0:00:09.080,0:00:13.070
I'm going to put up a photo[br]of my all-time favorite food.

0:00:13.070,0:00:17.610
Now, if you agree with me,[br]that this food is also your favorite,

0:00:17.610,0:00:19.410
all I want is for you to cheer;

0:00:19.410,0:00:22.400
give it a big clap, give it[br]a big 'whoop, whoop', whatever.

0:00:22.400,0:00:24.940
If you don't like it,[br]you are allowed to boo.

0:00:24.940,0:00:26.950
It's the only booing you'll be doing today

0:00:26.950,0:00:30.230
so, if you like that type of thing[br]then, this is your opportunity.

0:00:30.230,0:00:31.770
Okay, so here we go.

0:00:31.770,0:00:33.360
(Cheers)

0:00:33.360,0:00:34.785
Yes!

0:00:34.785,0:00:36.525
(Applause)

0:00:38.570,0:00:42.920
There's a few people who are not having[br]any form of food today.

0:00:42.920,0:00:45.809
Anyway, this one fruit

0:00:45.809,0:00:50.600
has the ability to show us[br]how powerful the act of eating can be.

0:00:50.990,0:00:53.230
Some of you, I know[br]you're looking at this photo

0:00:53.230,0:00:56.199
and you're probably wondering[br]if I bought any for lunch today.

0:00:56.199,0:00:58.470
I wasn't allowed to, I didn't.

0:00:58.470,0:01:03.040
Some of you are probably wondering,[br]"Is he being serious?",

0:01:03.040,0:01:05.280
and you probably feel a bit nauseous.

0:01:05.280,0:01:08.533
But that's how emotional food can make us.

0:01:08.533,0:01:12.440
There's love and hate, and[br]there's everything in between.

0:01:12.870,0:01:15.730
And this combination[br]of eating and emotions,

0:01:15.730,0:01:18.290
it affects the way[br]we perceive one another,

0:01:18.290,0:01:22.150
so you are more likely[br]to strike a relationship

0:01:22.150,0:01:26.383
with a stranger in this crowd[br]who reacted the same way you did.

0:01:27.430,0:01:32.120
Today, as Burma or Myanmar[br]is rejoining the global community,

0:01:32.120,0:01:34.317
we have this exact problem.

0:01:35.200,0:01:38.233
The world's opinion about us is divided,

0:01:39.010,0:01:43.909
but, what I want to do is to show you[br]you my idea today of a food revolution

0:01:43.909,0:01:46.740
because I think we can[br]shape these opinions

0:01:46.740,0:01:49.392
using the love of our nation's cuisine.

0:01:49.970,0:01:54.409
Now, in case you don't know who I am[br]or you haven't figured it out yet,

0:01:54.409,0:01:56.820
I'm infatuated by eating.

0:01:57.350,0:02:00.437
I have a bit of a problem,[br]I'm a little obsessed, okay?

0:02:00.920,0:02:03.952
To me, food is constantly evolving.

0:02:04.290,0:02:09.710
You can have the exact same dish[br]in two completely different environments,

0:02:09.710,0:02:13.770
and your experience[br]is completely transformed.

0:02:14.180,0:02:15.793
For example,

0:02:15.793,0:02:21.399
have any of you ever had a coffee[br]in the morning before the toilet?

0:02:22.280,0:02:23.228
Anyone?

0:02:23.228,0:02:25.090
Well, I'm sure there's[br]some of you who have -

0:02:25.090,0:02:27.080
It helps the bowels, okay?

0:02:27.080,0:02:29.770
It's quite life-changing for some of us.

0:02:29.770,0:02:33.230
My life changed when I was four,

0:02:33.230,0:02:35.610
when I left Burma and I moved to the UK.

0:02:35.610,0:02:37.620
And it was just the four of us.

0:02:37.620,0:02:41.310
It was my parents, my brother and just me.

0:02:41.310,0:02:43.180
There you are.

0:02:43.740,0:02:47.870
At home was first where[br]I fell in love with our cuisine.

0:02:48.590,0:02:50.470
But, to tell you the truth,

0:02:50.470,0:02:54.380
until I moved back to Burma,[br]about five years ago,

0:02:54.380,0:02:59.238
this cuisine was my only real connection[br]to this country growing up.

0:03:00.970,0:03:06.373
At home, my mom's[br]signature dish was her Mohinga.

0:03:07.490,0:03:09.450
And this Mohinga was very special

0:03:09.450,0:03:13.330
because she would make this[br]for breakfast, for dinner, for birthdays.

0:03:13.330,0:03:16.702
I know you're getting hungry,[br]okay, just a minute -

0:03:16.702,0:03:19.240
for all sorts of special occasions.

0:03:19.240,0:03:24.200
But, for those of you who don't know,[br]who may be watching, what a Mohinga is,

0:03:24.200,0:03:26.840
it's the dish we all grew up with.

0:03:27.090,0:03:30.890
It's a hot, steaming fish-based broth,

0:03:30.890,0:03:36.460
and in this country we have it[br]in the morning, in 35 degree heat -

0:03:36.460,0:03:39.129
which I'm feeling right now -

0:03:39.129,0:03:41.809
at home, or on the street.

0:03:41.809,0:03:44.790
But if you can picture it for a second -

0:03:44.790,0:03:47.240
this is where I grew up.

0:03:47.240,0:03:51.360
So, in winter, in zero degree weather,

0:03:51.360,0:03:55.040
can you picture having[br]that exact same dish

0:03:55.040,0:03:57.433
while the snow is falling outside?

0:03:58.163,0:04:01.910
It's a transformative experience, right?

0:04:01.910,0:04:06.150
So, this dish started off life

0:04:06.150,0:04:10.140
as a breakfast dish intended[br]to fill you up in the morning,

0:04:10.140,0:04:16.640
but now, it has the power to keep[br]a whole family together and warm at night.

0:04:16.640,0:04:20.959
And about two and a half years ago,[br]I wanted to channel that experience.

0:04:20.959,0:04:23.000
I wanted to challenge the way

0:04:23.000,0:04:26.830
our local cuisine was seen[br]and experienced,

0:04:26.830,0:04:29.839
so I was one of those[br]crazy nut jobs that decided

0:04:29.839,0:04:32.360
that opening a restaurant[br]would be a good idea.

0:04:32.360,0:04:34.379
Now, if people care about you,

0:04:34.379,0:04:37.120
no one will ever tell you[br]that it is a [bad] idea.

0:04:37.120,0:04:41.520
But, we did it anyway,[br]and we've been very lucky.

0:04:41.520,0:04:47.610
Over the last two and a half years,[br]our representation of local cuisine

0:04:47.610,0:04:52.030
has been featured in over[br]50 international publications.

0:04:52.030,0:04:54.580
But, the amazing thing about that

0:04:54.580,0:04:59.659
is that most of these publications[br]are writing about Burmese cuisine

0:04:59.659,0:05:02.009
for the very first time.

0:05:03.049,0:05:09.041
For me, if I was to describe[br]our country through a dish,

0:05:09.320,0:05:11.254
it would be that Mohinga.

0:05:12.390,0:05:18.189
Because both the country[br]and the dish are humble in nature.

0:05:18.189,0:05:23.409
I think both are slightly misunderstood[br]by those who don't know it,

0:05:23.409,0:05:27.889
but I think, both have[br]the potential to go global.

0:05:28.349,0:05:32.830
But, you see, the problem[br]we have in this country right now,

0:05:32.830,0:05:36.259
is that we put so much emphasis[br]on developing it,

0:05:36.259,0:05:39.420
purely with the things we can measure.

0:05:39.420,0:05:41.210
So, we measure the currency,

0:05:41.210,0:05:43.370
we measure the economy,

0:05:43.370,0:05:44.919
we measure the weather.

0:05:44.919,0:05:47.839
Sometimes, we measure the traffic,

0:05:47.839,0:05:52.172
and we tell each other how horrible[br]the traffic has become.

0:05:52.172,0:05:58.002
But let me ask you, what about[br]the things we can't measure?

0:05:58.730,0:06:04.080
How do we measure the way our taste buds[br]will change over the next generation?

0:06:04.080,0:06:05.381
We can't.

0:06:06.019,0:06:10.415
How could we measure the impact[br]that our cuisine could have

0:06:10.422,0:06:13.719
on somebody eating it[br]for the very first time?

0:06:13.719,0:06:15.300
We can't.

0:06:15.300,0:06:21.629
But these things are just as important[br]in the evolution of our country.

0:06:21.629,0:06:24.939
So if I put this photo in front of you,

0:06:24.939,0:06:28.392
which is a cheeseburger, right?

0:06:28.392,0:06:32.080
What is the first country[br]that would come to mind?

0:06:33.130,0:06:37.310
Presumably, for the majority of you[br]would be America, yes?

0:06:37.310,0:06:43.129
But, what if I told you that the burger[br]began with the Mongol Empire,

0:06:43.129,0:06:44.974
would you believe me?

0:06:45.919,0:06:51.119
The legend goes that, as Genghis Khan[br]and his army were conquering the world,

0:06:51.119,0:06:52.921
they had a problem.

0:06:53.339,0:06:58.170
They would often live on vast areas[br]of land with no vegetation.

0:06:58.399,0:07:00.579
So what they did was they would get meat -

0:07:00.579,0:07:02.259
back then it was horse meat -

0:07:02.259,0:07:04.659
and they would put it under their saddle,

0:07:04.659,0:07:07.240
so they could eat as they ride.

0:07:07.240,0:07:11.360
And if you look at[br]a map of this great empire,

0:07:11.360,0:07:15.090
you will find that a lot of this area[br]is in a part of the world

0:07:15.090,0:07:17.460
we now call Eastern Europe.

0:07:17.460,0:07:19.590
And it's in Eastern Europe[br]that we would see

0:07:19.590,0:07:21.909
the first version of this burger

0:07:21.909,0:07:25.750
which is the tartare,[br]which is diced up raw meat.

0:07:25.750,0:07:28.089
Many, many, many years later,

0:07:28.089,0:07:31.269
that this dish, the tartare,[br]would make its way to Germany,

0:07:31.269,0:07:33.630
to a city called Hamburg.

0:07:33.630,0:07:35.629
That's where it would become[br]the hamburger,

0:07:35.629,0:07:37.759
not because it has ham in it, okay?

0:07:37.759,0:07:40.089
So, I've just broken an urban myth there.

0:07:40.089,0:07:43.099
What this story tells us is that

0:07:43.099,0:07:47.800
in the evolution[br]of a country or a cuisine,

0:07:47.800,0:07:51.420
we shouldn't be talking about[br]weeks, or months, or years.

0:07:51.420,0:07:57.989
We should be talking about decades,[br]or centuries, or potentially even longer.

0:07:58.669,0:08:00.939
If you allow me to ask you[br]some questions -

0:08:00.939,0:08:04.039
I just want you to think[br]about it for a second -

0:08:05.069,0:08:09.769
if we hadn't been isolated[br]for more than the last 50 years,

0:08:09.769,0:08:11.680
do you think that there would be

0:08:11.680,0:08:15.099
more Burmese restaurants[br]around the world?

0:08:15.099,0:08:17.039
Perhaps?

0:08:17.039,0:08:22.029
Do you think that Burmese cuisine[br]would have evolved in any way?

0:08:22.029,0:08:23.559
Perhaps?

0:08:23.559,0:08:28.019
But, do you think there would be[br]more tourists coming into Burma?

0:08:28.019,0:08:29.500
I definitely think so.

0:08:29.500,0:08:33.708
But these are all[br]great questions in hindsight.

0:08:33.708,0:08:36.559
Maybe they're not so relevant anymore,

0:08:36.559,0:08:40.880
but a relevant question would be something[br]a friend asked me a couple of weeks ago

0:08:40.880,0:08:44.610
which is, "Htet, would you[br]travel for food?"

0:08:44.910,0:08:47.510
So, let me ask you,[br]would you travel for food?

0:08:47.510,0:08:48.440
(Audience) Yeah.

0:08:48.440,0:08:51.140
Htet Myet Oo: Yeah?[br]Because I only travel for food, okay.

0:08:51.140,0:08:53.210
It's the only reason[br]I get free lunch today,

0:08:53.210,0:08:54.680
so that's why I did this.

0:08:54.680,0:08:55.900
(Laughter)

0:08:55.900,0:09:00.830
And I think more and more people[br]every year, are traveling to places

0:09:00.830,0:09:03.450
like the Coliseum and the Eiffel Tower,

0:09:03.450,0:09:06.500
not just to see[br]these historical landmarks,

0:09:06.500,0:09:10.839
but they're traveling to sample[br]the cuisines of that country.

0:09:11.350,0:09:17.904
Food is a big reason why we go back[br]to these countries time and time again.

0:09:19.490,0:09:22.961
So, this is me in a food coma in Paris.

0:09:22.961,0:09:25.090
(Laughter)

0:09:25.090,0:09:26.090
You can see that.

0:09:26.090,0:09:29.900
I didn't quite make it to the Eiffel Tower[br]but you can see why.

0:09:29.900,0:09:36.540
Last year, the UN released a survey[br]that showed that 88.2% of people

0:09:36.900,0:09:38.540
consider gastronomy.

0:09:38.540,0:09:42.310
So, let's picture that[br]no one here was Burmese,

0:09:42.310,0:09:46.030
or you've never been[br]to visit Burma before.

0:09:46.030,0:09:47.860
If we were researching

0:09:47.860,0:09:51.370
whether we wanted to come to[br]this beautiful country on holiday,

0:09:51.370,0:09:55.110
and we were part of that 88.2% ,

0:09:55.110,0:09:59.912
what do you think that we would see[br]written about our cuisine?

0:10:00.420,0:10:03.720
Because when I moved here[br]five years ago, this is what I saw:

0:10:03.720,0:10:04.990
"It's too oily."

0:10:04.990,0:10:07.500
"Htet, Burmese food is so oily, alright."

0:10:07.500,0:10:09.890
"It has too much MSG in it."

0:10:09.890,0:10:14.142
I like MSG, but that's for another talk.

0:10:15.090,0:10:17.200
But the truth of the matter is that

0:10:17.200,0:10:21.583
this is just the opinions of a few[br]and these are certainly not facts.

0:10:21.940,0:10:25.300
But if we did look at some facts,[br]what we would find is that

0:10:25.300,0:10:30.090
there are over a 135 ethnic[br]minorities in the country.

0:10:30.090,0:10:31.510
That's a fact.

0:10:31.510,0:10:35.013
So, that's a lot of different ways[br]of consuming food.

0:10:35.440,0:10:38.350
Rangoon, the city that[br]we're standing in right now,

0:10:38.350,0:10:41.995
in the late 1920s had taken over New York

0:10:41.995,0:10:46.020
as the migration capital of the world.

0:10:46.020,0:10:47.570
That's also a fact.

0:10:47.570,0:10:51.250
And that's a lot of influence[br]coming in from other countries.

0:10:51.250,0:10:54.190
So, let me ask you again,

0:10:54.190,0:10:56.910
in that 88.2%,

0:10:56.910,0:11:02.140
what do you think we should be[br]seeing written about our cuisine?

0:11:02.140,0:11:03.440
If you look at this,

0:11:03.440,0:11:06.182
which is our coconut noodles,

0:11:06.480,0:11:09.450
you should see our generosity,

0:11:09.450,0:11:12.672
our richness as a country.

0:11:13.310,0:11:16.710
If you look at this, our prata [br]traditionally from India,

0:11:16.710,0:11:19.410
so you should see our cultural diversity

0:11:19.410,0:11:20.953
and our history.

0:11:21.860,0:11:23.080
If you look at this

0:11:23.080,0:11:25.560
- which is our Mohinga -

0:11:25.560,0:11:28.593
it has 28 ingredients.

0:11:29.300,0:11:33.931
So, you should see the complexity[br]of the people that we are.

0:11:35.480,0:11:36.910
The great news is

0:11:36.910,0:11:42.310
that promoting our country[br]through our cuisine is in our reality,

0:11:42.310,0:11:45.370
with the right mix[br]of passion and planning.

0:11:45.790,0:11:47.920
It's called Culinary Diplomacy,

0:11:47.920,0:11:49.090
and if you google it -

0:11:49.090,0:11:55.090
which I've shown you how to do[br]in case any of you are not aware -

0:11:55.090,0:11:59.440
what you will find is[br]a Wikipedia article which states

0:11:59.440,0:12:03.340
that Culinary Diplomacy[br]is based on the premise that,

0:12:03.340,0:12:09.130
"the easiest way to win hearts[br]and minds is through the stomach."

0:12:09.130,0:12:11.200
As you can tell.

0:12:11.200,0:12:13.300
And what you will have now

0:12:13.300,0:12:17.800
is a number of government-led [br]initiatives around the world

0:12:17.800,0:12:20.910
practicing culinary diplomacy programs,

0:12:20.910,0:12:25.223
like in Thailand,[br]like in Korea, like in the US.

0:12:25.550,0:12:30.206
If we took Thailand as an example, [br]because they're the closest country to us,

0:12:31.140,0:12:33.870
they've released or they started

0:12:33.870,0:12:38.778
a culinary diplomacy program[br]in 2002 called "Global Tha.""

0:12:39.420,0:12:43.880
What the government aimed to do[br]was to subsidize and certify

0:12:43.880,0:12:48.867
as many Thai restaurants around the world[br]as the government could afford.

0:12:49.190,0:12:51.460
They had three main targets:

0:12:51.460,0:12:53.820
Number one was they wanted to create

0:12:53.820,0:12:59.140
as many jobs for Thai hospitality [br]migrants around the world.

0:13:00.220,0:13:04.460
Secondly, they wanted to increase[br]exports out of Thailand,

0:13:04.460,0:13:08.608
and they thought, more[br]Thai restaurants more exports.

0:13:08.840,0:13:12.290
And the third thing,[br]which is very difficult to measure,

0:13:12.290,0:13:14.345
is that they wanted to increase

0:13:14.345,0:13:19.534
the global understanding[br]and appreciation of Thai cuisine.

0:13:20.900,0:13:24.510
If you ask, whether you think[br]they've been successful or not,

0:13:24.510,0:13:26.397
you just have to look at this.

0:13:27.240,0:13:31.650
In 2002 there were 5,500 Thai restaurants[br]

0:13:31.650,0:13:34.020
outside of Thailand around the world;

0:13:35.030,0:13:39.399
by 2012, there were 15,000.

0:13:43.420,0:13:48.700
There were 10 million visitors[br]going into Thailand in 2002,

0:13:48.700,0:13:53.134
and there were 32 million in 2016.

0:13:55.180,0:13:57.480
Of course, this culinary diplomacy program

0:13:57.480,0:14:00.310
is not the only reason why[br]these numbers have gone up,

0:14:00.310,0:14:05.420
but it shows that a national initiative[br]to do something like this

0:14:05.420,0:14:07.975
has an effect in the long term.

0:14:10.120,0:14:15.940
The truth is, that if the world had more[br]of an affinity towards our country,

0:14:15.940,0:14:19.480
we would be less likely[br]to be discriminated against, right?

0:14:19.480,0:14:22.480
Because we have an identity,[br]people know who we are.

0:14:22.480,0:14:26.630
But more important than that,[br]is in this generation and the next,

0:14:26.630,0:14:30.185
there would be more[br]opportunity for all of us.

0:14:31.550,0:14:35.840
But, what we need to do[br]as Burmese people, is realize that

0:14:35.840,0:14:41.350
our pride is our strength,[br]but it can also be our weakness.

0:14:41.650,0:14:46.540
It's not enough just to believe in[br]what you do and believe in yourself.

0:14:46.540,0:14:51.180
In the 21st century you need to[br]convince others of it too.

0:14:51.180,0:14:57.792
My dream is to see Burmese food[br]in every major city in the world.

0:14:58.210,0:15:02.420
Mohinga in Paris,[br]Tea Leaf Salad in New York.

0:15:02.420,0:15:04.225
Can you picture that?

0:15:04.225,0:15:05.750
Yeah?

0:15:06.750,0:15:10.490
If our country was a train,

0:15:11.330,0:15:14.020
we have just left the station;

0:15:14.020,0:15:16.180
we've only just left it.

0:15:16.690,0:15:21.364
Culture, health, education, technology -

0:15:21.710,0:15:25.150
all of these things[br]are all aboard this train.

0:15:25.150,0:15:29.570
We, as a country, need to put[br]our cuisine on there as well.

0:15:29.570,0:15:31.593
It's really important.

0:15:32.290,0:15:36.440
The greatest thing about food

0:15:36.440,0:15:40.250
is that there is no such thing[br]as a culinary dictator,

0:15:40.940,0:15:43.127
because we don't want one of those, right?

0:15:43.920,0:15:46.761
There is no such thing as a culinary coup.

0:15:47.370,0:15:50.781
So it doesn't matter[br]the economy, the politics,

0:15:50.781,0:15:54.900
no one will be able to take away[br]a global Burmese cuisine.

0:15:55.320,0:15:57.050
Please, enjoy your lunch everyone.

0:15:57.050,0:15:58.050
Thank you.

0:15:58.050,0:16:00.670
(Applause)