Myanmar RARE Street Food Tour!! Its Not What You Think!!

victim number one skewer one i picked up the pig's udder do you know pigs have an udder [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] for me a real travel expert i can say myanmar is the unspoken hidden gem of southeast asia though tourism is picking up year by year myanmar only gets one-tenth the tourists of its neighbor to the south thailand follow him this means more wrong let's go let's go unspoiled experiences holy [ __ ] myanmar is made up of dozens of tribes all with their own unique culture and unique food there's a whole face of a pig looking at me our journey starts off in the country's biggest city yangon all right yangon is definitely a city of street food so far everywhere we've been whether it's just going down the sidewalk market on the train there's street food everywhere here [Music] man one day i should have someone just straight razor all my hair off street food here has been influenced by all of myanmar's neighbors india china and thailand yangon ends up being a melting pot of all these different cultures which you can even see in the cuisine today we're hitting the most unlikeliest of places going deep undercover on a mission to discover the best street food in myanmar's most action-packed city [Music] let's go eat this train is a relic harkening back to the british colonial times which lasted over a hundred years ending in the 1940s these days the yangon circular line is the city's most affordable mode of transportation carrying over 100 000 daily commuters [Applause] guys good morning from yangon hi there hey man right now we are on the train this is a loop that goes around the city we're starting at central railway station going just a few stops to a nearby market so what we're going to do now is go around the train and try to find some poo that we can try right now [Applause] crazy this guy's driving the train he's so relaxed i've spotted a food down here let's go inside these train cars workers monks and school kids are a captive audience for vendors selling everything from eyeglasses to food oh my god oh my god oh it went black so right here she's got some mango and then she's putting some kind of spices on it how much 500 okay boom super simple super easy let's go for it plastic super sweet really sour fruit and then they've mixed it with salt and chili powder so it's got some kick you know what i'm talking about a young cow a young cow that means yummy thousands of vendors make a living this way hopping aboard this mobile market then darting from car to car squeezing through passengers and serving up customers a trip to yangon isn't complete without touring the city by train and letting the food come to you if i told you i knew what this was i would be absolutely lying i know it's a pan some kind of indian inspired after dinner mint almost oh you got a phone call hello everything okay at home he's doing a double leaf he puts on something white uh yes whatever that is yes oh my god what is it is that tobacco tobacco so here it is i'm gonna eat some tobacco you're laughing at me i know i'm doing it wrong i don't think you're supposed to swallow it it's like chewing tobacco and myanmar i got a little buzz going right now it's like minty perfumey it's very intense i don't know how these guys do it hey thank you here's your boy [Music] we've arrived at kimindang station just a few steps from kiminding market where they're serving up some of the best street food this city has to offer but first i can't resist the warm welcome of a fried burmese donut so we just got off the train right here they have some fresh donuts she's offering me one uh minglabba it looks like a fried doughnut with soy sauce that would be my guess oh there we go cheers mmm it's like a fried doughnut with molasses a young cow i don't even know this lady she's so nice i said wow that looks good and she's like eat mine one do oh my god it's heavy got it okay okay have a good day i hope you sell all those donuts but then you should maybe you walk out of this shop that'll look nice okay bye wow i did a good thing today [Music] this is one of the city's best and most unique bazaars to explore no one knows when it started for sure but this place has been around for hundreds of years carrying everything from fresh produce to fresh chicken and classic myanmar street food okay it's going really good so far here they have something called ethoso it means mixed salad but they have so many different individual ingredients right here they have some bean sprout fried up fried shrimp cakes assorted noodles and then even more toppings here giant pink rice balls you see those this vendor's stall is called single ladies i don't know if that's their status personally but they do have some of the best fried salads you'll find anywhere this whole shrimp face is looking at me and saying no don't do it sorry buddy i gotta do it yeah okay one trim oh thank you you speak english choose your toppings and they get cut into strips and mixed with a combination of cabbage tamarind sauce fish sauce dried shrimp powder chickpea powder chili powder turmeric garlic and onion oil [Music] it kind of reminds me of thai food and the way that the ingredients themselves are beautiful but eventually they just kind of cut it all down and splash it with a bunch of sauces and mix it up and then by the end it kind of doesn't really look like anything but it tastes like everything does that make sense [Music] it's salty it's spicy so many textures the noodles are just noodling into what you would expect from a noodle but there's a lot of little fried bits in there and cabbage make it a little bit crunchy they put in some toasted chickpea powder which actually just gives it a really nutty flavor i thought it was crushed peanuts at first but it's not on the side a soup made of dried fish garlic fish sauce bottle gourd and tofu skin let's try that out [Music] that's good i don't know how common this is here but it's like mouth kissing an angel it's salty they probably have some msg in there but it's like this next level of savoriness then that mellows you out and you need some more adventure you come back to your noodles they work together you may notice here that many people mainly women and kids wear a yellow white cosmetic cream on their face some say it's for protection from the sun while others wear it as a decorative makeup it comes from this plant tanaka wood it's been a tradition here for centuries and it's just one of the features that makes this country so unique boom market food tour continues here i think these are tapioca balls i don't know can i touch her balls look at these it looks like fish roe it looks like salmon eggs but this is part of a dessert down here these are the noodles that go into the rohingya mohinga mohinga it's the national dish of myanmar it's unofficial but everybody knows a fish soup made with rice noodles i think the normal noodle for the mohinga would be the normal vermicelli noodle but i want to go with the flat noodle toss in chickpea fritters and a rich complex broth look at this broth i mean it has everything in there what's it have in there fish flakes onion bulbs banana stems eggs and it's getting this color from chili powder there's turmeric there's some lemongrass in there too the smell is off the smell charts [Music] so this is mohinga not rohingya it is the unofficial national dish of myanmar but everyone kind of knows it's like the national dish and when you look at it you can see why it has everything let's try it out super savory nice soft noodles what's most unique about it is the broth once it's in the bowl it's not even a broth anymore because these chickpea fritters that have been fried and it makes almost like a chickpea sludge in the bowl check out this bite a little bit of egg a little bit of broken down fritter some noodles yeah buddy next this is a golden heart cooler a dessert sweet soup made with sticky rice tapioca balls strawberry jellies pandan noodles lots of ice and finally coconut milk i'm gonna get a bunch of these tapioca balls it looks like fish roe almost look at that are you looking at it guys look at it why are your eyes closed look at it mmm it's good huh [Music] they're so robust oh and they even put bread i like they approach the dessert in the same way as like the main noodle dish there's just so many layers to it there's so much in there so many surprises [Music] basically right in front of us we have every kind of pork you can imagine the local name for this dish is doto which literally just means to obscure in the middle of chinatown's food hub this popular style of pork preparation has been a big hit here for a while this stall has been open for only three months but goes through over 2 000 skewers a day in the middle there's kind of a boiling broth going and then all around it we've got chicken eggs sausage intestines skin meat liver ribs i got everything solid huh okay all right so right now they're scooping up some of this broth everything is gonna kind of taste like this a little bit it's super hot rich porky a ton of fat it's like oily at the top guys i hit the jackpot immediately i picked up the pig's udder it take a breath to me or like the mammary clan okay let's just try it out okay yeah very very good very good it's so juicy and just exploding with porky flavor i love that can i have some of this what is that sausage sausage yes okay oh hey sign language what's that that means sausage this is sausage that's been made with the intestine and then it comes out looking like that it's like a lollipop oh super chewy springy okay she put one more in my dish ma'am what is this what did you give me okay it's just ham we're not doing it this one's kind of soft and mushy tastes like breakfast sausage that's very nice [Music] they all have a pretty similar taste because they're all just kind of hanging out in the same broth but from piece to piece the texture the amount of fat the amount of crispiness all that kind of changes you've outdone yourself amazing aside from china one of myanmar's major culinary influences comes from india this restaurant has been around for over 68 years sir thank you for having us this is your father's shop yes my father's shop we serve chicken bbq mutton barbecue but you also serve testicles yes go testigo go testicles yes [Music] is that an indian dish it's not an indian dish it's more like uh you know home good type most of customers they love to try you know go testicles and beers and alcohol all right perfect you sold me grilled goat testicles marinated in turmeric masala chili powder salt and fresh lime yum i don't know what my producers think of me but they go oh you're gonna love what we got prepared for you and yeah i'm gone uh testicles isn't it great it's great here we are let's just jump into it they actually look pretty good they look like they just look like chestnuts yeah first of all check out the springiness here oh i think it's going to be good you can eat it a few different ways i'm going to just go straight for it to begin in an alluring aroma that draws you in [Music] that's pretty good it's super fatty it kind of just tastes like an overly fatty pork sausage we've got some paratha look at the layers of bread it's been kind of fried and then toss that in there got a little bit of just a kind of a myanmar salsa over here make that into a little sandwich that's legit good when you do it that way you can't even really even tell what it is which is almost disappointing i wanted to know for sure that i'm eating a testicle but i love this bread it's so doughy and chewy and it's the perfect soulmate of this testicle [Music] street food in this city is incomplete without a night session we've arrived in myanmar right on time just as they're putting on their independence day fair [Music] this place is packed with food games rides everything your inner child and outer adult craved for right behind me one of the craziest rides i've ever seen it's not a roller coaster it's a man-powered ferris wheel these guys it's like they're doing death-defying acts as they attempt to use their body weight to actually make the ferris wheel move around i'm not sure who certifies the ferris wheel and says like it's safe if there's there's osha or osha oh my god [Music] holy [ __ ] i mean you could hang out at the ferris wheel all night but this guy he's putting on his show it's nice this is a dish called it's like a little crepe right here he has a rice flour batter he coats the pan he puts on some scallions chickpeas hold it and then you get what you see here dude you're killing it boom the international sign of you're doing a good job it's crispy oily i'm gonna try it out oh paper then oh that's pretty delicious but this thing is like a peacock it's almost no food it's a shower not a grower those chickpeas have been seasoned inside it gives it a nice little mushiness to it it's almost gone it disappeared somehow [Applause] another food right here she's doing it right now this giant kind of cupcake tin it's already been doused with oil and then now she's putting the rice flour batter into each hole so this is a dish called husband rice pancake roughly translated but it maybe it could be a husband husband or wife wife you know it's a tub but what i love after this cooks up a bit she's gonna put in a quail egg some chickpeas some scallions and it's gonna be seasoned with crushed sesame seeds and salt oh my gosh check this out beauty oh a finger test it's pretty hot but my mouth is wet i can cool it down what do you think yes okay oh it's really hot why didn't they have oh that's delicious though here's what you don't realize the egg yolk has not cooked all the way through so it's actually like kind of creamy and yolky when you bite into it and those lentils kind of give it a bit of a meatiness i don't know how that works it tastes very complete hi everyone's here in their pajamas i feel very overdressed right now this is something really cool they've got two different things one is this normal quail egg it's been kind of rubbed down with turmeric to turn it yellowy orange and then when you order it they'll fry it up right here this is like a whole grab bag of quail parts in one skewer there's intestine there's liver then on top this little yellow part is an unlaid egg so you'll see some of these are big and bulbous okay those are almost ready to go out and then some are tiny like this so these are the very beginning stages of egg development all of this it's like a whole quail experience on one stick i'm going to start with the egg oh it's super yummy it's like a hard-boiled egg yolk super salty oh i think that's a little gizzard they're so tiny well they had to get like a doctor to butcher this bird right here just a little bit of intestine it's just chewy no super strong organ flavor what's not to love about this our best ever myanmar food tour continues heading from the country's largest city yangon making our way to the humble coastal town of mech nick meek i'm gonna find out for sure how to say it situated along the ocean and between rivers this is the ideal place for a booming seafood industry oh dude they've got everything here here in mint we can observe seafood traditions that have remained the same for hundreds of years the aroma is pungent today we're going deep from the coast's own unique style of street food oh my god yes to a one-of-a-kind ocean farm with some pretty rare specimens it is a freaky looking fish look it's so adorable we're gonna find some seafood gonna find some fishes and lots of unique creatures that you have never seen before let's go this way hold on i've got confirmation it's nick nick [Music] [Applause] [Music] most fish markets i've been to opened at ungodly hours of the morning but here nick's wholesale fish market gets cracking as soon as the sun goes down what you see here is the result of a long harsh day at sea fishermen selling to vendors and vendors hoping to sell out before the end of the night this place is a hive of activity and where you find massive gatherings of people you'll also find some of the country's best street food starting with burmese spring rolls a local favorite when it comes to traditional coastal cuisine so it starts with kind of a pancake that's been made from a rice batter then bean sprouts then a little piece of lettuce on each one fried onions dried shrimpies marinated water chestnut palm syrup and finally chili oil oh dude these look so good all right i'm going to try it let's take a bite yes it is outstanding a flavor explosion and super spicy that's got some cake man it's a little bit of everything a little sweet savory and super spicy it's really good more street food this is a rice cake she's cut into about four pieces and then on top cheese stacks fried coconut shavings and then put sugar on top of that that looks yum can i put that in my mouth please the rice is not just basic rice it's got layers oh that is so good and they have one more so these are like little pounded mochi balls and she's gonna mix that up we've got some sugar in there some peanut and some black sesame seeds let's try it out oh it's like the myanmar version of chex mix super simple just a few ingredients but outstanding taste and very addictive [Music] [Applause] nightfall has come and this is really when the market comes to life our mission today buy a fish as a gift then give it to an ocean farmer tomorrow look at that fish this is uh maybe google will know let me try this again google camera sketophagus argos is that ryan oh okay it looks great it's a nice fish and now my hand will smell like that for eternity here i think this is a skate look guys i don't know that much about fish and fish science it looks like a long fish here though oh it's a good looking fish anyone want this fish it's a good fish this is a parrot fish do you have a name for it mary hew hot david what's this one mate that can get very confusing at the restaurant when you order i'm gonna try to have this grilled up tomorrow one that day and now the hardcore negotiation i'm gonna stick out my money and then when you stop grabbing i'm gonna take the fish how much okay we got some help here five thousand is that in wow it's much less than i thought all right bye-bye upbeat music b-roll of the city it's the next day we've come to mitney market for 60 years they've been selling fish produce and some of the best street food breakfast you'll find anywhere oh baby don't cry i call this one the burmese krispy kreme [Music] over here this street food innovator has cooked dozens of rice flour pancakes at home here she stuffs them full of black bean sticky rice shredded coconut sugar and black sesame seeds guys check this out have you ever seen a more rich heavy looking delicious breakfast treat let's try it out oh my god i mean this completes me it's really complete it's so good [Laughter] finally a local noodly dish unique to this region made from flat noodles fried with bean sprouts chickpeas red chili oil blood cake shrimps and a chicken egg it's an awesome looking breakfast she put it on a traditional leaf and then on a traditional newspaper as they did thousands of years ago here we go no that's so delicious i don't even know how do you explain little salty little savory little sweet little spicy just a wonderful trifecta this is delicious i'm gonna finish my breakfast and then we'll see you at the dry fish place is that what's next fresh seafood markets are great but if you can't keep your fish fresh or you don't have a refrigerator you might do what the folks at dawui khan village do preserving fish on a massive scale in a place the locals refer to as the fish cemetery guys unbelievable check this out as far as you can see there are huge trays of fish being dried thousands of fish dozens of different species anywhere they have a flat surface they are setting fish so we're going to take a look around see how it all works and let's go do that now the first thing you might notice here the same thing my tinder dates notice about me it's pungent and also like me it takes some time to get used to they've just kind of fleshed it out they've taken out the insides they reduced it down to kind of one finish layer and then they put it over these posts here fish once it's dry it's going to last forever that's the idea i think it'll actually also maintain some of that pungent aroma as well i'll find out soon i'm actually going to be tasting it all right let's check out some more fish so here they have almost kind of a fish flower they've created i'm not sure what kind of fish this is this is the fresh version over here this has probably been on here a day you can see the dryness has really set in oh right here these ladies are are getting it done hello i think they put a bunch of turmeric on here it's kind of dyed them yellow and then right now they're putting them out in the sun to dry out more fish more other fish more fish oh why'd you stop roll the tire yeah [Music] we have just wandered now into the production area when you're in one inch of fish fluid don't wear shoes with holes in them that was a terrible idea hi ladies everyone thinks it's hilarious i'm in here i think it's kind of hilarious too right here she grabs the skate she peels off the wing peels off the front and other wing the next step is they cut it in such a way to create the most surface area so it actually dries it doesn't just rot this timeless craft has been around for decades providing employment for generations of local families after they've cut the wings off after they've banned it out they let it dry for a couple of days finally once you toast it up it becomes this this is actually a popular local drinking food and i'm gonna just try it out oh it's pretty good it breaks off like a cracker it really dries your mouth out but it's really not overly fishy like when you walk around here you're like oh my god this is fishy there's no really fishy crackery and smoky very nice so now we know where the fish are sold we know where the fish are processed but we have no idea where these fish come from sure they come from the ocean that's obvious but some fish a select few hail from mick's remote ocean farms [Music] the ocean farm we're heading to now is a one-hour boat ride from nick's mainland coast life on the ocean is tough far from many of life's conveniences far from community separated from family it's no wonder that floating fish farms like these are becoming less and less common in southeast asia making it an honor for me to witness it firsthand oh i see fish out here this is a whole floating man-made structure with a bunch of these little cut out squares inside they each have a net and then some fish oh they're going to try to feed it our guide and captain of this floating mass mr ang win is is your house this is his house he lives out here on the water what's the best part about having a water farm he said what kind of dumb question is that he's lived here for 10 years now it's him his wife a couple friends 1.9 dogs and the fish can he make him come up there we go they're coming to life now watch us he's gonna grab one yeah oh you're like aquaman over here [Music] here he's mainly raising grouper carp and red snapper but just like my junk drawer at home he has a miscellaneous bin for hard to categorize fish there's a shark right here different tropical fish oh there's even a crab right there guys look oh this is so weird it is a freaky looking fish look it's so adorable they believe that on the island long ago it was a fruit that fell from the tree and then became a fish that's backed up by science this is the most unique fish but what about his most expensive one a hundred dollars for a grouper that's more than i expected how long does it take to raise the grouper until you can sell it [Music] four years my gosh that is quite a time investment so you've been with these fish for four years do you name them no they all look the same anyways i have a more serious question if it's maybe a friday night you happen to have a few drinks like how many times have you been drunk and kind of just fell into one of these he says he's fallen many times drunken and not drunken you fall in you get out this is life on the water man this is water world water world mr winn has invited us to stay for dinner it's now the perfect time to present my dazzling parrot fish gift brought you a fish is that okay yeah i didn't notice this when i got it but look at this part and then this beak it looks like a bird anyways enough of that please do the do some stuff to the fish oh no he said the fish is rotten no they don't i don't know it all just smells like fish to me oh no no good no no oh i am the worst gift giver can i buy a fish from you maybe that's a better gift okay okay [Music] joining us at the table mr wins wife and our local producer google we're doing it are you even hungry i'm gonna tell you bobby he is very very hunky okay great let's let's eat can i grab this with my hand awesome i'm doing it right he says take a look at that i'm gonna try this fish out this looks real good [Music] you're a good cook he's like yeah whatever can i ask you this is actually from here do you ever eat these they wouldn't kill it for themselves they only eat if the fish are dead of natural causes they have a heart attack or something dish two mussels pulled straight from the sea wow he cleans them then throws them in a pot with lemongrass msg and salt so i just grab these out by hand open it up separate that and that's good too fresh touch of lemongrass that's very nice finally the very popular local skate fish simply stuck on a skewer and grilled over a charcoal pit so the whole thing has been grilled and then he kind of just rips the pieces off it's okay they'll pop like that that's where they make leather bags from really you can make a bag from this oh from this part here i'm on a gucci skate bag here is the the meat kind of from the wings oh it smells terrific it just smells fatty and super smoky from the the charcoal yeah super unique the meat is super fatty and kind of oily but then the skin has a crunch to it i like it how'd you become a fish farmer the whole family's been in the fishing business but he's the first to start this sort of a fish farm do you like to just be away from everybody this is his way of making a living so um it is way of life now how did you guys meet then their fathers are friends so they decided to marry each other's children off wow i mean i wouldn't trust my mom to pick my outfit so i think we did it i think we tried everything food was very good and uh it's probably a little strange having us in your home but for me it was awesome to kind of get to see how you live and what it's like out here on the coast of myanmar so thank you so much both of you our best ever myanmar food tour continues moving from myanmar's southern coastal city of nick to the country's highlands in pandaya [Music] here it is a lot more cold than i thought so i bought a jacket from a local shop i look like a rambo who accidentally went to myanmar instead of vietnam here i'll be learning the hard way that in myanmar's back country if you want to eat you got to put your light on the line [Applause] around here there's no pleasure without a little bit of pain good oh my god or in my case a lot of pain guys i brought more food you're okay today we're taking the path of most resistance [Music] on a mission to hunt and eat like a local just do what the locals do this is the simple life but there's nothing easy about it so let's get started [Music] today i'm on a mission to hunt down some of myanmar's nastiest predators my hunting guide is somewhere in this quiet mountain village [Music] this place is home to the palong people an ethnic minority living in the shan state of myanmar before getting my hunting lesson i've spotted something special [Applause] well guys we've made it to the top of the mountain right now they're having a festival everyone sounds very excited you can hear the uproarious cheers [Applause] we've stumbled upon a rare event a local sports competition taking place once every few years and being attended by 11 different villages the event is for kids the winners get medals cash prizes or cool new school accessories but rather than conjuring up my own childhood memories of 13th place ribbons i'll be putting my complete focus on the food so this whole thing this is made from chickpea tofu it has a kind of rubbery quality to it where you want to poke it but you can't because it's not yours and so don't she's going to cut each piece peels off the top skin and then here she's gonna use this to cut it in the final shape this dish starts with a brick of chickpea tofu cut down to size add fried tofu tofu paste a mixture of garlic and salt water vinegar chili flakes and chili oil it's a dish for all ages and for all participants even if you got 13th place and everyone laughed at you that's fine you still deserve a ribbon and a fun snack wow i'm going to kind of mix it up yeah give it a nice mix let's try it out oh that's pretty good very mild not too intense plenty spicy i'm gonna get some tofu on here i like it nothing crazy a little oily mostly just some salt flavor some chili and then that's kind of all the flavor this is awesome i'm gonna look around and see what else we can find vibrant colorful traditional dress only make a rare appearance at events like this the older generation strut with pride dressed to the nines honoring those who came before them as in most parts of myanmar the majority of people here are buddhists so naturally the village gatherings take place near the central buddhist temple there's a pretty good amount of food here we've stumbled into a variety a table with so much happening but here this is what i'm after this is a papaya salad it starts with shredded green papaya some chickpea powder chili oil crispy leek root salt msg red eye beans salt and fermented tamarind sauce add even more chickpea powder then mix thoroughly until the entire dish is soaking with flavor i just realized that i don't exactly fit in like some of them look happy some are curious that kid in particular looks a little bit sad this is awesome local food yo check it out nice small bite to start with can i be honest to the people who say i say everything is yummy this one takes a little bit of getting used to i don't know how to explain it it's kind of nutty a little earthy and spicy but it tastes like old mushrooms or something like that i thought it would taste a little more fresh but it's the opposite of fresh it has um kind of a fermented quality to it super interesting flavor though very different from the last one i had that one was more light a little sweet this one's like hardcore by now the competitions have finished the award ceremonies are over and even the kids who didn't win still have parents who love them and validate them it's time to leave the main stage and move toward the main course boom we are in the kitchen this is the operation center this is where all the action is happening they've been cooking all morning and they're getting ready to bring the food out to everybody who's waiting they're hungry here we have a curry made of pork and fermented bamboo shoots then this is the second dish this is a chicken curry and he's also portioning that for the dinner guests right now the village elders prepare a hearty lunch that means one village prepares enough food for 10 others a huge undertaking look at that that looks so good but around here cooking at scale doesn't mean sacrificing quality that's quite a feast you've all done yourself it's okay [Applause] [Music] oh well hi everybody i hope you're enjoying the food so far i got some more here and that definitely goes in this bowl right here okay bon appetit enjoy [Music] oh hey everybody how's the food is it good there's some more then all right take care cool guys i brought more food look at this you're okay [Music] wow such a treat to be able to come here so randomly be accepted by everybody and give them some food help out a little bit although mostly i freaked people out so everybody's eating it looks like the move is you get some rice in a bowl or a plate are you good oh you're leaving oh your mom said you have to stay there we've all been there kid oh there's tons of pork skin and pork fat on here you just mix the pork a little bit with the rice and try it out [Music] super gaming it's super intense it's yummy oh thank you she scooped me up some chicken here lots of greens in there i'm gonna try that out [Music] i mean a little spice to it low sweet a little salty everything just goes with a huge amount of rice wow it's so yummy [Music] so right now we're at the place where they where the ants are so right now we're at the place where the ants are and we're gonna see the ants ant-man ant-man wait what's your shirt say meet shine on a sayaki villager he's managed to build himself a house in the countryside amid thy nature he stays here to guard his family on this trip i've forgotten the usual local guide in favor of going back to my travel routes finding ways to break through communication barriers without actually speaking the same language shine is more of a doer and less of a talker anyways that's probably why he didn't mention anything about today's menu they set up this structure for collecting the ants what i think is gonna happen is that we're going to smoke out these ants but i don't know for sure we're going to find out you're learning with me right now follow him mm-hmm oh he's going to climb up oh is that a nest is that an ant nest i have no idea how this goes together exactly but we've got smoke over there and we've got a guy in the tree over here oh dude these ants bite follow him let's go let's go this is an ant nest and there's an ant [Music] oh this one's still biting my ankle cool hey i think i figured out how it works so there's literally millions of ants on here they get their legs baked off and the ants are just kind of falling down under this tin right here do it oh my god he's got ants crawling all over the place here i'll help you oh my god you're just used to this huh hold on i think you have some ants in your armpit dude oh we have to bleep everything out from this video gosh darn these little buggers huh look at this so you can see all these ant eggs it's like a big wet mast oh cut can you put some in my hand he said we can eat it right now oh it's super warm it's all cooked up i mean they're not moving anymore they're dead the ones that keep biting me are not dead [Music] oh they're so sour but there's some other funky flavor in there it's like kind of earthy maybe some of the paint from this tin but the main flavor is just super sour like a lime or something like that that's nuts this is gonna join a different dish probably with sticky rice something like that we'll find out i'm just gonna try some eggs [Music] they pop open like caviar i think those are the best part really clean taste just nice and citrusy they kind of pop open like little girl [Laughter] the fallen ants are packed in banana leaves from here they're ready to cook at his granny's house but while we're out here cheyenne wants to show me his favorite hunting tool now this is a homemade bb gun if you look closely it's so fascinating like this is just a hydraulic press right here i think he needs to pump air into that to take a shot here you can see the hydraulic gauge so he knows if there's enough pressure inside he's got bbs here on a little magnet i'm not sure what he's planning on hunting probably some kind of bird or small rodent you really think you can do this with like three of us following you being all loud most of the mechanisms are made from recycled bicycle parts even the bb bullets before we head out he fires off a couple rounds to show me what his schwinn ar is really made of [Music] did you get it oh look at this it's a good shot this tree is bleeding i think it's going to be okay all right can you do that to an animal now you ready okay oh what the [ __ ] do you speak english no no let's go all right so right now we're looking for some birds maybe a squirrel reindeer alligator octopus [Music] i'm not really looking i'm just trying to look cool [Music] he found a clue [Music] oh he's just eating some fruit okay never mind thanks man it's a it's a fruit [Music] up here oh it's so tiny i don't know [Music] right now we're in your kitchen first of all thank you for letting me in your home second of all i'm sorry to say this but i discovered that you've been doing drugs [Laughter] yo that's a fat clown hey youtube can't be demonetized because it's cultural just do what the locals do the main dish for today's dinner ants first peanuts are mashed in a mortar and pestle then garlic and chili together those are the main ingredients super easy you can even make it yourself at home i like a chef that smokes while he cooks just please don't ash in the food dude are you lighting up another cigarette what in a hot pan he adds oil turmeric powder and mashed peanuts price it up a little then adds mashed garlic and chili the big move right now and he's going to dump them in oh it's going to be a great sizzle dude those ants are popping some ants and eggs it's all exploding oh my god even in their death they're still hurting me next he's coming in with the salt down you don't want to put the salt too early because it'll extract all the moisture from your hands this is all done it's fried up can i try some how do i try it yeah pull it off oh it's pretty hot wow very similar tastes still quite sour now it's just more balance of flavors and then a little bit of crunch with the peanut obviously i don't know i'm very curious to find out if they just eat this plain or if they're going to mix that up with some rice instead because the taste is pretty powerful all right well good luck bye [Music] next beef that's been preserved by drawing perfect if you don't have a refrigerator granny cooks the beef in hot charcoal cinders on the side she mashes a combination of garlic chili salt and msg when the beef is cooked she beats her meat tears it into little pieces and mixes it all together [Music] we're doing it we're having dinner i want to say first of all thank you so much for inviting me into your home i understand that you don't know english so don't feel obliged to respond oh and this is your granny um so right here i like this it's like a communal platter we put some banana leaves down some rice on top with a bird our bite-sized fowl is cleaned and feathered put on a skewer season simply with salt and placed over the fire [Music] let's jump into it okay that might mean eat let's try it out mmm the rice tastes like rice so this one is the beef jerky plop it on there and here i go it's very salty and very spicy it's got some cake man it made my voice deed [Laughter] he's going for the bird he's having some right now oh here's a little bit of breast meat i think there we go [Music] everything's splendid everything has a little bit similar taste like spicy salty and kind of fresh last of all these ants are really supposed to go with the rice and eat that's what's up man that's the way to do it it's such a strong flavor you got to cut the flavor with a bit of rice it's quite nice super spicy little sour nice crunch of peanut in there and to wash it all down some tea if you guys don't mind i think we can keep eating i'm going to cut to my conclusion let's do that out here in myanmar's back country each day is earned [Music] hard work is a way of life and survival depends on it but that's not such a bad thing there's a visceral sense of community and accomplishment that comes from building something with your own two hands from hunting or foraging for your own food or from cooking a meal for a lost friend making a complete stranger feel a little less out of place [Music] today our best ever myanmar food tour continues in pindaya home of the danu people here we're getting a close-up look at rural myanmar life from completely unexpected market food boiled cow skin do you want to try some to a countryside celebration on a massive scale it's an epic feast for the ages where an entire village is working together to create a once-in-a-lifetime feast time to eat [Music] in these mountains congo market is the epicenter of hustle and also bustle once a week for almost a century local tribes have exchanged produce food and culture inside there's ready to eat food that's been seen or tasted by few outsiders before welcome to kangbo market today we're doing it all soon we're going to be joining a local family for an epic feast part of which i believe we're going to have to hunt down ourselves so before we do that i need to fuel up on carbohydrates and other local food here at the market let's go here this is an egg lady she's had to transport all her eggs to the market and how else would you do that except for get a big crate layer the eggs in there and then in between put all these rice husks so they don't break it's not exotic or crazy but it's cute next i think you buy here you'll find the standard market fair veggies fruits protein but you'll also find displays containing unique mountainy products like local herbs flowers and ants wait what ants we saw in our last video how the ants were extracted from the tree there's ants all over me and you can see it's not an unusual thing here why don't they have ants in the usa can we petition whole foods they're organic high in protein [Music] hey check this out nice huh we need the same gloves that will be perfect so here i think this is like a donut can i try one these bad boys are a deep fried mixture of glutinous rice and rice flour drizzled with jaggery syrup basically like molasses that's really good it's completely saturated when you bite into it it's like a sponge releasing more thick sweet syrupy molasses that is pure sugar somehow it's not a big deal for the people here they're walking around a lot they're getting a lot of daily motion for me this could be a problem um young cow yeah she's like ah i know i made that [ __ ] [Applause] here we've got a bunch of beef beef parts skin and here beef skin salad could i have one of these please they've got the cow skin here and it's been kind of colored by turmeric coriander and some crushed peanuts as well do you want to try some oh the texture hits you right away but that got some chew to it it's savory you taste some peanut then some fresh coriander it's kind of all over the place but as for salads go my daughter said i should eat more salads and i think this is exactly what he meant um [Music] this is a local specialty turmeric rice what when's the last time you had that not since you were a kid i bet the rice i think they cook it with turmeric because when they pull it out of the cooler it's already yellow then they slam it with some fish flakes some scallions and some chili oils but over here they're like what we gotta put some rice with our rice this is like puffed rice so that's gonna add some texture grab a spoonful it's gonna walk you through every step put in mouth [Music] oh it's very nice the puffed rice offers a welcome crunch low oily little savory some great texture but that's it just a nice energy packed morning treat to get your day started on the side chive roots i haven't seen them anywhere in my life until i came here and i always see them everywhere oh that's a good combo these people know how to rock a breakfast final breakfast i swear we've come to a noodle shop here they have flat noodles with tofu paste if you're wondering what else is in there well literally zoom in everything it starts with a pot of homemade broth then a handful of cabbage and flat noodles [Music] this joined forces with tofu paste chicken curry sweet thick soy sauce msg salt normal ass soy sauce garlic oil crushed peanuts and scallions that's a lot of stuff first thing you gotta do just give it a mix there are layers of flavor on here here we go that is an addictive just thick party noodle and just crazy thick sauce on there everything just tastes fresh and savory and a little msge which i like there's a lot of msg haters out there guys it's not gonna kill you unless you're allergic to it but just don't eat stuff you're allergic to in small quantities i think msg is fine you know it's like uh cigars or meth don't do a lot of meth do a little bit of meth duh that's it you guys get your own noodles leave me alone with my belly half full i am ready to join the danu people in their village we're on our way to a village now we've come to a village house here and they said we're eating pork that's great i love pork where's the pork and they said right here after hearing that i ate four breakfasts the locals gave up any hopes of me catching anything and caught the pig themselves by the way this pig is eating tea leaves he's probably like oh my god i never could eat tea leaves best day of my life this is great why they even let me do this the danu people are hardened by life in the mountains their name comes from the word donkey which means brave archers in the past they were courageous warriors but these days they've traded warring for peaceful countryside light living off the land and surrounded by forests guys welcome to what is truly a shitty job so here we have the pig intestines and i always wonder how they clean it out here he's literally just filling the intestine with warm water oh and everything just comes out everything he ate anyways they seem to rinse out pretty well after this they're gonna boil it make sure it's super clean i'm gonna leave you to it i feel like i'm distracting you at this point bye after the pig is processed it's delivered to the main danube kitchen in this village there are nearly 300 people living in 60 homes their income largely comes from racing cattle and growing tea cooking is underway this is a huge undertaking everybody in the village is pitching in right now we have all these pig parts and we're gonna make several different dishes out of it right here what is this it's like a reverse bong meet our head chef mr kong a man with great cooking skills and even greater fashion i like your headband by the way it's nice so right now we have pork trotters here in the wok these trotters are super meaty so this is going to take the longest while we wait for the trotters i've been invited to join a tea picking party [Music] right now we're in this serene really great tea field here is a tea leaf plant or it's a tea plant and we're just kind of picking the leaves off it i actually don't know that much about tea because i'm not an alcoholic who's become sober yet those are the only people who drink tea right i'm trying to see if there's any patterns out she's doing it she's just kind of grabbing random leaves how do you know which is a good leaf okay what about this yes oh i thought i'd showed you a bad one how about that yes bloop this one get out of here don't want it i think i accidentally planted a tree huh oh bye it must have run out of good leaves yeah it's not because of me after the tea is collected the leaves are boiled to remove any bitterness then they're topped with lime juice along with tomatoes and green chilies mixed with fried beans peanuts cabbage and a touch of peanut oil this is the woman behind the tea salad miss masu remember this guy that's her husband wow we got a whole family thing going on here this is very unique because every other part of the country they're gonna pickle the tea leaves first here all they're doing is boiling it and then boom i'm gonna try it out right now [Music] i don't eat a lot of salads on my show unless they're made out of animal skin but i can make an exception here this is a very good salad it doesn't taste like tea for some reason i thought it would taste like tea it just tastes like normal greens i love it earlier we saw the intestine extraction now they've been moved over here to the kitchen and eventually they're going to cook inside the bamboo sir is this all you always cook your intestines he's saying usually they cook it either in bamboo or in like a clay pot on your list of favorites what number are we coming in at with the intestine nine i mean are we even making nine dishes that's probably last place oh guys check it out there's so much action going on here we got the guy blowing in the fire we got this guy doing some nice mixing bamboo boiling skewers roasting and here there's a whole face of a pig looking at me what guys we're doing it we just have one last food to make before the meal begins this one is the pig blood which they boiled it in a plastic bag so you know that's good for the environment it's reusing right now all this baked blood cake is going in there a little bit of salt sprinkle that in minced coriander going on top super simple recipe wow that's some good-looking pig blood want to try it out good that is yummy super simple but super good a little bit of oil a little fried up fresh coriander i like that i think we're ready for a feast yeah let's do this [Music] food is served villagers begin to gather as i join my host family for our meal who's this sam it's your son three sons yes wow you're a busy guy with the kids they require a lot of attention that's what i mean let's eat a little store okay this is a pig face salad this um salad a word they use pretty loosely in these parts starts by cooking a whole pig head for two hours then chop chop chop toss in some secret pig sauce and bam face salad let me try it out that's pretty good man i mean it's super heavy it's pure fat but it's got a little tang to it dude that's great a young cow that means yummy yeah i speak the local language it's not a big deal calm down in the comments guys the next thing i'm going to reveal is right here in this treasure chest made out of bamboo a food that is his ninth favorite of all the dishes here this is the pork intestine wow would you take a look after chopping the intestines they're set inside a bamboo pot with minced garlic msg mashed tomatoes and sawtooth coriander cooking inside the bamboo until the flavors begin to dance together i got your eyes on my mind it smells super fresh now the tables have turned all these people are just seeing and testing i was there for the dirty business i'm gonna try it out all right that's great yo he crushed it great springy texture it's like you're eating a bunch of little calamari but with great seasonings my man that is not number nine that is number three yeah [Music] really you like it two it went up to two yes that's incredible [Music] for our final dish stewed pig trotters simmering with garlic salt ginger and star anise there's still some hair on here all right just kind of not through it here we go that's yummy it's thick and gelatinous but it has a nice taste to it super heavy and fatty it has collagen which is good for your skin and it has hair which is good for my hair problem let me know in the comments down below we kind of did it it is amazing from one pig they've made 10 different dishes maybe overall i gotta say you family your community crushed it i've never seen anything like this in two hours you guys took a pig and you turned it into a feast for 40 people just want to say thank you can we do an elbow pound [Music] exotic food there's no better place than southeast asia to find food that'll make your average midwesterner do a double take i tasted really good born and raised in central minnesota i grew up on meat and potatoes the craziest thing i ate growing up was hot dish now that i've lived in asia for the last 11 years the foods that once seemed unthinkable are now my new favorites today we're back in myanmar on a mission to uncover the most unique most unexpected dishes i've seen anywhere from roadside insects to whatever the heck this thing is i'm putting my mouth on the line gambling with my gut all to show you really great food cannot be judged by appearance alone let's eat well hey guys good morning and welcome to mandalay [Music] the economic center of the north and the second largest city in myanmar with a population of more than one million with that many people to feed i'm bound to find some unique tasty treats this shop very unique i've seen something like this in vietnam before this place has been here over 50 years second generation still no signboard the name of the shop is just the shop across from the yunnan buddhist temple no signage because here's the thing if you don't exist you don't have to pay taxes let's just jump into it our first dish of the day their best seller pork brain noodles this brainy dish starts off with a simple flat noodle then soy sauce then homemade spicy pork curry the pig brain scallions and fried garlic i'm gonna just give that a mix oh yeah like look at that man i'm going to start with just the noodles nice soft flat little spicy little chili oil in there no super strong flavors we've got some lime here i think i'm going to add a little bit of that the noodles with the brain this should change the flavor profile just a little bit okay i like it super creamy the brain almost tastes like chicken they say it's a secret recipe but it doesn't look that complicated our second dish cutting to the chase with a boiled pork brain bowl if those noodles are impeding your ability to scoop massive amounts of brain matter into your mouth this is the dish for you it's basically just chicken broth and a whole think tank of pork brains this looks intimidating check it out they say the more wrinkles your brain has the smarter you are is that monk still there oh man our background is gone no it's just an empty wall i gotta say probably top three big brains i've ever had i think the best move though is still to probably mix that with some noodles but that's it we've done it guys it's been a great video thank you for coming to mandalay it's uh it's just a two minute video this time so and be sure to check out our second channel more okay here's the truth today in mandalay it's all about exotic foods exotic to who well mainly to me it's kind of normal to folks around here the brains certainly not something i grew up with so we're gonna go throughout the city and even outside of the city to see what kind of extreme interesting unique or maybe even bizarre foods we can find are you ready i'm ready also and then they'll think i took a bite we're moving out of the bustling city and heading to join nafa village a couple hours outside mandalay this old village is as traditional as it gets but one thing i did not expect to find here a village bar this is the local watering hole where locals come to throw some back and get some one-of-a-kind food at the same time [Music] guys after breakfast we've now come out to drinapa village my guys here i don't know if they're having a good morning or still having a good night from the night before oh thank you i'll tell you something that's not water the local favorite comes from these palm trees emitting a sap that's easily fermented and turned into powerful hangover inducing alcohol 24 ever he said 24 ever i think that's a new way of saying 24 7. all day every day 365. what's up in hizzy before i get too buzzed at 10 a.m in the morning we're gonna see one of the locals will climb up the tree and show us how they extract the tree juice all right bye-bye cool these guys are so wasted according to the locals in order to collect that sweet sweet palm nectar i must climb this somewhat treacherous looking ladder here to demonstrate the latter this guy named what do you say his name is nice to meet you they said just a few days ago oh it's not funny they said just a few days ago someone fell from the tree and broke their leg there's a real element of danger here he's gonna go up there go ahead yeah he's gonna exchange these pots at the very top of the tree there's all these uh branches that have been cut and they're kind of leaking sap from the heavens i'm just saying i'm really impressed like the lengths they where they go to be able to drink oh he's done it so now with four clay pots full he's gonna come down hopefully not dripping a single drop oh there's a few drops okay but he's not going to drip like 10 drops okay that's a lot of troughs man look at all this that's incredible here in these clay pots all this sap comes from the tree cornea it's very sweet that'll get you diabetes so i'm being told within just a few hours they add something to it to speed up the fermentation process and from there it's time to party you ready to drink yeah [Music] my life once again has meaning how's it going here's the problem what are you guys eating you need to eat something with all this booze you're drinking my next mission if i choose to accept it is to go on a dangerous hunt into the wild to find some food for my buddies at the local bar i'll be back soon joining me a local hunter and expert marksman wielding his weapon of choice a uh long stick with a knife tied to the end and he can poke animals with that cool the hunt has begun but already we've been met with our first obstacle we're on foot but the hunting grounds are miles away luckily i'm able to hitch a ride on a local grocery car even better i found some snacks i can stockpile from my friends at the bar i'm here with my man angulmie i have my tool here it's a homemade slingshot check that out it's made with wood and then from there these big rubber straps are connected with just a thousand rubber bands it is a lethal homemade weapon we're hunting anything could happen especially nothing ammunition right now we're on the hunt for a fairly common countryside rodent field rats a protein packed food source in these parts the only problem is sneaking up on them [Music] oops [Music] can we catch a cow instead all right let's keep going this is so [ __ ] dumb what are we doing wow we've been out here a couple hours now it's hot unforgiving and so far no rats no creatures of any kind have we seen under this blazing hot sun we're hunting anything could happen especially nothing all right do you have another solution what do you think we should do oh dude if you just had a bag of rats this whole time look you could have just given me oh there's blood too yeah enough for this hunting what are we thinking come on ridiculous the hunt wasn't as epic as i'd hoped but still we're not coming back empty-handed a bag full of rats from my comrades will light up that bamboo bar with excitement and hours of singing anyways enough acting let's get back while cooking is underway i came across another unidentifiable alien food in the village this thing it's actually a smoked hair very similar to a rabbit but kind of with longer legs and flatter and darker joke that's a bad joke super unique they're going to actually prepare this food for us as well that's sick man good find oh yeah we can shake hands more formal here we can be formal the hair will be made into a hair salad first it's roasted for five minutes then chopped into little bits fleshy and meaty bits are mixed in a bowl along with tomato onion fresh lime salt and oil here we've got some palm sap candy that she's making you can see it's already become a little bit more viscous and brown wow what is this a leaf from a tree can you do it a different direction kid eventually this is going to really thicken up and be kind of a sweet candy it's just about does she know that word next rat meat i can tell those buzzed up bar goers are gonna love this the rats are first skinned and cleaned then marinated with turmeric msg and salt they can be prepared two ways deep fried or grilled we'll go with fried here we are it is finally time to eat i can't say i'm not a little bit disappointed after all this preparation all this work the guys who i was coming here to hang out with to drink with to eat with they've all gone home there's this guy over here he's taking a nap but the food's still here i'm gonna try it out myself to begin with a little bit more palm wine we got a pretty interesting spread here we've got the palm sap that's been reduced down into that's kind of uh the palm candy this one i'm not going to give it away can you guys guess it's not a fruit it's not a vegetable that's right it's rat meat this is some lungs heart what is this even is that a liver producers in the background just going don't no don't do it you brought me here it tastes a little chocolatey oh there's a liver taste too some thigh meat here [Music] oily kind of fatty meat i hate to be that guy but it tastes like fried chicken i'm definitely not gonna regret this right all right and then here the hair i think this meat is gonna be hard as heck let's find out for sure [Music] oh that's pretty good it is like rabbit jerky i mean hair jerky if you're out here like me hanging out drinking all morning it's nice to have something to chew on last of all dessert right here the palm sweet reduction that's become they look like little brownies but they're dense and heavy let's try it out that's pretty good it has that nice caramelized almost burnt flavor to it super sweet like brown sugar that's it it's pretty straightforward food guys rat meat hair meat palm sweets insane village bar food i did not expect to see here or anywhere for that matter [Music] with my mission accomplished i'm heading back to the city for more here in chinatown when the sun goes down the vibe all changes you'll find food stalls fruits vegetables mobile vendors carrying their restaurants atop their heads and some of my favorite far out local cuisine starting with a fish skin salad well hi ma'am how you doing we saw you walking on the street you had your whole food supplies on your head and then now it's on the table she's making a fried fish type of salad and she's gonna show us right now one of these sign language effective oh she doesn't know what i'm saying she's got a kind of a vermicelli salad and then the secret ingredient right here battered fried fish that she's just kind of breaking up putting inside chili's on top of that so this is it super interesting because from the whole fish she's like i don't need no fish head i don't need no fish meat just give me the skin and i'm going to make a beautiful dish from that i'm going to try just the battered skin that's yummy it has a hint of a fishy seafood flavor otherwise it's just crunchy it's like a crouton for your salad i'm gonna get a nice bite right here with the vermicelli try it out [Music] no joke that's quite good the vermicelli noodle salad is delicious super spicy but once you have the crispy fish skin on there you don't even realize it's fish skin at all thank you folks throughout southeast asia love their bugs not everyone chooses the bug life but those who do are loyal followers this vendor is selling a nearly mutated looking alien creature bigger than i have ever seen before boom last location of the evening we've come here she's selling crickets these are the biggest qrikets i've ever seen in my life i had giant crickets with mark wiens but sorry mark these are even bigger these crickets are so big that she can actually take off the legs and sell just the legs like it was a chicken drumstick i'm gonna work my way up to these these are the beasts the big daddies boom it's happening she puts it in the can that's a huge portion and then she puts it in this bowl she puts in some fried curry leaves some fried garlic and then a lot of chili oh my god what are you trying to do oh i'm really gonna regret that later she puts it in a plastic bowl thank you jesus okay here we go it's all meaty the flavors are quite nice this would be perfect with beer it's saltine crazy spicy what you see in front here these are the male crickets this is the giantess crit oh sure it's so big look i'm gonna put it in the palm of my hand we'll get a close-up you can see it so this is my hand and in my hand you can see it's it's covering almost my whole hand even my wedding ring wait hold on they have been fried they've been seasoned with garlic and ginger and i'm gonna try it right now it's like laced potato chips it's mostly air in the bag in the cricket too also mostly heir similar to the legs very papering super fried crunchy and a little salty behind here on this exclusive vip table these are the female crickets what's special about them these are full of eggs it looks like little rice grains that are yellow all right let's try it out you know i kind of like it it's got a little more flavor it's a little juicy you can definitely tell it has something a little extra a young cow a young cow a young cow a young cow we did it [Music] our best ever myanmar food tour comes to a close as i head to one of the country's monasteries to uncover the food secrets of buddhist monks behind me are all the elder monks after they began eating the head monk gave me permission to eat here in myanmar 90 of the population is buddhist there are more monks here per capita than you'll find in any other country these are nuns from a local monastery and they're going around collecting food that's happening all over in myanmar the religion these people they are an inseparable part of everyday life throughout the country today for the first time i'll uncover the dietary practices taking place here traditions that few have seen before this might sound like a weird question but is there a favorite food that you're hoping somebody contributes but learning their secrets won't be easy i'll have to commit 100 transforming myself to become one of them becoming a monk [Music] 4 am no iphone alarms to greet the morning roosters perform their daily duty their first crows signaling that dawn is upon us life in the monastery begins good morning from mandalay in myanmar right now i don't know if i'm supposed to be quiet or not everyone's awake but it's like a holy place so let me take it down a notch right now they're preparing a fire behind me because they're gonna prepare breakfast for everybody everyone here has their own way of welcoming the day nearby villagers are cooking their breakfast in the monastery it's much the same but the monks will dine on a special recipe reserved for only them [Applause] this is the main breakfast dish it has water peanut oil the always present roselle leaves and this a vibrant orange colored mixture what is it i'll explain soon in the meantime the aroma from this mysterious dish has me completely captivated [Music] mandalay is myanmar's cultural and religious center for buddhism with numerous monasteries dotting the landscape along with more than 700 pagodas right now i'm in tarzan monastery housed here 75 monks in total from the ages of 35 to over 100 each man here has his own morning duties acts that contribute to the greater good of this community but when the food is ready they all take time to gather round [Music] okay morning all right now we're in the area where the monks eat behind me are all the elder monks the elder monks are not allowed to eat food that's been served by another monk it needs to be kind of served by a lay person so after the prayer me and another guy we lifted up the table put it back down and that kind of symbolizes a non-monk person serving them so they can then eat after they began eating the avid the head monk gave me permission to eat here but i cannot actually eat with the monks i'm not really doing like an in-depth food review but i do want to eat the food because it looks quite good actually this is pork pork and some fish in there this is what we saw them preparing it's a very common type of dish that you would see here i'm gonna try that out [Music] i'll tell you one thing you don't have to give up to be a monk here that's delicious food to be honest i don't know a ton about buddhism and that's why i'm here to kind of learn more about it things i've heard in the past where all monks cannot eat meat they can not do certain things although this morning already i see some people are eating meat i saw a guy walking by earlier who was smoking a cigar so that seems to be okay so to get a more close intimate experience with the monks i need to become a monk in a way not purely but i can give it a go let's see a lump they're quick eaters they're like me we have something in common [Music] the history of buddhism in myanmar extends back more than 2 000 years everywhere i go throughout the country i can see and feel its influence temples pagodas statues people worshiping monks and nuns performing their daily rituals men and women young and old most everyone partakes at some level [Music] here in myanmar every man is expected to serve as a monk twice in his life how's it look awesome once as a novice from the ages of 10 to 16. next they're expected to serve as an ordained monk after which they can decide to return to normal life or stay and serve [Music] first of all thank you for having me here today welcoming me to the monastery every new monk needs a mentor and he is mine you pin yarseka he's been a monk for three years his main duty in the monastery is taking care of the cookies what are monks not supposed to do because i've seen people eating some meat i've seen people smoking so what is uh absolutely forbidden as a monk yeti alcohol no close physical contact with females and also respecting the elders he may be younger than you in real life but because he's been in monkhood longer than you you should pay him respect likewise he has to pay respect to the ones who's been a monk longer than him you've been here three years how long did it take you to get used to the new lifestyle and new routines that are part of being a monk the first week was the hardest but then after a month it normalized it's all about having control because he is eating the food from all the donors and the villagers around he has to remind himself to send loving kindness to the people who are doing good deed to the monastery [Music] one of the foundational daily practices here is collecting alms every morning wrapped in their traditional garb these men carry alms bowls walking barefoot through the village calling out to the locals [Music] as we move out of the monastery villagers are already awaiting our arrival [Music] these are not wealthy people but they give anyways sharing food and using this opportunity to teach children about reverence [Music] why do people give you food why do they want to contribute because of good deeds and they gain good merit preach that if you donate food to the monks both in this life or in your next life you will be the gift of beauty the gift of wealth the gift of longevity good health and good mind is there a favorite food that you're hoping somebody contributes is that allowed i don't not really because lord buddha taught them that it's all about you have to eat whatever's been given to you what about if it's pouring if it's raining are you still going out in the rain [Applause] [Music] my aim is simple join these men and have this experience genuinely and unironically i'm well aware that i look ridiculous i feel ridiculous too but on this day i felt no judgment from the villagers no amusement at my expense just an open welcoming by people completely unknown to me eager to share what little they have with a complete stranger maybe it's just [Music] rice boiled chickpeas fried samosas fried chicken tons of soups and salads there's more food here than we could eat in a day [Music] lunch begins after a prayer from the head monk everyone eats in silence it may surprise you to note that even with this hearty trove of food this meal is the last meal these monks will eat until breakfast the next day that's the way it is every day [Music] in buddhism this is considered a simple and moderate way of eating which is said to aid one's meditation and overall health this centuries-old tradition is not unlike the intermittent fasting craze that's become a popular trend today after eating they'll put all the leftovers in a big pot so every single separate dish from the day is now combined into one master dish remember our breakfast this is what we saw them preparing this is the very beginning of hin pound [Music] cooking it in peanut oil helps the food last longer since there are no refrigerators here [Music] it simmered for an hour combining the flavors and recipes from dozens of households and eventually served the next day for breakfast what's the difference between your life now and your life before becoming a monk when he was a lay person he was just hanging around and mucking about with his friends but now that he's become a monk he has become a lot more disciplined and a lot more religious did you drink before you were a monk okay do you ever miss that [Music] he does but because he's now a monk and his robes is a reminder that he's no longer a lay person he meditates and then he tries to remove all these thoughts and he tries very very hard to divert his attention i'd always thought of monks as those who had reached enlightenment thoughtful people people who move and speak with grace and precision people with complete control over their carnal cravings and those who are never seduced by temptations or desire what i found out is that monks are human they've dedicated their lives to daily discipline and striving for an ideal but there's nothing easy about it just like all of us they still have urges they still have temptations but through mindfulness through meditation and communal accountability they fight daily to stay aligned on the path to wisdom [Music] thank you thank you thank you amazing experience thank you for being my mentor [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Music] guys i'm here let's talk about it first of all cheers gotta say my time as a monk did not last long i have a lot of temptation and desires and then usually i just satisfy those desires by doing the thing i don't recommend it right now we've come to a street side restaurant in mandalay in myanmar we're gonna do a few course meal here and try out some of the local food first on the menu stir-fried chicken butts chicken butts stir-fried with ginger garlic chilies onion carrots and bell peppers the last time i had chicken butt i was in the philippines they just call it chicken ass there they're like what are you offended then don't eat the ass but i like to eat some mess so here we go oh it's a bony ass oh my god i gotta say that is flipping delicious i thought it was a funny food the taste is delicious it's fatty it's juicy and very nice with beer let's talk about this what an experience hanging out with the monks of myanmar i learned a lot the most valuable lesson i learned is that they're just people like everybody else they struggle as much as anyone else but they're just more dedicated than everyone else i believe in buddhism there are some teachings about balance right so i was a monk for half a day now i must balance that with grill dove and sparrow the birds are marinated in garlic ginger paprika and rice wine then grilled to perfection here doves the animal that symbolizes peace is now in many pieces actually four pieces that i can see can you see more no it's four i'm gonna give you guys a deep try it up oh with the sauce very nice sweet salty spicy and sour all in one really they hit all the main flavor compartments okay that's not what i'm really here for sparrow what do you eat this sparrow is so tiny well sparrow there's another bird i'd like you to meet called the swallow it's real crunchy oh it tastes like beef jerky it's a dark meat that's become so dry wow this is one of the most unique kind of random street foods i found anywhere i did not expect to see this at this restaurant that's wild what a way to finish a day of being pure and good [Music] unlike the monks i'm not ready to give up my worldly urges at least not all of them if myanmar has taught me anything it's that life requires balance balance with community friends and family balance with intoxicants balance in work balance and play and if you are a monk at least here in myanmar the one thing you don't have to give up is darn good food [Music] guys that is a wrap on myanmar i want to say thank you so much to google sitting next to me because of google we are able to come here and explore very unique sides of myanmar that i think many people have not seen before guys that's it for this one thank you so much for watching i'm going to see you next time a piece oh you said it very like properly at peace

Channel: Best Ever Food Review Show

Views: 5,547,135

Keywords: best ever food review show, befrs team, befrs, sonny side, myanmar, yangon, miek, south east asian country, asian country, asia, asian food, bizarre food, exotic food, traditional food of Myanmar, Monk diet, Monk life, street food in Myanmar, eating ants, pindaya, jungle food, market food, seafood, mandalay

Id: Yw0gldk64dA

Length: 93min 8sec (5588 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 05 2021