by Ava_Man, September 2007

Myanmar always gets a variable write up for food and I think this in part because of expectation and misundertanding. On one level you could describe the food eaten by the central plain dwellers as slightly bland compared to say the spice of India/Bangladesh or the fire of Thai cuisine. However the regional specialities are truly diverse and the usual fare served at guest houses or road stop eateries really don't do justice to what is actually out there .

The concept of a "Burmese" restaurant is fairly new as up until recently there was no such thing. People ate at home or as guests and at special occasions or ate snacks. In general if you were rich enough to eat out you wanted Chinese; if you weren't you frequented Indian road side stalls. Travellers internally relied on friends and relatives and early guide books would recommend befriending a family to really experience true Burmese cooking. Small restaurants catered to the business traveller with no friends or family and these would simply be equivalents of "greasy spoons " cafes found in the UK: fairly lacklustre and greasy as the name suggests .

Given the poverty of the general population the assumption made by these premises is that something "rich" had to be oily and therefore a "bought" meal not cooked by yourself had to feature rice with a greasy meat curry as its centre piece. This is very much at odds with the usual village fare which has traditional consisted of various vegetarian or fish dishes and salads with crudites for that ubiquitous 'ngapi' dip and a clear consomme soup.

'Ngapi' is similar to 'kapi' in Thailand. 'Kapi' is corrupted from a Burmese word. A royal edict from King Mongkut actually decreed its name change.

Compared to its nearest neighbour Thailand the country has just not been able to keep up with culinary progression which has neither been fueled by the monarchy/aristocracy nor tourism .

Burma has a wonderfully varied culinary scene because of the diversity in its culture and the diversity of its people and geography . I think most tourists are perhaps impeded by not knowing what to look for or where to look .

Just as a example look for and try the following Burmese or Burmanised noodles which should be easy enough to find (ask a local for the best place to go for these):

Mohinga - Burmese national all day breakfast - Rice vermicelli in catfish chowder infused with lemongrass and galangal with various toppings (some restaurants have some people travelling across the city just to eat breakfast there)

Ohn No Khaok Swe - Egg noodles in Laksa-style curried chicken & coconut broth garnished with fried crispy noodles condimented with fish sauce, chillis and lime juice - this is the dish from which Chiang Mai's Kao Soi is derived (the name is a corruption of Khaok Swe) .

Jiasun Hinga - Glass noodles in clear chicken soup broth or clear shrimp broth with smoky wood-ear mushrooms and lotus flower stem .

Mandalay Meeshay - medium rice noodles with chicken or pork pasta sauce eaten with a garlic & coriander pesto, Burmese kimchee, beansprouts garnished with soy beans .

Mogok Meeshay - round rice noodles in a sour pork or chicken clear soy soup garnished with kimchi and coriander - separate consomme and separate Burmese kimchi (various other Shan Khaok Swe's are similar).

Myay Oh Meeshay - Yunnanese style noodle soup in a clay pot (Myay Oh=earth pot).

Panthay Khaokswe - halal curried noodles with chicken.

Myit Chi Na noodles (Khaok Swe) - narrow flat rice noodles, minced pork bolognese with hot and sour bamboo shoots garnished with spring onions and occasionally celery.

Kyay Oh (brass pot) - similar to 'Pho' I guess - noodle soups with various broths, meatballs ,fish balls, greens, offal ( also called Ta Kwet Pyok ).

Si Jet Khaok Swe - thin wheat noodles with Char Sui in soy/sesame oil .

Khaok Swe Thouk - wheat noodle salad with dried shrimps, shredded cabbage and carrots, dressed with fried peanut oil, fish sauce and lime.

Kat Kyi Hnyat (lit. 'cut with scissors'), a southern coastal dish from the Dawei area of rice noodles with a variety of seafood, meats, bean sprouts, beans and fried eggs. Similar to Pad Thai.

Htamin Thouk - rice and glass noodle salad with tomato puree, potato, toasted chickpea flour, crushed toasted dried fermented beancake, crushed dried shrimp, crushed dried chilli, garlic and dressed with cooked peanut oil, fish sauce, lime or tamarind and coriander.

Let Thouk Son - room temperature vermicelli salad with shredded green papaya, shredded carrot, Ogonori sea moss and often wheat noodles.

Nan Gyi Thouk or Mont Ti - thick rice noodle salad with chickpea flour, chicken, fish cake onions, coriander, spring onions, crushed dried chilli, dressed with fried crispy onion oil, fish sauce and lime and occasionally peanuts - not dissimilar to Pad Thai.

Nan Bya Gyi Thouk - as above but with flat rice noodles.

And many, many more variations of the above as well as purely Chinese style noodles found in various Yunnanese, Cantonese, Hokkien and Hakka styles.

Unfortunately one does have to scratch beneath the oily curries and outwardly unhygienic preparation methods to get the true gems. They are everywhere though so please enjoy finding them.

I had also noticed that there was a deterioration of street food between the 1970s and mid 90s but thankfully (albeit slowly) things have picked up again.

One prominent Burmese author whose name escapes me stated that the cuisine at present mirrored the stagnancy and misery of the political situation since 1962. It think if there is genuine change in regime and wealth, there is hope for a resurgence of Myanmar cuisine .