Food of Cambodia

Cambodia had a large variety of food. The country is influenced by the Chinese, Indians, and Westerners. Along with Khmer food, these cultural delicacies sometimes get blended together for a unique treat. Khmer restaurants offer similar staples to Laos and Thailand, dishes like fried rice with vegetable. Chinese restaurants offer everything from sweet and sour pork to grilled frogs (the frogs aren't in season so haven't tried them). Indian restaurants offer chicken or vegetable curry, and the curries can be ordered as part of a thali(a set dinner). Western restaurants focus on burgers, pasta, and pizza with an occasional Mexican burrito tossed in. So, what has been unique in Cambodia?

In the Ratanakiri province, we found venison jerky.

The meat was put into the sun to dry from morning until evening. Families will typically buy kilos of the jerky, but we were looking for just a taste. It is a bit difficult to order as an enormous crowd of flies dominate the drying meat. Risking all kinds of diseases, I purchased a few slabs for trial. The taste was gamey and the texture was softer than jerky. My slab could have used more time in the sun. The jerky was flavored with a potent chili sauce which potentially killed off any disease, but fearing the possibility of worms in my stomach, I finished only one venison slab.

Also in Ratanakiri, we found a restaurant serving grilled beef and vegetables. A gas stove topped with a slab of pork or beef grissel was brought to us. Then, we each got a dish of raw meat with a bowl of raw veggies. Rub the melting grissel on the grill and toss on the meat or veggies of your choice.

The Cambodian fondue was a highlight of Southeast Asian cooking. A similar option is a boiling soup and the meat and veggies are boiled in the broth.

Another meal specific to Cambodia was fish paste. It is a mixture of eggs, spices, rice, and prahok.

Prahok is a fermented fish sauce seen in all the Cambodian food markets. It has a horrid scent and a similarly horrid taste (I don't like fish much). Luckily, it is not an ingredient used heavily in any dish; it is just to add a slight flavor. I have really enjoyed Asian food, but fish paste won't be a meal I'll be ordering soon.

Sometimes, we crave foods from home. I most often crave pizza while Laura craves pasta. In Cambodia, even these Western foods come with a twist. One evening in Siem Reap, we treated ourselves to a dinner at Ecstatic Pizza. I ordered a "Happy" pepperoni pizza, and Laura ordered a "Happy" spinach and ham pizza. The keyword that will kill me in a run for public office or in my upcoming job search is "Happy". Acting as oregano seasoning, marijuana is spread over the pizza. The pizza tasted great and the buzz from it was equally incredible.

The snacks in Cambodia are extremely unique. What do you think of when I mention an ice cream sandwich? I bet you don't think of a footlong baguette filled with scoops of ice cream.

The ice cream sandwich was available everywhere and made for a meal in itself.

All the Southeast Asian countries have their banana leaf snacks. Banana with sticky rice is still a favorite in Cambodia. They also had tiny packets of fish wrapped up in a strange edible leaf.

These came spicy or plain and the spicy always surprised me. It was SPICY!!! They are very tasty treats.

If you've read previous posts, you've heard about the duck embryo.

Throughout Cambodia, stalls specialized in duck embryo eggs with a fruit shake; both for around $1. Cambodians flock to these stalls every evening.

Regarding the rarest of the rare, deep-fried spiders are served by the platter in Skuon.

Children of Skuon capture the spiders in the town's surrounding hills. They clip off the spider's teeth to remove the threat of their venom. The spiders remain alive until they hit the frying oil. The delicacy tastes much like the oil it is fried in; the texture is stiff and crunchy. Most locals break off the legs one by one and eat them first. Then, they chew up the head and abdomen where the most meat is.

Cambodia has had the largest variety of fruit. One of the best renewers of energy on hot days is sugarcane juice.

We first had this in Zanzibar, Tanzania and we were happy to find it again. It is easy to identify as large machines grind fresh sugarcane typically with another fruit. In Zanzibar, they grinded it with limes but in Cambodia, it's grinded with oranges. Regardless, the cold, refreshing drink is amazing!

Finally, we first discovered bubble tea in Thailand. It was by accident when I though I ordered a fruit shake from a street vendor. Bubble tea comes in many artificial flavors (blueberry, strawberry, chocolate, etc.) An ovaltine-like powder is blended with ice to form the liquid portion of the tea. What makes bubble tea bubbly are the black pearls that settle to the bottom of the drink.

Using a wide straw, the pearls come shooting into your mouth with each sip. It's like chewing on jelly beans while drinking chocolate milk; what could be better than that? In Cambodia, there are popular teenage restaurants that specialize in bubble tea.

Soon, we are off to Vietnam for more Asian culinary discoveries.

Now, a break from the travel blog to discuss our own tea invention. Since we prefer walking around the cities, we often buy a large bottle of water early in the day. The bottle is lugged around to all the locations that we visit. It is shaken, dropped, and spilled throughout the day. Unfortunately, with the blistering heat of midday, it is also heated. As it is heated and shaken, the water, now tea, picks up the flavor of the plastic container, thus producing our newfound delicacy, plastic tea. It's not very tasty, and if I die from cancer in my future, I'll know how I got it.