Southeast Asia is a diverse and fascinating cultural crossroads that forms both a geographic a culinary link between Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Traditional Southeast Asian recipes incorporate the organizing principals of Chinese cuisine and the complex flavors derived from Indian herbs and spices. Food can be sweet, sour, salty, spicy and bitter all in the same bite. Through modern influences, the area has also embraced certain aspects of Colonial French cuisine, and to a lesser extent, Spanish and American cooking. Although the foods of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Burma Myanmar , Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia share core similarities, there are also significant regional differences. While Thai food, for example, is often characterized as sweet and spicy, Vietnamese food is considered light and refreshing and Filipino cuisine is heavy in comparison.
East Asian Ethnicity
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The most popular festivals in Southeast Asia originate from a wide variety of religious and cultural traditions. As most of these traditions follow different calendars, the dates vary relative to the Gregorian calendar; we've included their dates through The significant ethnic Chinese presence in Southeast Asia celebrates its biggest festival during the Chinese New Year. Penang, in particular, specializes in Chinese New Year foods that are rarely served at any other time of the year; in Singapore, families celebrate by preparing and eating the tossed raw-fish salad known as yu sheng. The Tamil Indian community in Malaysia and Singapore celebrate Thaipusam to honor the Hindu god Subramaniam Lord Murugan ; thousands of devotees carry painful-looking offerings called kavadi , attached to each devotee's skin with metal skewers each. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia , Thaipusam festivities take place at the Batu Caves , where the procession ascends steps up to a cave chamber marked with a massive statue of Lord Murugan.
10 East and Southeast Asian Languages – A Definitive List
Southeast Asia , vast region of Asia situated east of the Indian subcontinent and south of China. It consists of two dissimilar portions: a continental projection commonly called mainland Southeast Asia and a string of archipelagoes to the south and east of the mainland insular Southeast Asia. Extending some miles 1, km southward from the mainland into insular Southeast Asia is the Malay Peninsula ; this peninsula structurally is part of the mainland, but it also shares many ecological and cultural affinities with the surrounding islands and thus functions as a bridge between the two regions. Mainland Southeast Asia is divided into the countries of Cambodia , Laos , Myanmar Burma , Thailand , Vietnam , and the small city-state of Singapore at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula; Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, which occupy the eastern portion of the mainland, often are collectively called the Indochinese Peninsula. Malaysia is both mainland and insular, with a western portion on the Malay Peninsula and an eastern part on the island of Borneo.
Southeast Asian cuisine is famous throughout the world. And if truth be told, it's one of the main memories for many people who travel to Southeast Asia. Thailand lures capsaicin fanatics like moths to a spicy flame. Experiencing good food is a key part of any trip.