Column: Exploring Burmese culture, one shallot at a time

Food is a common denominator.

Whether you’re an 80-year-old Buddhist monk in Japan or a 5-year-old girl in Norway, you eat.

So, when I want to start to learn about a new culture, I start with what people eat.

I was born and raised in Fort Wayne, a city that has welcomed between 6,000 and 10,000 Burmese refugees since 1991.

Therefore, when I enrolled in J460: Reporting the World from Home and was told to write an international story with a local angle, I knew the culture into which I wanted to finally delve.

Though the community is one of the largest in the country, it was one to which I had never been exposed.

This was my chance.

Before I did any reporting, I did what I had been wanting to do for months but had been holding off on — I bought Naomi Duguid’s “Burma: Rivers of Flavor,” a cookbook I had been admiring since its publication.

I hadn’t bought it because I knew once I did, I’d want to spend all my time cooking myriad recipes for Burmese food, a cuisine I discovered last spring and with which I became enamored.

And that’s how I ended up spending three days preparing my first Burmese meal.
One day, I filled my pantry with shallots, lemongrass and jasmine rice.

The next day I made the staple condiments, such as umami-filled toasted chickpea flour and shallot oil.

Then, I got to the real cooking.

My final meal consisted of ginger-lemongrass meatballs with turmeric and shallot fried rice, and it was delectable.

Though eating the food I had prepared was an experience, the real payoff came later.

I went home to Fort Wayne to interview three Burmese refugees this past weekend, and to show them my sincere interest in their culture, I did what I do best — talked about food.

One refugee told me though he likes all food, at home he and his wife prepare the traditional Burmese foods I love.

When I told another one of the refugees I liked lahpet thoke,a common Burmese salad of crispy roasted nuts and seeds, garlic slices and pungent fermented tea leaves, he widened his eyes in disbelief.

He corrected my pronunciation, but I still felt pretty proud.

After I shared my knowledge of their cuisine, the three men listed some of their favorite American foods — chocolate cookies, McDonald’s French fries and Chipotle burritos.

While I went into the situation hoping to make the refugees feel comfortable by relating to their childhood, they did the same to me, listing what they loved about my culture.

I was somewhat ashamed of these American foods, but I couldn’t help but smile.

And I can’t deny it — I love a good chocolate cookie and McDonald’s French fry, too.

­— acarnold@indiana.edu

Follow reporter Amanda Arnold on Twitter @Amanda_Arnold14.