At Kanlaya’s Discover Sustainable Tribal Cuisine, their cultural key to survival.
Green Cuisine: Tribal survival depends on traditional cuisine based on sustainable ingredients and ancestral cooking. With close to Zero emissions. A beacon for the eco-conscious.
Join Kanlaya’s culinary expedition to discover and learn how the Tribal people’s cuisine is carbon neutral. Whilst we from the industrialized world rely on a Food Industry which contributes one third of global emissions, threatening our very existence :
The modern food industry, from field to fork, accounts for 35% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuels account for the rest. On an equivalent basis the Tribal Traditions of food procurement and cooking practised universally would scarcely deliver a single one per cent
At Kanlaya’s we live by the Tribal Benchmark of sustainable eating. We source our ingredients within sight, from the garden and orchard, fishing the river, and on its opposite bank we forage the jungle. At the Tribal Market we bring, buy and barter. Then we cook the traditional ways.
Procurement isn’t planned by Tribal people. They decide on the day according to season and weather, to plant, to harvest, to forage or fish, to hunt or to trade at the market. Or to look in their larder, for dried, fermented, cured, distilled carbon neutral goods stored at ambient temperature, Or, if there is enough in the larder, do something productive, artisan weaving, wickerwork and woodwork for sale.
So the day starts with deciding where are today’s ingredients coming from?
- Tribal market? Tribal Market
- Cropping the garden and orchard?
- Foraging? Foraged Fungi to Fork
- Fishing? Karen fishing
- Or in the larder and dry store?
Then identifying and prepping, herbs, fruits, salads, seasonal vegetables, protein sources:
Choosing appropriate recipes for our larder today,
- Papaya Salad from the garden?
- Chargrilled aubergines and peppers?
- In Thailand, fresh rolls are called Po Pia Sod and more ancestral, sustainable, and zero-waste style of fresh roll is Miang (เมี่ยง).
- Curry
Deciding the appropriate cooking techniques
- Tao Ang Lo (clay charcoal stove), for grilling, boiling and steaming, frying and roast
- Fresh Cut Bamboo tubes as pots for steaming and boiling, or as kettle beside an open fire
- BBQ over fire or charcoal
- Deep fry tempura style
Tasting’s believing, time to feast. What have we learnt today, how relevant is it and have we something constructive to take away?
Background
We have been encountering considerable interest from guests in authentic traditional Tribal Cuisine. For centuries the Tribal people have been entirely self-sufficient, their overriding priority has been to source and prepare their own food. Failing that they literally starved before the road was built bringing closer the safety net of settled society. Without recourse to shops, power, refrigeration their survival was based on their Hunter- Gatherer and subsistence farming traditions. Closely bound up with their Animist beliefs and reverence for the Spirits who control the Elements on which they depend. Truly a life in harmony with Nature. Foraging the jungle, fishing the river, hunting the forest are as important as the rice they grow . And their culinary techniques, cooking with charcoal, in Bamboo Tubes, pounding, grilling, curing, fermenting, dry storing and bartering at the tribal market remain fundamental to their lifestyle. This fascinates and impresses many visitors, entirely sustainable, carbon neutral, no packaging, air miles, it’s all the things we applaud, organic, healthy. It’s a stark contrast to the world of highly processed food, supermarkets, packaging and air miles, ingredients remotely produced by industrial processes and cooked with energy-heavy high technology. The modern food industry, from field to fork accounts for 35% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Fossil fuels account for the rest. On an equivalent basis the Tribal Traditions practised universally would scarcely deliver a single one per cent
We are literally totally immersed in this culinary culture and Karen tribal tradition. Encircled by the river we fish, surrounded by the Jungle we forage. And our garden is prolific, next to our generous orchard. It’s the Karren tradition in which Kanlaya was raised. We grow, rear, fish, forage, store and barter with others. The river is at the bottom of the garden, the jungle on the opposite bank, the Tribal market ten minutes away. And we cook with traditional methods. So, for guests who join a culinary adventure with us, foraging or fishing, at the Tribal market, it’s as much cultural exploration as acquiring techniques to take home. In May the Fungi season begins, a gastronomic highlight for the Karen people. We forage, Foraged Fungi to Fork , cook, preserve and barter what we harvest. From Christmas to April, when the river runs low and crystal clear, Kaew’s Karen family fish the river below, a prized and valuable protein source. Guests love to join in the catch and cook Karen fishing And during those months they have caught cooks for lunch on our bamboo pavilion constructed above the water itself, right beside our river-bank. Riverside pavilion. Responding to interest we are building a new visitor friendly kitchen, modern hygiene, tribal traditions, ingredients and methods. Kanlaya’s new Kitchen taking shape
Cooking at Kanlaya’s, The Tribal way
Tribal Background, self-sufficiency.
For the Tribal people of Mae Hong Son, food self-sustainability is central to their way of life, culture and survival. For centuries they have been self-sufficient and entirely dependent on their own resources for their food. Historically semi-nomadic, they have combined Hunter Gatherer skills with subsistence arable and stock farming. The Jungle continues to be a vital source of foraged natural food, herbs, medicines, fruit, fungi, nuts, roots, edible plants like ferns, bamboo shoots, combined with fishing and hunting. They live in harmony with their environment. They revere and respect the Spirits central to their ancient Animist beliefs and on whom they rely totally for Nature’s blessings, the rain, sun, soil and living world on which they depend. Self-sufficiency is also the hallmark of Kanlaya’s Larder and cuisine
Gathering ingredients
Kanlaya is from the Karen Tribe. She grew up dependent on this way of life. As a child there were no shops, not Government, no food from outside. So, for her finding her own food is central to her culture. Surrounded as we are by the jungle, with a flourishing garden and family farming connections, this is Kanlaya’s Larder. Her style is marked by the seasons, her larder filled with home grown, organic, foraged, fished and reared ingredients. And prepared, shared and served in the traditional manner of her people.