Thursday 29 August 2013

Burmese teens cook up business ideas

With the help of a grant from Good Food Battle Creek, the Generation E Institute was able to approach the city’s Burmese community in a way that not only taught American culture, but gave the teenagers a way to express their Burmese upbringing.

On Thursday, April Jones, coordinator of the Generation E Institute, sat at a table at the Springfield Farmer’s Market intently listening to a group of teenagers talk about their business plans. After a successful food stand at the International Summer Fest And Black Arts Festival and five summer sessions of cooking, the group was given the task to write a proposal for a food business.


The ideas ranged from selling sweet snacks to full-course meals. Lal Mawi, 16, said he wanted to create Bubble Gumz, a bubblegum business that would include American and Burmese flavors for all age groups. And he made sure to say his business would take cash only.

“The goal is to satisfy people and make benefits,” he said. “It can be everywhere.”

Jones said she wasn’t sure she could handle the spicy gum flavors. During her time with the students her taste buds have gone on a roller coaster of experiences.

“It’s been a fun process to watch these young people,” said Jones. “We are learning and teaching each other.”

Jones said she and the group have discussed the similarities and differences in cooking traditional Burmese food and American food. She said one of their favorite American treats over the summer was chocolate chip cookies.

“There are no fridges and stoves in Burma,” said Jones. She said the teens had never had American chocolate chip cookies and have come to love the semi-sweet chocolate flavor.
“What a wonderful way for young people to feel welcome to the community,” said Cheryl Peters, executive director of Generation E. “We want to learn about their culture and they want to learn about ours.”

For the first time at Summer Fest the group made a profit for the Burma Center. After receiving donations from the Asian Market, Jennifer Thuahzathang wrote a budget plan and helped the young people run “Little Burma” at the festival. The group prepared 200 servings — fried corn, fried onions, and samosas — to be sold at $2 each and for the first time charged for a cup of lemonade. Thuahzathang said they ran out of food in the first two hours and had to make more. “Little Burma” made a $700 profit within four hours.

“This was our fourth or fifth year at Summer Fest, but it was the best year,” Thuahzathang said. “It was my first time working with teenagers. Now I feel like a teenager again.”
Saw Tial created her business from what she learned at Summer Fest.

She introduced her would-be downtown restaurant as Samazing.

The 14-year-old said she would sell samosas, a fried pastry with spiced vegetables and meat. “I saw at the festival people like to try new stuff,” she said. “They saw it was a different culture and they wanted to try it.”

Cutie Cakes creator, Esther Sang, wanted to create an organic cupcake stand for the Farmer’s Market. She envisioned mini and bite-sized organic cupcakes for adults and children. She too, wanted the influence of Burmese herbs from the four Burmese gardens in the area in her product.

But it was Tluamg Sum who incorporated both American and Burmese styles into one complete business. The 15-year-old created a summer-time ice and winter-time sweet coffee stand that he would put in Lakeview Square Mall.

“When I go outside it makes me really thirsty,” he said. “A lot of people (in Burma) don’t have refrigerators so people make businesses with ice.”

After he moved to Michigan with his family, Sum said he no longer desired the cool ice eight months out of the year, so the sweet coffee would help make a profit.

“People like sweets because they make you happy,” he said. “And people like to be happy.”

source: BattleCreekEnquirer

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...