The food of Laos
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These notes were made during a short trip to Laos. These are just our food experiences and you may have a totally different experience depending on your budget, where you travel and where you eat.
Notes made January 2006
Laon food is similar to the food in Thailand but with fewer spices. It does have a little more variety than Cambodia though.
A spoon and fork are used to eat most meals, except chopsticks with noodle soup. However they are not used in the conventional western manner, but the spoon is used for putting food in the mouth while the fork is used for cutting and shoveling.
Fermented fish sauce – is made from fermenting all kinds of fish and prawns/shrimp, to get a dark sauce that smells very strong and can be offensive, and is used in all manner of foods and cooking.
Often MSG will be on the table, like salt, to add to your meal as desired. It even looks like salt!
Staples
The staples in the area are rice and noodles.
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Sticky rice is much more common than the regular type. It is served in a little wicker basket, and is eaten by rolling a small ball in the hand and dipping into the sauce of the main meal.
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Noodles come in all shapes and forms from thin rice, flat (and fat) rice, yellow egg noodles thin or thick and often curly, you can even get the packaged 2-minute noodle types.
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A great variety of meat is eaten, chicken, duck, pork and beef (and maybe other four legged animals!?).
Fruit and Vegetables
Fruit is plentiful, with the full range of tropical types; banana, pineapple, mango (often eaten green), jackfruit, durian, dragon fruit (pink skin with white flesh and black seeds throughout), lime, rambutans, lychee, watermelon, star fruit, mandarin, choko, longan (smaller and less fragrant than a lychee), guava (also eaten green more than ripe) and mangosteen. They have lots of pomelos, which are gigantic grapefruit around 20cm in diameter with skin about an inch thick. Fresh fruit shakes can be ordered on street corners, mixed up in a blender with ice, and sometimes sweetened condensed milk. Delicious on a sticky hot day!
There are limited vegetables, mostly green leafy types, carrot, string beans, tomato, cucumber and lettuce.
Breakfast
Typically noodle soup is eaten for breakfast. Another popular dish is rice with barbecued meat.
Crusty baguettes can be found all over the region – the French influence especially in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This is a great breakfast alternative if your not a fan of noodle soup!
Signature dishes
- Laap – mince meat, chicken or fish, cooked and mixed with a combination of the following items; onion, garlic, coriander, mint, lime leaf, lemongrass, bean shoots, ginger, lime juice, chilli and roasted ground rice. An amazing taste sensation!
- Lao style pâte – a very chunky pâte served on French baguettes
- O-laam – traditional Lao stew, clear spicy soup with lemongrass, eggplant, mushrooms, onion and meat choice.
- Oua naw mai – lightly battered and deep fried bamboo shoots filled with minced pork, egg and lemongrass.
- Fer – noodle soup, clear broth with cabbage, lettuce, bean sprouts, herbs, and a choice of meat. You can add your own chilli, lemon juice, shrimp paste and sugar for extra flavour.
Snacks
- Sugar cane shell, about a foot in length, filled with sweet sticky rice, which has been flavoured with red beans and sugar.
- Kai pen – crispy sheets of Mekong river weed, dried flat with sprinkles of sesame seeds, sliced tomato and garlic. Tastes like sushi rolls without the rice!
- Spring rolls are also found everywhere, varying in size and filling, veg and non-veg, and even the pastry casing.
Other foods
- Sweet and sour dishes are seen on the menu further to the north, closer to China.
- Dried skin of water buffalo is a popular ingredient in Luang Prabang, a town in the north.
- Coconut milk curries are quite common also.
- Mekong river fish features on all menus as the big Mekong River flows right through Laos.
Dessert
Coconut cake – very moist and very sweet cake made from coconut
Drinks
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Beer Lao is world renowned amongst beer connoisseurs! It is a mighty fine beer – hot or cold. The regular brew is a light ale, and they are now making a dark brew as well.
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Lao Lao is a white rice spirit with a taste between vodka and whisky, often served mixed with lemon and honey or on the rocks with soda. It is very potent and often leaves travelers with sore heads the day after!
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Hot green tea is served with most meals for free. You can also get a packaged cold variety in some shops.
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Tea of the regular variety, local or Lipton, is a common drink, and often served iced with lemon.
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Lao coffee is very strong and packaged for export.
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Energy drinks and alcoholic energy drinks are very common.
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Soft drinks are a whole new world here, there are loads of interesting varieties like fruit punch, pineapple, lychee and regular Fanta, as well as green cream Mirinda.
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