Book: Burma - Rivers of Flavour, by Naomi Duguid

Burma - Rivers of Flavour
By Naomi Duguid

I've never been to Myanmar, but I am familiar with some of the country's food, thanks to a tiny restaurant in Oakland, California that I visited so often the chef/owner wouldn't even let me look at the menu - she'd just cook for me. Most of her food was very home-style - excellent, brightly flavoured salads and a wonderful chicken noodle soup I still dream of.

In Burma - Rivers of Flavour, Naomi Duguid covers aspects of Myanmese culture and history, but the focus is on recipes, and she does a good job of explaining how food is eaten and the ingredients used. Recipes include Burmese tea-leaf salad; deep-fried, street-stall chicken; fish soup with lemongrass and chilli; new potatoes with spiced shallot oil; and coconut-sauce noodles - which I believe are the same as the chicken noodle soup dish I ate in Oakland.