Chiang Mai 2015

In this poignant episode of Gastronomica on the New Books Network, writer and historian Camille Béjean reflects on her 2015 trip to Chiang Mai, Thailand, which became a turning point in her life and writing. The essay 'Chiang Mai 2015' recounts the family’s journey amid toxic haze from forest fires, the sudden diagnosis of her father’s brain tumor, and the profound personal upheaval that followed—culminating in her own life-threatening illness and the loss of her father. Through the lens of culinary tourism, Béjean explores the entanglement of personal crisis with environmental disaster, revealing how the search for authentic food becomes a mirror for colonial desire, ecological harm, and emotional disorientation. The essay uses sensory-rich food moments as narrative anchors, shifting from exoticism to comfort, and ultimately redefining authenticity through intimacy, care, and memory. Béjean’s journey from academic detachment to creative memoir-writing is framed as both an act of survival and a radical reclamation of self. The episode delves into themes of visibility and disbelief in the face of climate collapse, the politics of gaze in travel writing, and the quiet resilience found in shared meals and familial bonds. Béjean’s writing process—marked by silence, routine, and a deep connection to French culinary rituals—reveals how personal habits become acts of resistance and continuity. Her upcoming memoir, *Crumbs: A Trail of Taste and Illness*, promises to expand on this story, weaving together illness, identity, and the sensory memory of food. The conversation underscores the power of microhistory and personal narrative to illuminate global crises, offering not hope, but a grounded, honest presence in the face of uncertainty.