As metaphors, Mexican foods are often employed to help explain less-familiar cuisines to New Yorkers. The ladies attending this table might have explained their mont phet htoke (with silent letters H, four for $5) as a glutinous rice dumpling stuffed with shredded sugared coconut, wrapped in banana leaf, compressed into pyramidal form, and steamed. But their sign cut to the chase: "Burmese tamale w/coconut." The cuisines of Italy and China — elsewhere I've seen another type of phet htoke described as a "Burmese wonton" — also provide many useful metaphorical vehicles.
For more photos of savories and sweets from many years of this festival, see my album.
ThinGyan Association Burmese New Year Water Festival
St. James Episcopal Church, 84-07 Broadway (St. James-Corona Aves.), Elmhurst, Queens
www.Facebook.com/ThinGyan-Association-Burmese-New-Year-Water-Festival-in-New-York-664033596984329
(The 2017 festival was held on July 16)
