Abstract “Who would have thought that out of all the dishes on our menu, Americans would go nuts for a salad mixed with a dark savory paste of fermented tea?” The demand for Burma Superstar’s laphet thoke (fermented tea leaf salad) came initially as a surprise to San Francisco-restaurateur Desmond Tan. By 2018 the restaurant’s fermented tea leaf salad was the fourth most popular restaurant item in the country on Yelp. The dish’s nascent stardom is a dramatic departure from a colonial-era description of its key ingredient, laphet (fermented tea), as a “putrescent mass of smashed up leaves.” Witnessing the success of Burma Superstar’s laphet thoke, and a crescendo of interest in Burmese cuisine following Myanmar’s democratic reforms in 2012, an array of American restaurants has offered various versions of it, and dozens of food writers have been quick to publish recipes for it. In spite of the salad’s new-found cult following, laphet has remained rare for chefs and home cooks. This article focuses on laphet thoke, and argues that its origins, material properties, and culinary innovations have contributed to its popularity among American foodies. And, through the example of Tan’s adaptations of the salad and its key ingredient, this piece reveals the processes by which some exotic foods are modified and materialize as trendy fare.

中文翻译：

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吃你的茶TM：发酵茶叶沙拉的意外和未完成的跨文化历史（laphet thoke）

摘要 “谁会想到在我们菜单上的所有菜肴中，美国人会为沙拉和发酵茶的黑色酱汁而疯狂？” 对缅甸超级明星的 laphet thoke（发酵茶叶沙拉）的需求最初令旧金山餐馆老板 Desmond Tan 感到惊讶。到 2018 年，该餐厅的发酵茶叶沙拉成为 Yelp 上该国第四大最受欢迎的餐厅项目。这道菜刚刚崭露头角，与殖民时代对其关键成分 laphet（发酵茶）的描述大相径庭，后者被描述为“腐烂的烂叶块”。见证了缅甸巨星 laphet thoke 的成功，以及 2012 年缅甸民主改革后对缅甸美食的兴趣日益浓厚，一系列美国餐厅提供了各种版本的缅甸美食，数十位美食作家迅速发布了它的食谱。尽管沙拉是新发现的狂热追随者，但对于厨师和家庭厨师来说，laphet 仍然很少见。本文重点介绍 Laphet thoke，并认为它的起源、材料特性和烹饪创新使其在美国美食家中广受欢迎。而且，通过 Tan 对沙拉及其关键成分的改编的例子，这篇文章揭示了一些异国情调的食物被修改并成为时尚食品的过程。