Southeast Asia is renowned for its diversity and complexity of flavours. For the last 20 plus years Thailand has been on nearly everyone’s culinary map, and recently Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have also become important food destinations.  With its recent opening up, Burma is the new kid on the block.

Located at the crossroads between China, India, and Southeast Asia, Burma (also known as Myanmar), has long absorbed outside influences that have crossed from east and west, north and south, for centuries. In the process, its peoples have developed a rich, complex cuisine of flavour combinations. They blend  rich curries and lentils, with ingredients as diverse as Sechuan peppercorns, lemongrass, lime, and fermented fish.

Photojournalist Naomi Duguid has captured the essence of the country, its people and its cuisine in her latest book, Burma: Rivers of Flavor. She is no stranger to Asia, having published a number of ground-breaking books on the region including Beyond the Great Wall, Mangos and Curry Leaves and Hot Sour Salty Sweet, an iconic book on the flavours of the country kissed by the Mekong River.

Burma: Rivers of Flavor weaves 125 recipes with intriguing tales from Naomi’s many trips through the country. She takes boats up Burma’s huge rivers, to places inaccessible by road; spends time in village markets and home kitchens; and takes the reader to the farthest reaches of the country.

With the beginnings of a true democracy, Burma is fast opening up to tourism and with its unique flavour combinations as the gateway between the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia, and is set to become the hottest food destination in Asia. At Wickedfood Cooking School, we will definitely be developing a Burmese cooking class and we’ll be using Burma: Rivers of Flavor as a constant reference when developing recipes.

Interested in buying this book? Visit – Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, is able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R383 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R448)! Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood Cooking School subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%, a total saving of R65.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference. Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients. We’ve just launched a new and exciting  class, Wickedfood Master Cook. Think Master Chef with a fun twist.