Richard Horsey grew up in the sleepy English seaside town of Lyme Regis. He has worked for the United Nations fighting forced labor, as a foreign-exchange trader in Hong Kong and as an itinerant dishwasher. He has a doctorate in cognitive science and is an expert on the politics of Myanmar. He lives in Yangon. Tim Wharton has been a singer-songwriter and recording artist, a butcher's boy, a marquee-erector, an English teacher, and currently works as a linguist at the University of Brighton. He is an accomplished cook, and as well as his academic work, has published on food culture and recipe writing.