Tasty Treats
on Sarah G in Cambodia (Cambodia), 12/Mar/2009 01:37, 34 days ago
To say that rice is important here is a ridiculous understatement. Rice is Cambodia’s subsistence; without it I am certain they would no longer know how to survive.It is reflected in speech, eating‘nam bai’translates literally as‘eat rice’, kitchen‘house for rice’and restaurant‘rice shop’. I offered my translator a sandwich for lunch the other day to which he replied‘I will die if I don’t eat rice’. It is used for offering in temples, fed to cats and dogs, children often only eat rice and it is not unusual for an adult to have three lots a day.However, with the rice comes other things, some weird and some wonderful. I survive generally on a diet of rice and vegetables. My cooking technique tends to be chuck in ginger, garlic, chilli, soy sauce and some veggies and you have meal.There is a Cambodian saying that goes something like‘the only thing with 4 legs that Cambodians don’t eat are tables’and its quite true. Being veggie I have (unfortunately!) missed out of the strangest things eaten here, however my top five would be;In at number 5 Fried Spiders– the bus to Phnom Penh stops at this tiny none town called Snoul which is famous for its fried spiders. Ladies walk around with big trays full of them...but... as I was horrified to discover they also walk around with big white buckets full of live ones. They are huge and horrible and I hate them!4, Prohoc- The Cambodians love it and it is basically their national dish and to be totally honest I have tried it and in Fish Amok it does taste ok. When I am eating it though I try to not remember that it is whole fishes left to rot (or ferment is the more polite way to put it) for a couple of weeks. Yummy!3, Pig head– it is not unusual to see a whole pigs head plonked on a table in the market, I am not entirely sure what happens to them and how they are eaten and even less sure I want to find out but none the less they are bought and I presume eaten... I went to the market yesterday and was going to a take apicture but I just couldn’t bring my self to do it!Number 2 rats, yep rats– there not supposed to be town rats that eat people’s garbage, but field rats, but to be honest if I was going to purchase one I am not sure I would be able to tell the difference? I have seen a few colleagues chicken dishes...with bits that don’t really look a lot like chicken... rat curryanyone?And my number 1 favourite Baby chicken eggs– ok, so I might be stupid but I didn’t realise that egg we eat are not fertilised, however for Cambodia fertilised eggs are left just until before birth and then cooked and eaten. Sometimes they pluck out the occasional feather or foot but generally the whole thing (apart from the shell of course!) is consumed!Ok so if you just can’t wait to come over and try some of these tasty treats, these menu items I found recently are sure to be the final convincing factor....I wonder if they took out the bones...Roasted Frogs anyone? Tastes like chicken!Fried intestine with Black Pepper, hmmmm, lovely:and my personal healthy favourate, Fermented shrimps with Intestine and Lard....To be honest, most of the things I eat here are lovely, but there are somethings that just will never be on my shopping list!