Food and Identity Crisis - We are what we eat _ Pascal Khoo Thwe

Pascal Khoo Thwe, celebrated author of “The Land of the Green Ghosts”, takes us on a journey to his beloved village in Kayah State in eastern Myanmar, painting a vivid picture of a pristine and pastoral world, and how food, drinks and local culture and traditions are intertwined. The military and money men have intruded into this “perfect (place) in an imperfect world”, leading not only to a break in the deeply-held connection between the food they eat and their identities but also to an increase in fatalities from chemicals in the new food they consume. A thought-provoking talk on how what we eat defines who we are.

Pascal Khoo Thwe is a Myanmar author from the minority Padaung people, known for his autobiographic writings about growing up in Burma under military rule. His book, From the Land of Green Ghosts: A Burmese Odyssey, was awarded the Kiriyama Prize. he was born in Pekon, Shan State, Myanmar. He is the eldest of six sons and five daughters. His father died in 1996 in Thailand.

By a chance encounter with Dr. John Casey, a Cambridge don, Khoo Thwe was rescued from the jungles of Burma where he and other student refugees were fighting Burmese soldiers for independence. In 1991, Khoo Thwe enrolled in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he received his BA in English literature in 1995. Khoo Thwe's autobiographical book "From the Land of Green Ghosts" was published by Harper-Collins in 2002. He currently resides in London.