Cambodia For FoodiesIf awards were handed out for the most pretentious phrases ever uttered, I would surely win for this little gem, which--to my horror--I found myself saying the other day: "We tried a lot of food when we were traveling, but Khmer food was our favorite."
There's so much to work with there--the "when we were traveling" refrain beloved of boring backpackers who corner you at a party and start telling you about their adventures, the reference to a fairly obscure cuisine from a country fraught with political turmoil, the ghastly use of "we" rather than "I"--but the bottom line is that it's entirely true. Cambodian food, quite frankly, rocks.
The country's national dish, Amok, is a coconut milk-based curry traditionally made with fish (but widely available with chicken) that's steamed in a banana leaf and varies hugely from restaurant to restaurant--my favorite take on it came from the Khmer Kitchen in Siem Reap, a tiny jewel box of a restaurant once patronized by none other than Mick Jagger. A combination of Thai, Vietnamese, and even Indian influences means Cambodian menus are peppered with spring rolls, zingy salads, clay pot curries, and meat stir-fried with anything from cashews to basil to lemongrass.
Though you're likely to find a Chinese, Thai, or even a Vietnamese restaurant on any Main Street USA these days, Khmer restaurants don't seem to have made it into the big-time yet , so here's my advice: if you see one, go. San Francisco, thankfully, has Angkor Borei, which I've been meaning to visit for ages.
And finally, full disclosure: although I ate my way through ten days in Cambodia, I never tried one of the deep-fried spiders so beloved by natives. In the interest of walking the walk--rather than just talking the talk--I may well attempt that as my next challenge when I'm back in Cambodia at Christmas. You'll be the first to know if I do.
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Comments
I don't know how you resisted a running Amok joke. That showed great restraint.
Spiders are for destroying, not eating, silly Cambodians! That link gave me the willies. Meanwhile I'm pretty sure Fear Factor is calculating it's next episode...
I'll have to try Cambodian food. It sounds a bit like Burmese food (but with spiders), which I tried in New York on a whim and loved. I mean, Burmese, not spiders.
NB, that would have made a PERFECT title. I don't know how it didn't occur to me.