Burmese cuisine () encompasses the diverse regional culinary traditions of Myanmar, which have developed through longstanding agricultural practices, centuries of sociopolitical and economic change, and cross-cultural contact and trade with neighboring countries at the confluence of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, including the modern-day nations of India, China, and Thailand.
Burmese cuisine is typified by a wide-ranging array of dishes, including traditional Burmese curries, Burmese salads, and soups that are traditionally eaten with white rice. Burmese cuisine also features Indian breads as well as noodles in many forms, as fried or dry noodles, noodle soups, or as noodle salads. Street food culture has also nurtured the profuse variety of traditional Burmese fritters and traditional snacks called mont.
The contrasting flavor profile of Burmese cuisine is broadly captured in the phrase chin ngan sat (), which literally means "sour, salty, and spicy." A popular Burmese rhyme — "of all the fruit, the mango's the best; of all the meat, the pork's the best; and of all the leaves, lahpet's the best" — sums up the traditional favourites.
History
Rice is the principal staple in Burmese cuisine, reflecting several millennia of rice cultivation, which first emerged in the country's Chindwin, Ayeyarwady, and Thanlwin river valleys between 11,000 and 5000 BCE. By 3000 BCE, irrigated rice cultivation flourished in the region, paralleled by the domestication of cattle and pigs by inhabitants. In addition to rice, tea originated in the borderlands separating Myanmar from China, precipitating a longstanding tradition of tea consumption and the development of pickled tea known as laphet, which continues to play a pivotal role in Burmese ritual culture. This longstanding history is reflected in the Burmese language, which is among the few world languages whose word for "tea" is not etymologically traced back to the Chinese word for "tea" (see etymology of tea).
Agrarian settlements were settled by ancestors of Myanmar's modern-day ethnolinguistic groups. From these settlements emerged a succession of Burmese, Mon, Shan, Rakhine-speaking kingdoms and tributary states that now make up contemporary Myanmar. Paddy rice cultivation remains synonymous with the predominantly Buddhist Bamar, Mon, Shan, and Rakhine peoples who inhabit the country's fertile lowlands and plateaus.
Burmese cuisine has been significantly enriched by contact and trade with neighboring kingdoms and countries well into modern times. The Columbian exchange in the 15th and 16th centuries introduced key ingredients into the Burmese culinary repertoire, including tomatoes, chili peppers, peanuts, and potatoes. A series of Burmese–Siamese wars between the 16th to 19th centuries resulted in the emergence of Thai-inspired delicacies, including khanon dok, shwe yin aye, mont let hsaung, and Yodaya mont di.
While record-keeping of pre-colonial culinary traditions is scant, food was and remains deeply intertwined with religious life, especially among Buddhist communities, exemplified in the giving of food alms (dāna), and communal feasts called satuditha and ahlu pwe (အလှူပွဲ). One of the few remaining pre-colonial cookbooks is the Sadawhset Kyan (, ), written on a palm leaf manuscript in 1866 during the Konbaung dynasty. By the Konbaung dynasty (16th to 19th centuries), elaborate preparations of food played a central role in key court ceremonies (e.g., naming ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, etc.), including as ritual offerings to Hindu and indigenous deities, and as celebratory meals for attendees.
British rule in Burma between the 19th and 20th centuries led to the establishment of Burmese Indian and Sino-Burmese communities that introduced novel cooking techniques, ingredients, food vocabulary, and fusion dishes that are now considered integral parts of Burmese cuisine. These range from Indian breads such as naan and paratha to Chinese stir frying techniques and ingredients like tofu and soy sauce.
Etiquette and customs
Dining
Traditionally, the Burmese eat meals from plates on a low table or daunglan, while sitting on a bamboo mat. Dishes are simultaneously served and shared. A traditional meal includes steamed white rice as the main dish accompanied by Burmese curries, a light soup or consommé, and other side dishes, including fried vegetables, Burmese fritters, and ngapi yay gyo (ငါးပိရည်ကျို), a plate of fresh and blanched vegetables served with pickled fish dip. The meal is then finished with a piece of palm sugar or laphet (fermented tea leaves).