Session Name: Food and Plants as Social Objects in Contemporary Asian Foodscape: Place and Power
1 - Change & Tradition: Karen Fermentation Starters in the Context of Contemporary Foodways in Thailand
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
14:00 – 15:45 (GMT+7)
Presentation Abstract This paper focuses on how the process of making fermentation starters has changed among the Karen of northern Thailand. The Karen people have a long tradition of making rice leaven or fermentation starters called gomi to brew the traditional liquor that is an integral element of the Karen rituals. The practice of making Karen starters varies from village to village and from family to family in terms of ingredients, process, and meaning. For example, in some villages, many different plants, including wild species, are used, and these play a significant role in giving the liquor that is produced its distinctive flavor. In other villages, only unmarried women allowed to participate in making starters, and men are prohibited from even seeing the process. Since there are many rules, prohibitions, and even a chant involved in the process, it can be assumed that the starter making is more than a mere step in food production, and also has ritualistic meaning. However, the number of households making homemade starters has declined in recent years. There are many reasons for this, from the historical context of Karen conversion to Christianity, which has made brewing and drinking alcohol taboo, the legal status of home-brewing in Thailand, to the more recent introduction of time and money saving fermentation starters from China via Myanmar. This paper will thus deepen our understanding of the relationship between food traditions, heritage, and minority-ness through an understanding of the changing homemade gomi makings.
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