Chiang Mai 2015

·41 min·4 clips

In a Thai hospital engulfed by smoke, Kemi's father is diagnosed with a brain tumor during a family trip.

Host Alyssa James interviews Kemi Bajan about her memoir essay 'Chiang Mai 2015,' published in Gastronomica. Kemi begins by explaining her background as a food historian who shifted to creative writing after personal events, including her father's illness. She describes arriving in Chiang Mai in March 2015 with her family to find the area engulfed in smoke from deforestation and agricultural practices. During the trip, her father exhibited odd behavior and was diagnosed with a brain tumor in a Thai hospital. Kemi connects this personal crisis to the environmental haze, discussing how the smoke obscured landscapes and symbolized disbelief in the climate crisis. She reflects on a hazy photograph taken by her father, which she later used metadata to locate, framing the essay's themes of disorientation and care. The conversation delves into culinary tourism, with Kemi critiquing the search for authentic food as tied to power dynamics and neocolonial desires, yet acknowledging its seductiveness. She notes how food in the essay shifts from authentic street food to comfort items like baguette sandwiches during her father's hospitalization. Kemi discusses using personal narrative to tell larger stories, such as the history of hill tribes in Thailand and deforestation in the Golden Triangle region. She shares her writing process, emphasizing the challenge of including emotions and first-person perspective after an academic background. Kemi reveals she is working on a memoir titled 'Crumbs, a Trail of Taste and Illness' and mentions other published works, including an essay in the neurology journal Brain. The episode concludes with practical details on where to find her work.

As heard by us

A thoughtful food journey through haze, illness, and the politics of authenticity.

Chiang Mai 2015 tracks a search for authentic food through northern Thailand's smoke crisis, where culinary travel is pulled into illness, climate, and care.

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Why you'd press play

You want a food trip story where the smoke matters as much as the meal.

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