"The people, places and foods of these cultures captured my heart over twenty years ago and the love affair continues to grow as I gain a deeper understanding of the culinary culture that makes each country, region, city, town and village form a unique Culinary Identity."
"Cuisine within Context"
Chef Robert Danhi and I are quite fond of using the phrase "Cuisine within Context"; but what does that really mean? Today I would like to share a story that I believe illustrated this self coined term beautifully.
In September of 2008, Chef Robert Danhi and myself capitalized on an opportunity to take part in a home-stay program with the White Karen Hill Tribe inhabiting the mountainous region North of Chiang Mai .
The goal of this expedition was to spend some time getting to know the culture and cuisine of the tribal people.
This particular episode happened to be at the end of our trip;
Chef Danhi and I had just spent a month in Southeast Asia and completed a tour of some of the world’s greatest food cultures, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore; places where cuisine is king and I am not the only one who thinks so.
The experiences that filled the last 25 days had raised the proverbial bar of expectations to unknown heights and I simple could not wait to explore yet another culinary culture.
Jungle Trail:
Upon entering these hills I was well aware of the history and global influence of the region. This is the infamous “Golden Triangle”, a long time hub of poppy cultivation and opium production.
Although I knew not what to expect, my mind was inundated by romanticized imagery of Trekking on elephant back through lush jungle and poppy fields.
As we crept into the jungle and my imagination discovered reality I found the truth to be a patch work of the anticipated and the unexpected.
While the pristine, emerald green forest I had imagined was very much a reality, it met my perception from a point of view quite lower than I had expected; as I had failed to procure the pachyderm companion that accompanied and propelled me through the jungle of my dreams.
As vegetation enveloped and miniaturized our humble party, we were given our first glimpse of the forest from within.
A dank, vegetative aroma preceded the thundering waterfalls escorting us as we descended the jungle mount, ripping through the overgrowth and pummeling the rocks below before transforming into turbulent tributaries tracing our path through the dense foliage and finally give way to whispering streams.
This was Incredible!:
Moving through such terrain can be as treacherous as it is tantalizing, especially when hiking in flip flop sandals.
Because of the many dangers and obstacles hidden in the wet forest floor, I found myself perpetually walking with head down and eyes focused on the next place to safely step.
So involved was I in the requirements of my step by step journey, I lost track of my location and progress. Rounding a bend and emerging from a tree-dwelling cloud, I was over taken by a landscape as stunning and awe inspiring as any I had yet seen, approaching and even surpassing the seemingly impossibly pristine conditions of my imagination.
In front of me lay an expansive step of terraced sticky rice paddies cascading down the hillside and saturating the mountain valley with pigments of jade.
This emerald sea of rice patty was dotted with traditional, stilted, straw huts, scored by an extensive irrigation network, and framed by towering, green mountains.
The landscape simultaneously stunned and beckoned me to venture deeper within; the exotic, sultry elegance of this environment quickly reminded me of where I was and in a manner constant with the surroundings, loudly introduced itself as the Golden Triangle of Northern Thailand!
After shaking off my initial star stuck reaction and pinching myself one more time I ventured into this enchanted land of both fiction and fact only to find that my fairytale was even grander than I had initially assessed.
Upon closer inspection this vast rice paddy was of no ordinary manner, to my amazement it was entirely composed of row after row of neatly manicured Thai sticky rice.
This unique grain is cooked in a true steaming process where the rice is actual held above boiling water and is hydrated by the raising vapors.
Most rice that is called “steamed rice” is actually not steamed at all, it is cooked through an absorption method where the grains are placed directly into boiling liquid and are hydrated through direct contact and saturation.
In Northern Thailand the traditional method of eating is with one’s hands and once cooked this long grain delicacy is chewy and malleable making it the perfect vehicle for scooping up palate scorching curries and other tasty offerings.
Small clusters about the size of a tablespoon are plucked from purpose built sticky rice baskets, then massaged into small discs and used as an edible grabbing utensil. This is without a doubt my absolute favorite way to eat and favorite variety of rice!
Encouraged and enticed my chef and I simply could not wait to dive into a traditional kitchen and indulge in both the cuisine and culture of the people who had so graciously taken us into their homes.
That night we gathered on the floor of a traditional stilt home to prepare dinner. However, this meal and the conversations held around it would be much different from those we had indulged elsewhere in Thailand.
It became quickly evident that although we were still in Thailand, we were no longer dealing with Thai people.
Dinner consisted of a tasty but rather boring stir fry, a strange ethnic omelets, an outstanding Vietnamese style pummelo salad, courtesy of the chef and I, steamed sticky rice, and despite our best efforts, absolutely zero food talk. This was not a food culture at all.
The Party Prep Work:
After dinner we were invited to a “party” in one of the communal shelters. As we sat around a central fire, some how built in a wooden fire place in a wood and straw stilt house and drank local rice whisky, much light was shed on the confusing meal we had just had.
With little prodding it was explained to us that the White Karen Hill Tribe was of Mongol decent
and had fled to this area as a result of lethal persecution.
There cuisine was developed out of sheer necessity and was meant to sustain a people on the run. As the roots of this hospitable family and their people where revealed our disappointment transformed into intrigue and a final moment of clarity.
The history of this people is filled with challenges far greater than achieving perfect seasoning and there cuisine is a direct reflection of this.
When Thai cuisine and culture are observed in the same light the result is the same. Thailand is a nation of free people, a people that have never been conquered and have had the luxury of focusing on food and fun; resulting in a vibrant and active food culture.
These two culture and their respective cuisines may share a country but in reality are like night to day and it is clearly visible.
Party Time!:
"Cuisine within Context" is a powerful and enlightening concept. I encourage anyone with an interest in food and culture to look at things in this light; I believe it will be as rewarding and revealing to you as it has been for me.
Thanks very much to Chef Robert Danhi & particularly Chef Ari Slatkin who wrote the original article, for allowing us to reproduce this fascinating insight into their travels around Northern Thailand.
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