Yoichi Nishimoto

Traditional Culture and Local Society : Lahu Food Culture as a Cultural Resource
Yoichi Nishimoto
Professor, School of Humanities, Kanazawa University, Japan

This paper examines the potential of Lahu food culture to become a cultural heritage, and in doing so it offers areconsideration of the concept of “culture”. It argues that the possibility that Lahu food culture can become a cultural
heritage is very low and that, for this reason, we may regard Lahu food culture as one of the failed cases in which a people’smaterial culture has failed to be recognized as valuable enough to be labeled a “cultural heritage”. Yet, by studying thisfailed case, we are able to reconsider the very problematic concepts of “culture” and “cultural heritage” from a different
angle than those we usually take.

Culture lived and culture objectified

in other words, this is culture toward which people castreflective eyes and that which is objectified by the reflec-

More and more often today we hear the terms, “culturaltion. Culture objectified is very often different from culture

heritage” and “cultural resources”, as people around the

lived. When we talk about “cultural heritages” and “cultural

world compete to have their own cultures placed on the cul-resources”, these cultures are usually culture objectified.

tural heritage list. Cultural resources possess the possibility

There are both tangible and intangible cultural heritages,of discovery, evaluation, and utilization; they may be found,and here I will focus on the latter. Specifically, I take up theregarded as things with value, and registered as culturalcase of Lahu people in Thailand, primarily, and also some inheritages. These, in turn, may help people earn cash income

China, secondarily, in order to study their food culture andthrough tourism and serve as a basis for ethnic, local, or na-

re-examine the concept of culture.

tional identity.
We speak of “culture” and “cultural heritage” frequently

Lahu food culture

in everyday life, and we can generally identify two different kinds of cultures in our usage – culture lived and culture

Lahu are a highland dwelling ethnic minority living in

objectified (cf. Sekimoto 1994, Ohta 1998). Culture lived isan area ranging from Southwest China through northerna culture in a traditional meaning. Euro-American anthro-Thailand. In this region, ethnic Tai/Thai peoples tend topologists in the first half of twentieth century sought out

occupy the lowlands while non-Tai/Thai peoples live in the

remote, small, non-Western societies in order to study thehighlands. The former generally grow Indica and glutinous

people’s cultures. Culture in this meaning is one embedded

rice by wet rice cultivation, while many of the latter raisein people’s lives and people usually do not cast reflective

Japonica and glutinous rice by swidden farming. Lahueyes on their own culture. Culture lived is, in other words,

people are among these highland ethnic minorities andcustoms.

historically practiced pioneer swidden cultivation, yet have

However, regarding a certain “culture”, both outsiders andbeen inclined more and more to employ rotational swidden

insiders (people of that culture) have begun to talk about

methods. At present, the Lahu living in northern Thailandthat culture in new ways. This is culture objectified, and it

grow both dry and wet rice and also work as wage laborers

indicates a culture that people talk about, one that is per-in town.

formed for viewers, and one that is exhibited in a museum;2

The Thailand Lahu traditional house is made of bamboo,

Traditional Culture and Local Society

with a thatched roof. Floors are made high by building on

mal flesh in almost every meal (Namihira 1986).

long piles, so that the people can raise domestic animals

When a family sits down for a meal, the Thailand Lahu

such as pigs and hens under the floors. As Walker (1995:9)

do not necessarily gather at a table. If there is no guest, they

writes, “Lahu households most often comprise a smallusually sit on the floor and put plates of rice and dishes onfamily group: husband, wife and unmarried children, who

the floor to eat. Many Thailand Lahu eat with one spoon,share a single hearth, the focal point of every Lahu house”.

while some use their hands, and others – especially those

Around the hearth, one finds cooking instruments, such

who came from China – use chopsticks. They normally eat

as steamers, pots, pans, and mortars (a hpe te tu in Lahu).

without drinking, but then sit up and drink from a bottle of

Lahu people store seeds above the hearth to keep them dry.

water after finishing the meal. Some take their own bowl ofIn recent years, however, more families are building a sepa-

rice topped with side dish items and go outside to eat. Even

rate kitchens, to which the fireplace is usually moved.

when gathered around a table, “you can go away when you

Lahu eat three meals a day, and generally regard breakfast
as the most important meal, then dinner as the second, andhave finished your meal. This is a Lahu custom”, as one elder
explained.

lunch as the least. Taking as an example the Ca K’ehs, a Red

After dinner or in the evening they usually enjoy chat-

Lahu family in northern Thailand: for breakfast, Na Ka,

ting with tea or cigarettes. It is a relaxing moment at the end

the housewife, gets up before dawn, takes about two hoursof a busy day. Lahu tea is similar to Chinese tea. First, theto cook rice by a steaming method (aw sha ve), and cooks

tea leaves are lightly roasted, which people say makes themvarious other dishes to accompany the rice. Lunch is mostsmell better. People then put the tea leaves in boiling water

simple, as they pack the rice left over from breakfast in plas-and boil them again to make strong tea.

tic bags and take them to the field. During the day they are

Many Lahu men, and some women, smoke tobacco. Somevery busy with farming or other work, so they often do notbuy cigarettes from a market. But most villagers buy tobaccocook proper dishes, frequently only making a hpe or chili

only and then roll cigarettes on their own with a corn leaf.

paste (see below) to accompany cold rice. Na Ka cooks rice

As for alcohol, most Thailand Lahu do not make it them-again for dinner, this time, by boiling (aw ca ve), and also

selves but rather purchase it from other groups nearby. Re-

prepares other dishes.

cently, they have begun also to drink beer. Betel nut chewing

Such dishes that accompany rice are called aw chi in theLahu language, yet, in its usage, aw chi often means dishes

is also witnessed among some elders, while younger people
generally do not chew them today.

made of animal or fish meat. In the past, Lahu say, they did
not eat meat very often. Even today they cannot necessarily afford to eat meat every day. Getting by with a few extra
dishes, they eat a large amount of rice.

Techniques in and Characteristics of Lahu foodcultureMeals for special days, on the other hand, are quite differ-

Lahu meals are comprised of rice (the staple food) and side

ent from ones served on normal days. On such special oc-

dishes. Lahu eat non-glutinous rice on most days of the year,

casions as the Lahu New Year days, annual festival days, andand stickier glutinous rice is consumed during the New Yeardays when rituals are held, Lahu consume meals full of porkcelebratory period, which usually lasts eight to twelve days.

and chicken. In other words, in the course of a year, they

Lahu consume much rice with a relatively small quantity

usually eat much rice with little meat, while engaging inof dishes. They do not often consume noodles, and evenintensive meat consumption on special days (cf. Rappaportwhen they do eat instant noodles – often found in villages

1968). Clear contrast between simple everyday meals andtoday – they eat them as a dish to accompany rice. Below I

luxurious special day meals have been seen in many other

outline Lahu rice-cooking methods and the ways in whichplaces in the past. For example, the Japanese began to eat

they prepare other dishes, as these techniques are importantmeat daily only after the country achieved rapid economic

characteristics of Lahu food culture.

growth in the 1950s. Compared to meals served before theAmong Thailand Lahu I have documented two kinds of

1950s, Japanese now feast every day, as they consume ani-

cooking techniques for non-glutinous rice; “boiling rice”
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Yoichi Nishimoto(aw ca ve) and “steaming rice” (aw sha ve). Many among thebe quite scarce and it was much more valuable in the past.

Thailand Lahu only use the “boiling” method to cook rice,

Lahu typically used lard to cook when they needed oil, but

but some, like Na Ka, “steam rice” for breakfast and “boilthey only had lard when they slaughtered a pig – not a veryrice” for dinner.

frequent occurrence.

In the morning Na Ka puts the rice that has been in water

There is a common saying among Thailand Lahu: “Forovernight into the steamer. Roughly mid-way through the

Lahu, it’s chili” (La Hu a hpe). They also say, “For Lahu, it’s

process she takes the rice out once. While pouring hot waterchili, fermented soy beans for Shan, and pork for Chinese”

over it, she mixes the rice, and then puts it back into the(La Hu a hpe; Pi Chaw naw hk’eh; Heh Pa va sha). In villages,

steamer. This method is the more time-consuming way, but

I often heard a patterned dialogue: “Have you eaten?” – “No,according to Na Ka it produces better-tasting rice.

not yet” – “What are you cooking for side dishes?” – “WeFor dinner, Na Ka “boils the rice”. She puts rice and a lot

don’t have meat or fish so we’ll only have a hpe with rice”

of water into a pot and places it over a high flame. When the(“Aw ca o la?” – “Ma ca she” – “A ma aw chi te ca ve le?” – “Awrice is almost cooked, she pours out the water and then puts

chi ma caw, a hpe teh leh ca ve”). This saying characterizes

the pot beside a low flame to make the rice crispy. As she

the Lahu as a poor people who can only eat a hpe, for they

does this, she turns the pot in order to heat the rice evenly.

cannot afford meat or fish. By this, they define themselves

This is called “turning the rice” (aw jaw ve).

negatively.

Lahu people mostly boil, stir-fry, and grill to cook dishes.

There have been many recent changes in Lahu food cul-

They rarely deep-fry; nor do they usually make sauce orture. Thailand Lahu have sometimes told me that they had

dressing. The most distinct feature of Lahu cooking is afar fewer chances to eat meat before, that meat they ate inchili-based spice called “a hpe”. A hpe is made of chili pep-

the past usually consisted of wild game and domestic ani-pers, herbs, salt, MSG, and other ingredients. They lightly

mals, and that they did not buy meat at markets or fromgrill the peppers first and then mix them with the otherpeddlers in the old days because they lived high in theingredients and pound them all in a mortar. They may also

mountains.

use red onion, lemongrass, grilled tomatoes and other items.

At present, while there is still no market in Pa Long vil-

Although a hpe literally means chili, it also means alage, a Karen food seller comes on a motorbike every morn-chili paste made in the abovementioned way. A hpe, theing. The Ca K’eh family runs a small shop themselves, tochili paste, generally has two usages. Firstly, rice and a hpe

which villagers come to buy snacks or drinks. Because this

together make the most basic Lahu meal. Herbs and veg-

village has electricity, the store has cold drinks and even

etables are dipped in a hpe. When they have no meat or fish,beer in the refrigerator. A weekly market is held off thethey eat only a hpe with edible plants and vegetables they

highway, eight kilometers from Pa Long village. Villagers gocollect themselves. It is extremely rare for a Lahu meal notthere by motorbike to buy things. These days, since many

to include a hpe. For the Lahu, a hpe forms the most basic

people have a motorbike, more people travel outside the vil-dish. Secondly, a hpe is a versatile spice which is also used inlage to buy goods.

cooking a variety of dishes, by boiling or frying. Almost all

Indeed, the Lahu today do have a variety of cookware

Lahu dishes are seasoned with a hpe. In this sense, a hpe is apurchased outside the village. The Ca K’eh family even has asymbol of the Lahu culture itself, as I will explain below.

propane gas stove for cooking. Things bought from outside

What do Lahu people themselves think of Lahu food?

include cooking oil, MSG, and instant noodles.

Many times I have heard Lahu say, “Lahu dishes are bad”

In short, Lahu meal consists of rice (the staple food) and(La Hu aw chi ma da). Perhaps the speakers are simply

side dishes. They consume a large amount of rice with rela-

humbling themselves before a guest, or perhaps they truly

tively few side dishes. Their daily meals are simple, often

mean it, or possibly both are the case. “Most Lahu dishes arewithout meat or fish, but they do engage in intensive con-made by boiling”, a Christian Lahu woman once said to me.

sumption of pork on special occasions, which makes quite

In fact, they do not often use oil to cook dishes. Today, theya contrast. Thailand Lahu have unique techniques for cook-

can buy cooking oil from lowland markets, but oil used to

ing rice and side dishes. It is extremely unusal for the Lahu

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Traditional Culture and Local Society

to not eat a hpe with a meal. A hpe is a symbol of the Lahu

ethnic laws.

people, by which they tend to define themselves negatively.

The “fixing” and utilization of culture is more a matterIn the next section, I will reconsider the concept of “cul-for elites than for ordinary people, who are usually too busyture” by referring to the case of Lahu food culture discussed

making living to think about culture. In many cases, only

above.

the elites are literate and have access to the media, which arenecessary to objectify and make use of culture.

Lahu food culture as a cultural resource

There is also a problem with the ownership of any given
culture: Who is the owner of the culture and who benefits

At the beginning of this paper, I pointed to the two different

from it? Lahu food culture shares many characteristics withkinds of culture: culture lived and culture objectified. Whenones of other ethnic groups, and this is one of the obstacles

we talk about “cultural resources”, we are talking about cul-for cultural utilization. Rice-cooking methods (“boiling”

ture that is used for something or that has potential to be

and “steaming”) are interesting but are found among otherused for something. This implies a process in which culture

ethnic groups, too. A hpe, chili paste, may be a symbol of

lived becomes culture objectified. In this process, the former

Lahu people, but we find nam phrik among Thais and terasi

is discovered by people, evaluated as culture that has po-among Indonesians, both of which are very similar to Lahu

tential for some usage, and then utilized for some purpose.

a hpe. Lahu festival food is not much different from ones of

Lahu food culture discussed above is basically a culture

the neighboring peoples including Akha and Lisu.

lived, for it has not undergone this process and remains a

If we consider Thailand Lahu food culture as a possible

custom upon which people, both insiders and outsiders,

cultural resource, its potential to be utilized is still very

hardly cast reflective eyes.

low. There is little interest in intangible cultural heritages

Certainly, Lahu culture in general also has been objecti-

in Thailand and there is no Thai word for it, or if there is, it

fied by both outsiders and insiders, yet Lahu customs related

is hardly known among Thai. There is even less interest in

to food and eating have not yet been included among thediscovering an intangible cultural heritage from highlanders

cultural elements that people endeavor to fix. In the processof northern Thailand called chao khao (the hill tribes). On

in which culture lived is made culture objectified and uti-

the other hand, there have been active discussions on the

lized, outsiders and/or insiders choose certain items fromindigenous knowledge of villagers (phum panya chao ban

the people’s culture, and evaluate and fix them as essential

in Thai), including Karen swidden agriculture (regarded

elements that comprise the culture of that people.

as being environmentally friendly), rituals for propitiating

If the objectification is done by insiders, cultural items

mountain spirits among highlanders (seen as having a func-

which are evaluated must be “good culture”, for culture istion of protecting the forests from destruction), and tradi-

utilized for purposes that will improve the people’s image

tional herbal medicines. In order for Lahu food culture to be

and social position, such as for economic benefit (tourism,

recognized as valuable indigenous knowledge of villagers,etc.), as a basis for group identity, and to revitalize an ethnic

the negative mental image of Lahu food culture as bad andcommunity. As shown by the Lahu proverb “For Lahu, it’s

backward must be converted to a positive one. One way thischili, fermented soy beans for Shan, and pork for Chinese”,

might be achieved is by redefining it as a healthy, natural,

Lahu food culture has undergone some degree of objecti-

and slow food culture.

fication by the people themselves, but the objectification
so far reflects their negative self-consciousness about Lahu

Concluding remarks

customs regarding food and eating.
Behind all this, there is an essentialist view on culture

The situation for Lahu living in China is quite different fromshared both by outsiders and insiders. Views of culture asthat for Thailand Lahu regarding the issue of intangible

essential and changeless now prevail all over the world. In

cultural heritage. The Chinese government has been very

this view, culture is comprised of items, such as history,

active in making inventories of cultural heritages in China

language, festivals, songs, dances, religions, clothing, andand safeguarding them. Mvuh hpa mi hpa (oral creation
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Yoichi Nishimotomyth), gourd pipe dancing, gourd pipe craft techniques, and(Cultural Anthropology in Our Life). Tokyo: Fukutake

the Lahu gourd festival (hulujie in Chinese) are registered in

Shoten. (in Japanese)

China’s national and provincial intangible cultural heritage

Nishimoto, Yoichi. Lahu Narratives of Inferiority: Christian-lists. Of these Lahu intangible cultural heritages, the mostity and Minority in Ethnic Power Relations. Chiang Rai:

important may be the oral creation myth which has been

The Center for Inter-Ethnic Studies, Rajabhat Instituterecorded, translated into Chinese, and published as books

Chiang Rai, 2000.

in Lahu and Chinese (Liu and Zhang 2010). Contrasting

Ohta, Yoshinobu. Toransupojishon no shiso: Bunkajinruigaku

the case of Lahu culture as a cultural resource in China andno saisozo (Thoughts of Tranposition: Reimaging Cul-that in Thailand shows that culture is regarded as compris-tural Anthropology). Kyoto: Sekaishisosha, 1998. (ining many cultural elements, some of which are more suit-

Japanese)able for being made into intangible cultural heritages than

Sekimoto, Teruo. “Josho” (Introduction) in Teruo Sekimotoothers. In this sense, food and eating customs of Thailand

and Takeo Funabiki eds. Kokumin-bunka ga umareru

Lahu may be called a failed case in which one of the cultural

toki: Ajia-Taiheiyo no gendai to dento (When national

elements remains only as culture lived and is still to be dis-

culture is born: Present and Tradition of Asia-Pacificcovered, evaluated as “good culture” and utilized for certain

Area). Tokyo: Libro port, 1994. (in Japanese)

purposes. As we have seen, Thailand Lahu have a negative
consciousness of their food and eating customs and, if theyRappaport, Roy A. Pigs for the Ancestors. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1968.

are to be utilized, there will be a problem concerning own-

Walker, Anthony R. “Introduction” in Anthony R. Walker

ership. Both of these are obstacles to Lahu food customs’ed. Mvuh Hpa Mi Hpa: Creating Heaven, Creating

recognition as cultural resources and subsequent registra-

Earth: An Epic Myth of the Lahu People in Yunnan. Chi-tion as an intangible cultural heritage.

ang Mai: Silkworm Books, 1995.

In the world today, cultures of local and ethnic societies
are seen more and more as cultural resources. Increasingly,
culture is viewed as something to be used for certain purposes and opportunities to benefit from it are recognized.
This begs the question, “Why and in what situations do
people want to utilize culture, and for what purposes andfor whose benefit?” We also have to pay attention to any
changes that occur after a certain culture is objectified andutilized, and what differences exist between the culture objectified and the original culture lived, if the two are not thesame.

References
Liu, Jinrong and Zhang Qi “Feiwuzhi Wenhua Yichan Shiyexia de Lahuzu Chuangshishi ‘mu pa mi pa’” (Studyof Lahu epic myth ‘Mvuh Hpa Mi Hpa’ as an Intangible
Cultural Heritage). in Yoichi Nishimoto ed. Zhongguo Yunnan Shaosuminzu Feiwuzhi Wenhua Yichan deShijie (World of Intangible Cultural Heritages of Ethnic
Minorities in Yunnan, China) Kanazawa: Kanazawa
University, 2010. (in Chinese)
Namihira, Emiko. Kurashi no nakano Bunkajinruigaku
6Traditional Culture and Local Society

Fig.1 View of Pa Long village, north Thailand

Fig.2 A traditional Lahu house made of bamboo

Fig.3 A traditional Lahu hearth

Fig.4 A detached kitchen

Fig.5 Seeds have been placed above the hearth to keep them dry

Fig.6 Ingredients for making a hpe

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Yoichi Nishimoto8

Fig.7 A method for steaming rice

Fig.8 Steamed rice

Fig.9 A method for boiling riceFig.10 Pounding a hpe

Fig.11 A hpe, or chili paste

Fig.12 A Lahu dinner on one particular dayTraditional Culture and Local Society

Fig.13 Food on a day when a ritual was held

Fig.14 Sumptuous food on the day of a ritualFig.15 A Lahu family eating around a table

Fig.16 Lahu dining etiquette

Fig.17 An elder enjoying cigarettes

Fig.18 A food seller on a motorbike

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Yoichi NishimotoFig.19 A grocery store in Pa Long village

Fig.21 Mvuh hpa mi hpa, in China’s national intangible cultural
heritage inventory (source; The Intangible Cultural Heritages

Fig.20 A gas stoveFig.22 Lao Da Bao village, Yunnan, China – a base forsafeguarding the Lahu epic myth muvh hpa mi hpa

in Yunnan” http://www.ynich.cn/Index.html)
All photographs by Yoichi Nishimoto, except 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 18 courtesy of Kazuto Hattori and 22 courtesy of Liu Jinrong,

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