and crisp
broad beans, crushed dried shrimp and occasion-
ally chopped tomato and whole green chilli. The
Noodles end result is not unlike italian pesto with a kick of
a typical local breakfast is noodle soup, such as the caffeine, which makes it a popular afternoon pick-
delicious and surprisingly sweet national dish me-up with Myanmar’s students.
mohinga (catfish soup with rice vermicelli, onions, Many other common Burmese snacks are deep-
lemongrass, garlic, chilli and lime, with some cooks fried, ranging from familiar things like home-made
adding things like boiled egg, courgette fritters and potato crisps flavoured with dried chilli, to deep-
fried bean crackers). alternatives include oùn-nó fried insects sold in paper cones. in teahouses
k’auq-s’wèh (coconut chicken soup with noodles, across the land you will have the chance to
raw onions, coriander and chilli) and Shan noodles breakfast on greasy-but-delicious cha kway
or Shan k’auq-s’wèh (rice noodles in a thin savoury (Chinese-style doughnuts), best dipped in tea or
broth, topped with minced chicken or pork, spring coffee; French toast (chit-u bamoq gyaw), served
onions and ground peanuts, served with pickled with sugar; as well as samosa and various indian-
vegetables). another tasty Shan noodle dish is influenced breads (most commonly paratha –
mi-shay, thin rice noodles topped with minced called palata in Myanmar – naan and puri), served
chicken or pork, coriander, deep-fried shallots and with mild vegetable-based curries.
soy sauce, which is served with clear soup and
pickles. Curries
Curry and rice, or t’ămìn hin, is the quintessential
Salads and snacks Burmese meal, best sampled at lunchtime when
Salads are a common snack, although they may the food is fresh – the curries are usually cooked
not resemble salad as you know it – the Burmese in the morning and left in pots all day. although
term, ăthouq, simply means “mixed” – and they are many good restaurants still attract crowds of
usually cold dishes built around a single central evening diners, you may prefer to eat dinner in
ingredient with raw onions, gram flour, chilli and Chinese restaurants or teahouses where the food
coriander in a savoury dressing. Common ăthouq is cooked to order. a meat, fish or prawn curry
are nàn-gyì thouq (thick rice noodle salad), kayan- (hìn) in a thin gravy will be accompanied by a
jin-dhi thouq (tomato salad) and myin-kwa-yuet hearty bowl of rice (t’ămìn), a clear soup (usually
thouq (pennywort salad). another more commonly peppery hin gyo or sour chinyay hin) and dishes of
seen salad on most tourist restaurant menus is fried vegetables. a great deal of oil is added to

BUDDHISM AND FOOD IN BURMA
Happily, it’s possible to be considered a devout Buddhist in Myanmar even if you only practise
the Eight Precepts (which include bans on intoxicating drinks, dancing and eating after noon,
among other good things) for two days a month. in daily life, however, Burmese Buddhists are
more likely to abstain from eating beef than from drinking alcohol, the former being
considered taboo as cows are highly respected. That said, beef curries are still available in
some Myanmar restaurants, but chicken, pork and fish are far more common.
Many Burmese people will be temporarily vegetarian at various points during the year,
particularly during Buddhist Lent, which usually falls between July and october. outside of
this period meat is eaten freely, in apparent violation of yet another precept – to refrain from
taking life – the thinking being that as long as one doesn’t kill the animal oneself, it’s a-okay
to eat it.

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