Food
on Mary In Cambodia (Cambodia), 29/Dec/2011 13:37, 34 days ago
Food.These are the author's own opinions and do not represent those of VSOChristmas Dinner.I have just spent Christmas in Bangkok with Don and friends indulging in the usual Christmas goodies, roastpotatoes, Brussels sprouts, nut roasts, mince pies, cake, pudding, chocolate , cheese, chutney, sent or carried to us by family and friends. I enjoyed a week of delicious western foods and carried back enough treats for another week.Thinking so much about food I realize how one man’s meat really is another man’s poison’. We have our likes and dislikes, meat eaters, vegetarians, vegans, people who like only savoury and those with a sweet tooth. Most of us can choose, look in the fridge and decide what we fancy. Not fish again, we had it yesterday! How about a burger, pizza, salad sandwich, perhaps served with French fries or coleslaw? To us western people this is tasty comfort food, but to a Cambodian it is bland and tasteless.Here in Asia the average person happilyeats rice with chilies 3 times a day. Some fresh or dried fish, pork or chicken added makes it a really good meal. I never hear complaints or anyone saying they would like something different. It’s rice 3 times a day and lucky to have it. For most of the population life revolves around growing, finding and cooking food. Mothers get up at 5 in the morning to light fires and cook rice for breakfast. They spend their days in the rice fields planting, harvesting or fishing. Yes, where there’s water there are fish and that includes the rice fields during the monsoon season. Men, women and children spend hours, knee or waist deep in water fishing during the rains. They eat what they can and dry the rest under the hot sun to be eaten in the dry season.Delicious fruit, mango, pineapple, papaya, mangustine, rambutan grow in abundance and are dirt cheap in the market. Bananas grow like weeds and are treated as such, it’s as if people are ashamed to be seen eating bananas, though my friend Pathma tells me they are the most nutritious of all fruit.Cattle and water buffalo are everywhere, yet milk, cheese, butter and yogurt are not commonly eaten, are expensive, difficult to find and when we do they come from Denmark!Foods of many kinds are sold from carts attached to motorbikes. It seems that many families don’t cook because it is as cheap to buy from the vendors. Usually families sit around on a mat, picnic style and eat from a common dish served with several hot, spicy dips. Soup consisting of stock with vegetables and fish or meat is very popular. Fresh herbs and spices are widely used and expertly blended by most cooks here in Cambodia.Baan chow is a delicious Cambodian dish consisting of rice pancake filled with coconut,rice and chopped meat or fish.Eating picnic style.Making rice batter.Making Baan Chow.Anyone for Baan Chow?Water and sugarcane juice are the usual drinks, with the odd glass of rice wine of course! Most restaurants will supply you with as much green tea as you can drink, free. Soft drinks, Fanta, green or orange in colour is readily available, also coca cola and many different fruit juices. Iced coffee is a favourite with many of us foreigners.The average family does not have, or feel a need for a fridge. When I asked, the answer was‘Why do we need a fridge? We buy our food fresh at the market every day, we take it home, cook it and eat it’Is life really that simple?