Podcast Summary: New Books Network – Chiang Mai 2015

Host: Melissa James
Guest: Camille de Jean (writer and historian)
Date: April 2, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of Gastronomica on the New Books Network features a rich conversation between host Melissa James and historian-writer Camille de Jean, discussing de Jean’s deeply personal essay “Chiang Mai 2015” published in the Spring 2025 issue of Gastronomica. The essay traverses themes of culinary tourism, climate crisis, illness, and care, rooted in a three-day family trip to northern Thailand that becomes entangled with haze, health crises, and questions about authenticity and ethical eating in the Anthropocene. The discussion flows through matters of seeing and not seeing, food as sensory anchor, the politics of culinary tourism, and the shift from academic to creative writing.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Background and Genesis of the Essay

• Personal and Professional Evolution
  • Camille began as a food historian with academic work, shifting toward creative writing as a result of personal upheavals starting in 2015.
  • The essay recounts meeting her parents and partner in Chiang Mai amid dense seasonal air pollution ("the haze") for her 31st birthday, an event upending her life when her father first showed symptoms of a brain tumor.
  • The theme of illness recurs: “In a few months, I became a mother, I lost my dad, I received a life threatening diagnosis…” (03:52)
• Writing as Processing
  • The act of narrating these experiences became a way for Camille to move from telling others’ stories to using her senses and personal lens to process and express trauma and transformation.

2. The Hazy Photograph as Metaphor

• Senses and Disorientation
  • The essay opens with a photograph taken by her father: farmers barely visible in smoke, symbolizing “uncertainty and exhaustion, but also care, like something tender and political is already unfolding." (06:53)
  • The haze works on multiple levels: “It really captures…being lost in a foreign landscape that we could not decipher.” (07:45)
  • The importance of technology—photo metadata—helps to “find ourselves” years later: “We were lost, but the metadata 10 years later allowed me to find us.” (08:36)
• Visibility, Obscurity, and Disbelief
  • Camille resists the narrative of “hope,” instead describing the haze as a marker of disbelief—personal and collective—about what is happening, especially with regard to climate crisis:

    “For me, this obscurement of the landscape is really about disbelief, like, I can’t believe this is happening both on a personal level and on a worldwide climate crisis level.” (11:30)

3. Coping in Crisis—Personal Relationships Over Hope

• Grounding Through Connection
  • Camille describes how, rather than the abstract of hope, she depends on deep connections with loved ones:

    “Ultimately it's those personal relationships that might get us to hope.” (12:55)

  • She locates comfort not in the future but in the present—"you need to be there for the people around you and care for them.” (13:42)

4. Culinary Tourism, Authenticity, and Power

• Ethics and Seduction of Seeking ‘Authenticity’
  • The essay confronts the complicated dynamics of searching for "authentic" food abroad:

    “The search for authentic food is laden with power relationships, exoticization, and neocolonial desires to eat the other.” (13:51, quoting bell hooks)

  • Even as a scholar aware of food politics, Camille admits the sensory lure of taste overrides theory:

    “Why would I not try to find the best pad Thai, even though I know…all it's wrapped up in, in a lot of things?” (15:14)

• From Culinary to Disaster Tourism
  • The haze and her father’s illness lead to a reckoning:

    “We had become disaster tourists of the Anthropocene age.” (15:56)

  • Looking at the environmental and political history of the region—slash-and-burn agriculture, demographic shifts, and state interventions—helps distance personal pain and connect it to larger structural forces:

    “Having a personal, getting into this big picture story through a personal entry point can have quite a bit of impact.” (18:14)

5. Food as Anchor in Crisis

• Moments of Commensality
  • Meals punctuate the narrative and mark emotional transitions:

    “Sitting around the table was really the moments where we had talks about…what’s happening to you? What do we need to do about this?” (21:51)

  • The family shifts from seeking local ‘authentic’ dishes to craving comfort foods and the familiar:

    “Baguette sandwiches replace the street food stalls when we are back in Paris.” (23:39)

• Rituals of Eating Together
  • Even in hospital settings and times of grief, the act of eating together persists as a form of mutual support, suggesting that rituals of commensality are fundamental means of care (28:51).

6. On Memoir Writing, Voice, and Academic Roots

• From Archive to “I”
  • Camille discusses her discomfort and liberation moving from third-person academic writing to first-person creative nonfiction:

    “There’s no pathos or lyricism in my writing…It is not easy when you come from an academic background to write yourself in your pieces.” (32:54)

• Bridging Personal and Structural
  • She brings together “the big picture and the personal,” including just enough researched context to ground her experience.

7. Writing Process and Rituals

• Writing in Silence
  • No playlist or snacks; needs “a few hours ahead of me, be fully caffeinated, and an empty house with silence.” (36:53)
  • Identifies as “French to the core” in her need for regular meal breaks (37:40)

8. Current and Upcoming Work

• Memoir in Progress: A Trail of Taste and Illness
• Notable Essays:
  • “Don’t Wait for Me for Lunch,” Gastronomica (2022)
  • “Souvenirs of an Awake Craniotomy” (in Brain journal), winning a best essay prize

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “In a few months, I became a mother, I lost my dad, I received a life threatening diagnosis…life is not the same is one way to put it. My life was turned upside down.” (03:52, Camille de Jean)
• “We were lost, but the metadata 10 years later allowed me to find us and to say, like, this is exactly where my father stood when he took that picture.” (08:26, Camille)
• “I have a very complicated relationship with the idea of hope because of where I’m at in my life…I try to face things as they are.” (10:34, Camille)
• “The search for authentic food is laden with power relationships, exoticization, and neocolonial desires to eat the other.” (13:51, Camille referencing bell hooks)
• “Why would I deny myself a good pad Thai?” (15:14, Camille)
• “Having a personal, getting into this big picture story through a personal entry point can have quite a bit of impact… the story of the hill tribes and the haze crisis might stay with them longer.” (18:14, Camille)
• “Meals mark the story’s space… sometimes commensality of the table is not joyful – it's the moment when we had to face what was happening.” (21:31, Camille)
• “There’s no pathos or lyricism in my writing…It is not easy when you come from an academic background to write yourself in your pieces.” (32:54, Camille)
• “Everything bad that could happen has happened. Why not do it? Yes. So it’s uncomfortable, but it’s highly rewarding.” (35:27, Camille on writing creative nonfiction)

Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:12 – Introduction to Camille de Jean and essay context
• 01:13 – Camille’s backstory; family experience in Chiang Mai, father’s diagnosis, personal upheaval
• 07:19 – The significance of the opening photograph; metaphor of the haze
• 10:27 – Disbelief vs. hope in confronting climate and personal crisis
• 13:51 – Culinary tourism, authenticity, and power dynamics
• 15:56 – From culinary to disaster tourism; connecting personal and global crisis
• 21:05 – Food as narrative anchor; commensality in moments of stress
• 28:51 – Eating rituals as support during times of illness
• 31:16 – Camille’s main writing motivation: combining academic and creative writing
• 36:14 – Writing rituals and process
• 38:18 – Memoir details and recent publications

Further Reading & Listening

• Camille de Jean’s website: camillebejan.org
• Essays:
  • “Don’t Wait for Me for Lunch,” Gastronomica, 2022
  • “Souvenirs of an Awake Craniotomy,” Brain
• Gastronomica’s current issue: ucpress.edu/gastronomica

(This summary was created to capture the spirit, insights, and emotional texture of the conversation, faithfully reflecting the voices and themes of the episode.)