Khanom Jeen, Mohinga, Bun Cha, and More: Retracing History Through Rice Noodles

How is it possible that a unique form of rice noodle shows up in ancient history in rival kingdoms far and wide, the ancestors of what would become some of Asia's greatest empires? How did this dish seemingly evolve in a vacuum thousands of miles apart and even across an ocean?
By following the appearance of these noodles, we chase this history from Thai Green Curry to Burmese Mohinga to Vietnamese Bun Cha, to Sri Lankan String Hoppers and Chinese Mi Fen. And the common link bonding all of these unique specialties is an ethnic group almost forgotten by history, but the single most important civilization to arrive in ancient Southeast Asia.
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0:00 - Introduction
1:14 - Green Curry
4:23 - Nam Ya
6:50 - Nam Ngiao and the Lan Na
8:22 - The Mon People and Making Khanom Jeen
10:55 - Mohinga
12:54 - Chinese, Indian, and Linguistic Clues
15:40 - Bun Cha Ha Noi
18:36 - The War of the Noodles
20:12 - Everything in One Place
22:01 - Conclusion
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[@boyfriendforevvv]

Wow I'm Mon American and this is the first time I see someone talking my ancestors' contributions on food more extensively 😔 Whenever people ask me where I'm from I say Myanmar or indigenous group from Myanmar if they ask me why I can't speak Burmese lol Anyways great video! Got me very hungry

[@OTRontheroad]

Nice! Great comment. Glad you enjoyed the video

[@mickbotcast]

"Mon" also bring mention a lot in Thai history class, mostly culture influence.

[@MePJ]

Then come to Thailand. Thai people welcome all national. And there are Mon communities in many provinces here. Tai, Lao, Mon, and many nations moved to Siam and we blended all culture and live together within the same land, same King since the pass.

[@abmong]

The Mon people will always have a special place in the Thai psyche. The Mon mixed with, married Tais and birthed the Thai people and culture, so the Mon are part ancestors of Thais and will always be counted as family.

[@mr.cookie7308]

I have heard about the Mon but I have never met one. I would love to learn more about the Mon people, culture, and history.

[@martyhandley4456]

This is killing me....I so miss the foods of Asia. And it’s amazing how through these videos, even if for a short time , I’m transported to a memorable time in my life where everything was new and mysterious.........this has been magical.....thank you OTR team.......

[@OTRontheroad]

Such a nice comment. Yeah I think that pretty much distills down to exactly what this channel is- or at least what I hoped it would be. I'd completely forgotten what brought me to Asia (and into the restaurant game) after so many years. I don't know whether it was coming here, or getting out of the 18-hour-a-day grind, or a combination of it... but it's cool to find something I thought was long lost and remember why I/we fell in love with food in the first place.

[@ngwelayninithan8796]

@@OTRontheroad မြန်မာနိုင်ငံထဲမှာဟင်းချက်နည်း၊ဟင်းပွဲတွေကို လေ့လာရေးဆင်းပါလား။မြန်မာနိုင်ငံထဲက လူမျိုးစုတွေရဲ့အဝတ်အစား၊အစားအစာ၊အနေအထိုင်၊ယုံကြည်ကိုးကွယ်မှု၊ဗိသုကာလက်ရာတွေက အဓိကလူမျိုးစုတွေက လွှမ်းမိုးထားလားဆိုတာကို ကိုယ်တိုင်လာပြီး‌ကြည့်ပါလား။ထိုင်းမှာလေ့လာနေရင်တော့ အမှားနှင့်အမှန်ရောနေမှာပဲ။မြန်မာကနေလူမျိုးစုတွေ ထိုင်းကိုရွှေ့ပြောင်းနေတော့ မြန်မာယဉ်ကျေးမှုတွေပါသွားမယ်ဆိုတာ သာမန်လူ‌တစ်ယောက်တွေးရင်တောင်သိတယ်။ထိုင်းကို ဗဟိုပြုစဉ်းစားနေရင်မှားပြီပဲ။😌

[@yingsthaicookinghome2839]

The history around Khanom Jeen is absolutely fascinating. Here in the South it's also very popular with Gaeng Tai Plaa.

[@OTRontheroad]

Gary Butler says hey by the way, he's a big fan of yours as well. You just came up in conversation the other day. Can't wait to come down there at some point.

[@yingsthaicookinghome2839]

@@OTRontheroad That would be cool. Let's dive into Samui's culinary identity 😆 Btw... Gary was at our place just a few weeks ago and we had 'Gaeng Pung Plaa' as we call it here in our area. Well, it was intense... ☺

[@saengthong8945]

What you present has been very beneficial for the new generation of Thai people.

[@OTRontheroad]

Incredibly kind words. Thanks so much.

[@harrypo1808]

I've been thinking about connection between the rice vermicelli countries and i'm glad i found this video. In my culture (karen) we call this noodle khaw naw which is probably direct loan from Mon, instead of using the Burmese term mohinga

[@OTRontheroad]

Thanks for the comment! I've been quite interested in looking into Karen food traditions as well. But yeah in this case- considering as far as I know, Hanom (or Khanom) was the ancient Mon term for "noodles" that would definitely make sense as a loan word

[@harrypo1808]

@@OTRontheroad naturally, it varies across regions. Fish paste is eaten widely in the lowland regions across Myanmar and Thailand (probably Mon-Khmer in origin and probably related to Padaek/Plara/Prahok). More traditional foods are hearty boiled foods like takapaw, grilled fish, meat stews and salads, jungle soups, boiled veggies ect more reminiscent of hilltribe food traditions.

[@kayflip2233]

Southern crab curry kanom jeen with a side of chili pork rinds is my favorite Thai dish. In Bangkok I like the sweet peanut sauce version.

[@hwp115]

I like how you mentioned some history of the region and the food's origin in the video. Keep it up!

[@denseone]

Makes me proud to be and still celebrate my Thai-Mon-Hokkian heritage.

[@mrdetective448]

There's also a similar noodle dish in Cambodia called នំបញ្ជុក "Nom Banh Chok" Which is a beloved noodle dish for the Khmer people you can see this dish selling everywhere in Phnom Penh. It's served with a yellow-green coconut-based fish curry garnished with fresh herbs, seasonal vegetables, and edible flowers. Sadly there's no written record of this dish because of the genocide but this dish frequently mentions in many Khmer literature and folklore.

[@foodtaliban]

Nam Ya Pla Chon & Nam Ngiao is a stapel in my Isan household. And once in a while you might even get a version with chicken feet. But, ..the best ones I've ever tasted was down in Phuket at Kanom Jeen Pa Mai.

[@OTRontheroad]

Amazing. I'll add that to the must-try list when I'm in Phuket next time. For me, it's a lady inside the Warorot market in Chiang Mai. The best I've ever had by quite a bit for Nam Ngiao and some unbelievable nam phrik made from caramelized onion. Not sure the name of her stall, but it's got her face on the banner and people in the market seem to revere her

[@foodtaliban]

@@OTRontheroad In Chiang Mai that was unexpected! Since most people me included thinks about Khao Soi & Sai Oua, and maybe Hang Lay 😋. The nice thing about the Kanom Jeen place in Phuket, are that they have like 10 different versions of the dish.

[@marin4311]

I like the depth and passion you put on your historical and cultural analysis. It brings your foodie channel to the NEXT level.

[@trastegaming8409]

That curry shop with all the curries are just on my old home ❤❤❤soi.

[@tarrinpun3798]

another excellent video.

[@gasun1274]

i love this channel covering gastroanthropology. its one facet of culture thats not really mainstream

[@OTRontheroad]

I love the term "gastroanthropology"....brilliant. Cheers and thanks for the kind words

[@ken_cumulus]

Awesome story telling.🙏🏽

[@visions30]

A beautiful and informative video. Thanks for this!

[@AthiwatFilms]

Amazing video thank you!

[@jyy9624]

Very nice reviews -

[@kaizerkoala]

Belissimo! Good job dude!

[@OTRontheroad]

Much appreciated!

[@thailakhampo]

Newly subscribed to your channel. Really appreciate your work.

[@ERone43]

Great video. I tried 5/6 dishes at Khanomjeen Sanpakoi in Chiang Mai… and now I know their origins! Can’t wait to go try more. Green curry khanom jeen is possibly my favorite Thai food!!!

[@sohardtogetID]

Awsome! So much work done by the creator. I learned something new everytime I watched your video.

[@DrNemea]

This channel is a gem 😮

[@OTRontheroad]

Very kind of you.

[@stevenliew2507]

Thank you so much for such a well researched and well presented knowledgeable videos.👍👍 Looking forward to further future videos from you.

[@OTRontheroad]

Thank you!

[@mortsey]

In the Isaan region of Thailand were I grew up this dish was often called Kho-Boon presumably the Boon is from the Vietnamese influence.

[@TheGreener22]

Amazing story. Thank you for sharing. Those noodles look very delicious. I like to go for the noodle tour across SEA.

[@OTRontheroad]

That sounds like an amazing idea. Maybe we'll come along.

[@TheGreener22]

@@OTRontheroad ❤

[@williamwendling944]

Very cool channel

[@toanthai]

I am fortunate enough to have some of these noodle dishes 😊

[@rudygunawan5079]

Another idea for future investigation by OTR team: Is there any relation or common root between laksa soup in Malaysia / Indonesia and khao-soi in Thailand ? They're quite similar and so yummy with bits of difference in topping selection.

[@yunniekal]

No That is too far south. Khao soi and the northern curry noodle dishes like Lao's version called Khao poon (using the same noodles in the video) are by way of Burma/ Myanmar. The northern kingdoms were at one point and time usually under Burmese controll as vassel kingdoms. The only similarity in taste would be that its a curry dish and thats an influence from India.

[@kassikassikassi]

I learned so much from this! There’s a style of noodle in south india made in a similar way (but steamed instead of boiled and I think the dough/batter is thicker)

[@phuethwe-dy1kl]

Your videos are excellent. I've got lots of knowledge from your videos. And btw, my nationality is Mon.

[@SheshankReddyS]

String Hoppers in Sri Lanka and Idiyappam in Kerala, India. They are steamed, not boiled though. Visually very similar to Khanom Jeen.

[@_sakp_]

There are fresh and femented Kanom jeen noodle, fresh kanom jeen soak rice starch over night before cook, usually found in central region

[@bermberm2255]

Kanom jeen with som-tum is the best.

[@nongwithawat]

I recommend you to try Shan style Nnam Ngiao. They serve it with flat rice noodles instead of boiled one.

[@MrBloodyKenny]

In Myanmar, We have this food called "mote lone yay paw" It's a ball of rice flour and a bunch of sweet stuff inside it. Eaten most of the time in Our nation's new year, "Thinggyan" celebrated in April. Try it lol!

[@OTRontheroad]

Oh nice! I think I've tried something very similar...actually quite recently from one of the places here

[@MrBloodyKenny]

@@OTRontheroad Not really the "best" for me personally but I hope you liked it.

[@sm-zn8xm]

I hope you try the mon variety with the banana plant and fish soup.

[@siriratt9037]

ขออนญาติเพิ่มเติมนะคะ ขนมจีนจริงๆแล้ว ถ้าโบราณมีวิธีขั้นตอนทำเยอะกว่าที่เห็นเยอะ ต้องใช้เวลาทำ2-3วัน ในสมัยก่อนจะได้ทานเมื่อมีโอกาสสำคัญ และขนมจีนจะถูกนำมาประกอบพิธีมงคล โดยเฉพาะพิธีแต่งงาน จะขาดไม่ได้เด็ดขาด ด้วยความหมายว่า ขอให้ครองคู่กันยืนยาวเหมือนเส้นขนมจีน มาทุกวันนี้ก็ทานได้ทุกเมื่อเป็นปกติ แถวบ้านก็มีหมู่บ้านทำขนมจีน ที่นี่เรียกว่าคุ้มขนมจีน ทำส่งจังหวัดรอบๆนี้2-3จังหวัด เค้าทำมานานมากแล้วตั้งแต่เราเกิด จนปัจจุบันยังทำอยู่ แต่น้อยรายแล้วล่ะ เราสมัยเด็กก็ชอบมาก ชอบเอาแป้งมากี่ไฟทาน....อ้อ ลืมบอก ในวัฒนธรรมแถวบ้านเรา ในหลายพื้นที่อีสาน ถ้างานศพ เราจะไม่มีขนมจีนนะ เรามีความเชื่อว่า จะนำความโชคร้าย คือถ้าเสริฟขนมจีนในงานคนตาย ก็จะมีคนตายเพิ่มอีก ตามความหมายว่า เส้นยาว

[@nated1629]

Pls share addresss of all stores visited in Bangkok. I like to try them all.

[@tonydickerson999]

Love the look of the green curry with Khanom jeen, but couldn't make out the name of the restaurant, something like Som Som, could you put map references into to your videos, I can see the Thai round eggplants in the curry but there's a lot more in there than in most I have come across and would love to know what else they have in their curry

[@OTRontheroad]

Ok let me try. First place: ห้องอาหารสมทรง [phone] goo.gl/maps/WQ5Q5hvhQbTxmsrM7 Second/third (third is in the same alley): Jay Aew Khanom Chin [phone] goo.gl/maps/qZA9LyH5SDnDonPRA And the final place (after the Vietnamese and Burmese place): ร้านขนมจีนน้ำยาพริกแกงใต้ [phone] goo.gl/maps/4g7ZdsogwaWSZsr76

[@isonear]

With a good kanom jeen shop, I love mixing nam prig and nam ya as a half-half on the same plate. But the nam prik that I usually eat is thicker than it's shown in the video, so I don't know if it would be good.

[@jamesgreen5431]

Perhaps overly simplistic but the noodles are the canvas and every culture "paints" them different making each creation unique to them.

[@zipityzap7675]

Ohhh man let me talk the specialty of Mohinga. It is that the dish is different from one restaurant to another even inside the country.

[@somchai1025]

My wife from Mae Hong Son just says chinese noodles, How about a clip on Yum Paduk Foo my all time favorite. Where ever I go I always check out the dish. Not many places have it as it is hard to make and I have had some good and some not good at all.

[@eswillie]

A brief overview and simplification, but yep, the bottom line is that it's all about the food. Just had some rice noodles and extras for brunch today.

[@nameinvalid69]

I see, the "laksa" in Malaysia (varies depend on where you are), are likely variation of these Thai dishes.

[@tktyga77]

Funny you talk about idiyappam/string hoppers, as those do happen to be among the different kinds of noodles found in South Asia asking with such as chickpea flour noodles & more such as ones you'd find in such meals as snacks & desserts (actually really interesting in its own right, falooda being such an example). That said, pho might be Vietnam's answer to mohinga (as recent as the former's origins are) both in terms of iconic status & even in terms of being mostly a breakfast dish along with an immense variety of neighboring dishes to connect them

[@OTRontheroad]

Yes- my argument to that would just be how Pho seems to be so clearly related to southern Chinese mixian- which isn't a Mon/Khanom Jeen dish and has different origins. More likely, Pho is a mix of influences which is why it's so good.

[@tktyga77]

That does sound likelier, heeding that mixian seems to be much lesser known & yet is an integral part of Yunnan foodstuff. Still, might the stuff of Yunnan be one of China's regions to take in heavier influences from the Indosphere extending to the foodways, but not as heavily as does Burma?

[@detempoedoeloekoken]

Hi , this kind of noodle looks like laksa noodle and I believe the portuguese play an important role here . In Indonesia there is a cookbook published in 1843 and there are some laksa recipe , one of them called " Portuguese Laksa " Singapore newspaper in 1800's published an import goods brought by portuguese ship from Macau to Singapore including dried laksa and vermicelli and from singapore the laksa were exported to Batavia ( now Jakarta ). And there were also a Dutch Indies record in 1700's in Batavia there were rules for laksa street vendor due to risk of fire. I have it in my channel just check it out , I recooked and I include the history too .

[@michaeljay1931]

What we call the rice noodle put in mohinga is "mu n hpaat". The soups will be different according to the regions. You should come and visit after the crisis. There are thousands of delicious foods you should definitely try.😁

[@OTRontheroad]

Looking forward to it. Can't wait.

[@bkk-6988]

Kanom Jeen ကမြန်မာပြည်မွန်လူမျိုးတွေကနေထိုင်းကိုရောက်သွားတာပြောပြလိုက်

[@txp158]

ขนมจีน เพี้ยนมาจากภาษามอญว่า ขฺนํจินฺ (ခၞံစိန်) คำว่า คนอม หรือ ฮนอม (ခၞံ) แปลว่าแป้ง หากเป็นคำกริยาแปลว่าทำ หรือ สร้าง คำว่า จิน (စိန်) มีความหมายว่าสุก ดังนั้นดึงหมายถึงแป้งที่ทำให้สุก คำถามที่น่าสนใจคือทำไมต้องมีคำว่า"จิน" เพราะ"คนอม" เฉย ๆ ก็เพียงพอที่จะสื่อสารได้แล้ว จึงมีการสันนิษฐานว่า ขนมจีนมีวิธีการทำที่ยุ่งยาก ดังนั้นคำว่า "จิน" หรือ สุกจึงมีนัยสำคัญครับ นอกจากนี้เส้นขนมจีนแบ่งได้เป็น 2 ชนิด คือ ขนมจีนแป้งหมัก และ ขนมจีนแป้งสด ซึ่งถ้าเคยกินก็จะรู้ว่ารสชาติแตกต่างกันมาก Khanom Jeen (ขนมจีน), or Chinese noodles, possibly originated from the Mon language, which is called "Hanom Cin or Khanom Cin" (ခၞံစိန်). The word "khanom" or "Hanom" (ခၞံ) means flour, and as a verb, it means to make or create. The word "Cin" (စိန်) means cooked. Therefore, "Khanom Cin" refers to flour that has been cooked. An interesting question is why the word "Cin" is used, as "khanom" alone is sufficient to convey the message. It is speculated that this is because making Khanom Jeen is a complicated process, and thus, the word "Cin" or cooked carries significant meaning. Additionally, there are two types of Khanom Jeen: fermented and fresh noodles. Those who have tasted both will know that they have different tastes.

[@DrNemea]

You missed out the Rakhine Mot Te, a signature Rakhine noodle dish, from the infamous Rakhine state of Myanmar.

[@philippebonnefois2947]

please give the locations of the restaurants

[@mortsey]

I've also always been fascinated by the similarities between Kanom Jeen and Spaghetti. Not the same dish, but both are round noodles with a savory sauce. Was the concept imported then improvised and adapted to common ingredients of Europe? Perhaps.

[@iskandartaib]

8:05 - Wouldn't this Assam be in India? Incidentally, another name for "Mee Hoon" is "Mee Siam".. 😁 I always thought "Kanom" meant some sort of sweet snack, if you fly on Nok Air they'll hand out paper bags marked "Kanom" and there'd be something sweet inside (the time I flew it was Aunt Annie's soft pretzels..). Nam Ya sounds very much like a "Laksa" - some restaurants around here sell a "Thai Laksa" (or "Laksa Siam"), I'll bet a dollar to a dime it's this. Assignment for tomorrow - visit the mall and see what kanom jeen dishes I can find and have one for lunch.

[@SouravBanik90]

Hi. I recently stumbled upon your channel and fell in love. One thing I have seen that there is a stark contrast with food from Bengal and Thailand and other neighbours. But there are similarities with South Indian food and food of these neighbouring countries. Why is that?

[@OTRontheroad]

So a lot of the curries that are Indian-influenced came to Thailand by way of Malaysia. I'm not sure I'd say they are South Indian, so much as the use of coconut milk is a commonality between South India and the Malay peninsula- thus, Thailand. Bengali stews and curries are much lighter on sweetness- there's a lot more in common with what you'd find in northwest Thailand along the Burmese border- which makes sense based on over-land migration patterns. Just a theory.

[@SouravBanik90]

@@OTRontheroad exactly my point! So why did the food not traverse via land borders? But the culinary practices did travel via sea.

[@peerc.3969]

Dude... try "Kanom Jeen" with "Kang Peat Ped Yang" (roasted duck Red curry) ...This is the best.😁👍

[@OTRontheroad]

Man if I had one disappointment with the food here (and that's compared to ten thousand awesome surprises) it's that gaeng pet pad yang is so hard to find. It's one of my all-time favorite foods and it's so rare to actually see it served

[@peerc.3969]

@@OTRontheroad yeah, you know the food 😁👍 Grilled Duck curry with pineapple, tomato and lychees in the curry. This is the best of the best Thai Modern Food.😁👍

[@user-rr5mq4em5w]

The Sinhalese in Sri Lanka had close relationship with Mon people.... Most probably they built that connection fighting the Chola empire...

[@toliveistolearn2226]

can you tell me the names of the noodle restaurant /store please so I can follow your footprint to try all these delicious dishes, thank you 🙏

[@OTRontheroad]

Ok...let me try: Green curry place: ห้องอาหารสมทรง [phone] goo.gl/maps/8h3pS9Hw2VKxDsGm8 Khlong Toei food court: Jay Aew Khanom Chin [phone] goo.gl/maps/JuC5Nu1NCLEWvgPN6 The place we eat all the time with everything: ร้านขนมจีนน้ำยาพริกแกงใต้ [phone] goo.gl/maps/jqths6JDdZGu3im86 You can find plenty of places with good Bun Cha and Mohinga, the ones in this video are Vietnamese and More, and Mandalay Food House. Hope that helps!

[@gonuhi]

12:00 your suppose to eat mohinga with a spoon like a soup not like ramen they enjoy in Burma just like that

[@francistheo7123]

Please do a video on crisp FRESH Oyster omelette. Thanks

[@OTRontheroad]

Roger that. Will do at some point for sure. Mussel omelette though most likely- for the real oyster omelette I need to go back to Chaozhou!

[@Tarnrop]

@@OTRontheroadcan you try o-suan (oyster omelette) see if it is the same as in China? 😊 According to Google o-suan is Teochew dialect. O is oyster and Suan mean steam. Oyster omelette is soft, not crispy like mussel omelette.

[@lcfatima]

Lao cuisine has dishes similar to nam ya+khanom jeen with their varieties of khao poon nam pa/gai/other pounded protein. Khao=rice and poon is like bún or Canto fun (Mandarin fěn 粉). Guessing you knew that but didn't have time to mention every possible dish, but just bringing it up bc I was always curious about the dish's roots since iterations are also iconic in Lao cuisine. Definitely make sense that the noodles would have a much older origin in SE Asia with the suggestion of roots in ancient Mon food culture. Would you kindly say more about the peanut nam prik you show at 21:19. What all seems to be in it? Drooling over it and would love to replicate it to eat with khanom jeen.

[@OTRontheroad]

I really wanted to include Khao Poon but the main reason I didn't is because I don't know if I've ever had it. MIGHT be going back to Laos in a week or two. Hope I can make that happen. Re: the peanut nam phrik, I'd guess ground peanut, shallot, garlic, fish sauce, palm sugar, chili...but that's also more-or-less describing Rojak so beyond that, I need go back there and try it again. I'm also curious where it's from. The cooks are from the south, but second-generation here in Bangkok.

[@OTRontheroad]

If you want to replicate it...I'll try and get you a recipe.

[@lcfatima]

@@OTRontheroad OMG yes please, that would be much appreciated.

[@chung388]

I heard the story when Thai ran Sak Laos 🇱🇦 Vientiane..capture Laos princess and took to Bangkok..That's when Laos princess cook khow Phoon for Thai king..and they name it khow.nome Chin..

[@chung388]

U said rice but what kind is it sticky rice...MY aunt cook fresh using sticky rice in Laos...back in the 80s...Laos call khow phoon..Khow in Laos means rice..if it's sticky rice. Who eat more sticky rice besides Laos 🇱🇦 people ..

[@CambodianPeaches]

When it comes to Southeast Asian food, there are many similarities. For instance, Mie means noodles in Indonesian & also in Khmer (Cambodian). The noodles in this video is the same type of noodle that's used in Nom Ban Chok. Nom Ban Chok is a fish 🐟 noodle dish from Cambodia 🇰🇭 & the name is written in Khmer in the thumbnail of this video, នំបញ្ចុក 😁

[@OTRontheroad]

That's correct re: Nom Ban Chok and the Khmer word in the thumbnail. However "mie" as explained in this video isn't really a clue to any commonality- that is actually improperly used for this type of noodle and is actually just a catch-all term derived from Hokkien Chinese.

[@CambodianPeaches]

@@OTRontheroad True. Cambodians don't call Nom Ban Chok, Mie 😆

[@chadchan1316]

Mie or Mee is just phonetic translation of Hokkien word for noodles. The Chinese introduced it to SEA.

[@dsys8393]

All Thai gravy the best

[@nongwithawat]

10:51 “Ngiao” is literally mean Tai Yai/Shan people. Some consider it as slur to call them.

[@sonsen25]

Cambodian people don't come from China, they are native people from the Mekong Delta mixed with the Indian warrior caste.

[@OTRontheroad]

Native from the Mekong delta came from China a very, very long time ago. Eventually everyone came from the Middle East if you go back far enough. There is always something before the “beginning”.

[@pjacobsen1000]

Thanks for this highly informative video. Perhaps I am missing something, but I feel it was not made clear the difference between the two main types of rice noodles: Khanom Jeen and 'regular' rice noodles. I live in China, and only in Yunnan do you see this type of noodle: Mi Xian (米线). Go just one province to the right, Guangxi, and their signature noodle dish is Guilin Mifen. This is made, as the name suggests, from Mifen, not Mi Xian, and these illustrate the main two types of rice noodles: The more chewy, elastic rice noodle (eaten in most of south China), the Mifen, Hefen, Mee hoon, Bee Hoon; and the more fragile, easy-to-break noodle (found only in Yunnan and South East Asia), the Mi Xian, Khanom Jeen, etc. Anyway, you have clearly put a lot of research into this video and my faith in my preconceived noodle-ideas has been shaken. Based on the Thai name Khanom Jeen, I was convinced that the noodle had entered Thailand with Chinese traders in only the last 200 years or so. Now I feel I have to change my whole noodle-based world view, or perhaps I should say: My whole noodle-view needs to change.

[@OTRontheroad]

Lol...it’s a totally different track- the Guilin mifen is basically the same thing (not basically, I suppose- it’s the same) as pho noodles, and also common in a lot of parts of Southeast Asia. That one DID spread pretty much as you said, around the 19th century through a more modern wave of immigration, and over land as it’s a pretty blurry line between Guanxi and Vietnam. Main difference is in how it’s produced- khanom jeen is pretty unique in being extruded from dough directly into boiling water. Makes a totally different (sticky, not slippery) texture. Where are you in China? I spent almost twelve years in the mainland. Touched on that a bit in a few of our other videos

[@OTRontheroad]

Guangxi, not guanxi of course

[@pjacobsen1000]

@@OTRontheroad Yeah, I agree. The pho noodle is part of what I call the 'standard noodle', where khanom jeen / mixian belongs to the other category. I am still confused as to why the texture ends up so different. For the 'standard noodle' production process, 'Hot Thai Kitchen' a.k.a. 'Pailin's Kitchen' has a whole video where she visits a rice noodle factory. Process looks similar to how the HK dim sum 'Chang Fen' is made. I have always preferred rice noodles to wheat noodles (except when eating Italian food). I live in Shanghai, but I have traveled a fair bit around the country, mostly by bicycle in my 25+ years here.

[@OTRontheroad]

@@pjacobsen1000 Ah nice. We'd most definitely know people in common. It's one degree of separation in China for the entire expat community.

[@pjacobsen1000]

@@OTRontheroad Haha, pretty much.

[@ozilan7284]

Sooo what is the difference between bee hoon and kanom jin?

[@OTRontheroad]

Historically, it's the boiling process for khanom jeen which is completely absent for bee hoon. But today, almost no bee hoon noodles are actually made from rice flour, or at least 100% rice flour. It uses tapioca starch or corn starch or potato starch as an additive...you can tell from the texture and/or color. At least the thin variety.

[@Raditram]

I think you should talk about Sumatra's connection with India and why the food in that region is so rich in spice.

[@OTRontheroad]

100%! I spent years in Sumatra and that's one of the first places we'd like to spend some time filming overseas to start to spread beyond Thailand. Can't wait to do a series from there.

[@Raditram]

@@OTRontheroad OMG! I didn't know you spent some time there! I'm from Java so most of my interaction with the island of Sumatra is through its delicious food. Man, you're probably more of an expert than me. So much interesting stuff there, culturally. Like How unique, herby and spicy Acehnese food is, or how unique the melting pots of India, Chinese and Malay in Medan. Can't wait!

[@OTRontheroad]

@@Raditram Amazing. And yes, Aceh is definitely a stop we're planning, too. Crazy story- if we hadn't started OTR, my plan was to open a Nasi Padang restaurant in Bangkok. There's zero real Indonesian food in this city, which is insane. And I think the amazing visual of Nasi Padang would suit this place well. That almost actually happened but I did the channel instead

[@Raditram]

@@OTRontheroad HAHAHA That's insane! And funny enough many people here actually do that, settle down and just open nasi padang stall.

[@Skypad00]

Wrong in the beginning, it wasn't one tribe that settled in Southeast Asia, it was multiple ethnic groups from different cultures, tribes and kingdoms. They spoke a mixture of Austro-asiatic, Tai Kadai and Sinitic languages, some of these groups were Han Chinese themselves, since Han kings and emperors set up kindgoms that incorporated parts of Southeast Asia, such as Nanyue.

[@OTRontheroad]

The archeology would argue with you. The Han Chinese groups you reference are first proven to have arrived 3000 years after the first evidence of Mon settlements. It's just the archeological facts, not my opinions.

[@Janovial]

​@@OTRontheroadWhat archeology told you it's Mon? The Vietnamese would say it's them.

[@OTRontheroad]

Then the Vietnamese who say that would be wrong. @@Janovial

[@Janovial]

@@OTRontheroad No one is sure. whether it is Mon, Thai or Kinh people. What is sure, Nanyue was ruled by a Chinese General and many Han people migrated south during the Qin dynasty expansion bringing with them their cultures and ways.

[@chadchan1316]

yes. Vietnam was part of China. Not to mention althought Chinese didn't really rule SEA doesn't mean Chinese merchants weren't travelling to SEA@@Janovial

[@Janovial]

You forgot one point. The only convenient way to eat a dish of noodle soaked in broth is by using utensils, either with fork and spoon or chopsticks. The natives of SEA were known to eat with their hands like the Indians.

[@chadchan1316]

yes. So it's obviously of Chinese origin. The shape of the noodle is for chopsticks.

[@tompraisan7642]

Vietnamese Bun Cha might be the healthiest

[@hominhmai5325]

Crazy how the shapes affect the tastes 😂😂😂

[@kdamprae4236]

Hor mok or amok is a thai name we Cambodia name it after the thai but we have that kinda cooking before the tai aka siam just like some food Italian use the name after the American's italian food . But for this food is pretty khmer , and khmer and mon were the same family tree Cambodian called ourselves khmer mon race .

[@OTRontheroad]

That's basically exactly what the evidence shows and I agree with how you describe the origins of the dish.

[@bunnystrasse]

Maps and address?

[@emptyemptiness8372]

Buddhism didnt travel down from southern China with migrating tribes, they were anamist then. Buddhism arrived later from the east. Kanom jeen and gueng keiw wan is sublime.

[@OTRontheroad]

I think you misunderstand. Keep watching the video- we explain in detail how Buddhism arrived through missionaries from Sri Lanka.

[@Janovial]

Buddhism arrived from the west, Palava who were Buddhist.

[@MyCUTboyz]

9:26 that's "Tamil" written in white. This dish originated from chola Kingdom and was brought to the region by cholas. The tamil name for this is Idiyappam.

[@OTRontheroad]

Absolutely not originally from the Chola kingdom- it's not even possibly disputable where it comes from as there's a ton of archeological evidence- but yes, please continue watching, we do cover Idiyappam later in the video. Certainly connected and also an ancient history.

[@MyCUTboyz]

@@OTRontheroad i understand your findings. The clue is in the rice. There is only one specific type of rice that gives the best flour to make these noodles. And that strand/variant comes from the cauvery delta ( it was called the ponni river in those days) . The Chinese noodle is from a different type of rice. Another clue is the civilization timeline - the technique of cultivating paddy in high water level areas pre-dates mon , Thai and malay people. This is mentioned in the stone tablet records at the Thai archeological archives. There is a difference in the dish though. There were more ingredients available in the malay belt and is hence served with various types of curry and in India it is served with less varieties. ..... Nevertheless, your channel is awesome. I don't mind if I am wrong. Give humans a grain, they will make a noodle, flat bread and pudding version of it. True credit goes to people who keep it alive. Keep it up OTR. Happy to keep it challenging.

[@OTRontheroad]

I'll look deeper into that part of it but my understanding is that the technique was influenced by contact with the Mon, though it obviously took on unique local characteristics. And I personally feel like the Tamil/Sri Lankan Idiyappam is the best form of these noodles (specific to the noodles themselves) as the rice itself does lend a different character. So who knows- this was way before either of us were born- hah. But either way, I absolutely love it in South India and that certainly isn't meant to be any disrespect to that history.@@MyCUTboyz

[@MyCUTboyz]

@@OTRontheroad oh come on. Your work is superb. I never took it as a disrespect, I was merely adding to the story. I am sorry if I made you feel otherwise. On a different note, after WW2 lots of tamil people who settled in Burma came back to tamil nadu bringing new techniques and dishes from that region ( a case of reverse migration). So in Chennai they have the Burmese and Thai version of tamil dishes. Let me know if you want to jam on such stories.

[@OTRontheroad]

So much overlap. Have actually for a long time been planning something where we cook the same curry in Burmese and Chettinad style and see if any differences.@@MyCUTboyz

[@bahruddin_azmi]

it same with laksa and laksam in malaysia..but to be honest i’m still prefer thai version

[@Janovial]

The Malay mee rebus was inspired by this dish.

[@bubblekittey7609]

Mons are not the oldest people in southeast asia it was The Pyu people of Myanmar Pyu people had a great civilization even greater than the Mons if you don't believe me pls visit to Pyay. Mon cities didn't last that long most of the Mon cities are gone however Pyu Cities are massive some of them are 3000 year old and Pyu people like to make rice noodles. And also Mons and Pyu had a hate love relationship. However most of the time Mons were kinda aggressive to the Pyu 😊

[@OTRontheroad]

The Pyu people do have an ancient history but as far as any archeological evidence is concerned, they arrived in the region 3000 years after the Mon- and came from the same area in Yunnan.

[@sm-zn8xm]

I'm glad u stick with archeological evidence instead of bais misinformation.

[@ishikawananda3688]

Ummm as far as linguistic evidence is confirmed, the first tibeto-burman tribes including pyu only began to settle in Myanmar in about the 4-5th century. Astroasiatic speaking people such as Mon-Khmer settlements predate them by a few centuries prior.

[@hollish196]

I would be very uncomfortable with the leaders of countries! I would much rather have a meal with you two, especially since I suspect we could have a much more interesting conversation about food and history, which all love.

[@OTRontheroad]

At least that's one! Thanks!! Hah. Although I suspect you could also have a very interesting conversation on the topic with Mr. Bourdain.

[@gasun1274]

noodles isnt a unique chinese invention. the kadazans have something called nanggiu, which are noodles traditionally made from pure sago flour and it's most commonly used in desserts.

[@mytube9182]

The word Khanom Jeen in Thai descended from its original name in Mon: Kh'nom Jin. The two words appear homophone. Khanom in Thai means dessert and Jeen meen Chinese, which both are irrelevant to the food itself because it's not a dessert nor originated from China at all. The word Kh'nom in Mon means "being rolled into a chunk", the style that still remains in how they put the rolled noodles on banana leaves as stacked chunks. And Jin means just "cooked".

[@OTRontheroad]

I mean...just watch the video, that's literally all in there. Cheers and hope you enjoy.

[@chung388]

Khow nom Chine, Translate to Chinese candy5555. And Kow Tiel.. Thai pho translate to Banana Tiel.. I think tieu came. From Vietnam language..Like Tiel...Just go to Laos 🇱🇦 u fine how this noodles is made fresh starting from Scratch!!!

[@OTRontheroad]

Watch the video please, we explain how that’s a misinterpretation and not how it was intended.

[@Tiaimo]

ก๋วยเตี๋ยว คำนี้มาจากจีนสองกลุ่ม แต้จิ๋ว กับ ฮกเกี้ยน ก๋วยเตี๊ยว / แต้จิ๋ว ก๊วยเตี๋ยว / ฮกเกี้ยน ถ้าออกเสียงแบบไทยๆให้เป็น ก้วย/กล้วย ที่บอกว่าเป็น Banana ก็ได้ แต่มันเพี้ยน อีกอย่างภาษาเวียดนามยืมคำศัพท์จากพวกกวางตุ้งเยอะ จะเรียกคล้ายๆกันไม่แปลก อย่างคำว่าเฝอของเวียดนาม ก็มาจากศัพท์จีนกวางตุ้ง เหอเฝิ่น ออกเสียงลดรูปเป็น เฝอ บุ๋น - เวียดนาม/ลาว, ปุ้น - อีสาน/ลาว

[@Janovial]

​@@TiaimoKuay means pastry ie made of flour. Not banana.

[@Tiaimo]

@@Janovial เขาหมายถึงการเข้าใจความหมายผิดเพราะออกเสียงระหว่างควบกล้ำกับไม่ควบกล้ำ

[@kdamprae4236]

Sir i appreciate your work in putting asean food out there alot , however u kinda discredited us alil bit khmer mon were pretty similar like the Scottish and irsh and thai isnt even the ayudthea city was khmer capital for centuries before tai arrival like the mon "ancient script" in the video u put i can read it pretty ez as a Cambodian. Im not demanding anything i saw the backlash u toke from the thai side who want to be seen as mon , but i wanna put it out there .

[@OTRontheroad]

I think you are badly misunderstanding my meaning, none of what you wrote is how this was intended.

[@marciewyatt2342]

In my house we eat Ramen noodles with enough salt in the seasoning to kill a horse 🐎🤣

[@IamNotDrunk.]

Would you stay in North Korea or Myanmar

[@OTRontheroad]

I would very much prefer not to stay in North Korea

[@mobylure]

We SE Asian has rice culture because we can grow rice not wheat. While you European doesn't have this because you grow wheat so you have pastas and breads.

[@siamean1]

Khnom Chien was invented by one man. His name is Thon Chey in Cambodia. Thon Chey exists in Thailand as Sri Thanonchai or in Laos as Xien Mien, Trang Quynh in Viêtnam, and even Ida Talaga in Bali. Saga Dausa in Burma. His story is used as a communist propoganda piece against Royalty because he was a simpleton that out smarted the King(not so popular in Thailand.) He even brought Khnom Chien to the chinese emporor. Scholars also believed that Thon Chey was a play on Cheyavarman, after he absorbed a neighboring Mon Kingdom.

[@OTRontheroad]

No, that is not what “scholars believe.”

[@siamean1]

@OTRontheroad "scholars believe" hahaha... how oxymoronic of me.

[@MrNataphong]

Ermm sorry , King Taksin of Thonburi was nothing about Mon,actually he was Chinese. And his family not noble but he got talent to became lord of Tak (city) and when Ayuttaya has fallen down and shattered. He was the man who made a piece.

[@OTRontheroad]

This is historically incorrect.

[@chadchan1316]

Teochew Chinese

[@tftfgubedgukm7911]

Your info is from Wikipedia

[@tomkarnes69]

Tony is dead, Barack Hussein Soharto might have had a hand in it, hell his personal chef just drowned to death, much rather eat with you man lol

[@chadchan1316]

obviously from China. The shapes were made for chopsticks.