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Tea as a food in South East Asia.

Recently, in Japan, there are attempts to use tea leaves in cooking. In the Southwest of China to Thailand, and Myanmer, it is a custom to eat pickled tea. Steam raw leaves and then put them into bamboo or sealed-up baskets and ferment with lactic acid bacteria. This is called "Laphet soo" in Myanmer. It is a still very popular kind of food, and there is a plate exclusively made for eating this food. As you can see in the picture, pickled tea is placed in the center of the plate, and peanuts, garlic, dried shrimp, sesame placed around the pickled tea. Those ingredients are mixed with salt, seasoning, and peanut oil. It can be a great dish or snack to go with tea. You can also see them selling this tea on the street. As we get to know the existence of pickled tea leaves, we get into the debate of which came first, tea for drinking or tea as a food. Perhaps they have totally different histories. At the place where tea originated, there are many minority groups living, and different customs and eating habits existed. If you put that in your mind, it may become easier to understand.

(Youichiro Nakamura)