Laos Cuisine – Part 2

According to yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the Year of the Rat is being marked by some changes to the Vietnamese diet. Due in part to the bird flu epidemic, rat meat and other specialty meats are becoming increasing popular.

This might be new in Vietnam, but Lao villagers are definitely ahead of this trend. When we visited a village outside of Luang Prabang, Laos last month, we learned that the usual diet of fish, pork and poultry is often supplemented with meat from wild birds, snakes, rats and bats. And after visiting one of the local markets, we could understand why.

This is the Phosy Market, located in the large village of Phosy, on the outskirts of Luang Prabang. This market houses individual food vendors, as well as stalls selling clothing, kitchen utensils, and almost anything else one can imagine.

Here is one of the produce counters.

These cut greens have been pre-washed for customer convenience.

This vendor offers a variety of spices and condiments.

Fish sauce, anyone?

Here is one of the market’s butcher shops.

Pork blood is a local delicacy. The blood is collected, salted and allowed to clot. The blood cakes are eaten raw.

We saw no dairy stalls in this market, for a very good reason. Electricity, where it’s available, costs approximately US$0.25 per kilowatt hour in Laos. That is expensive even by North American standards, and it puts refrigeration out of the economic reach of the average Laotian villager.

Grazing in Bangkok – Part 2

For those who don’t like eating on the street, it’s also possible to enjoy “sit-down” fast food, Bangkok-style. Here’s one of the popular local spots to drop into for a bite to eat. Notice the well-used chopping block for cutting up all those fresh meats and vegetables.

Of course, if you prefer BBQ duck, that’s available too. Don’t the heads in the left-hand tray look delicious?

But don’t expect too much in the way of cleanliness. Here’s a picture my intrepid photographer managed to catch of the kitchen attached to one of the better-looking fast-food shops.

Grazing in Bangkok – Part 1

There are numerous Western-style fast food outlets in Bangkok, including Dunkin’ Donuts. And 7-11 Stores are even more plentiful that in many U.S. cities. But the locals prefer their own version of fast food. Here are a few examples of what we saw while walking along some of the main streets of central Bangkok. Click on the individual photos to get the “big picture”.

First, here’s a bird’s eye view of one of the food “strip malls”. Note the signature “7-11” store colors on the building across from the food stalls.

Anyone for fresh-squeezed orange juice? We saw several of these mini-factories along the sidewalks. The stall operator spent her time between customers hand-juicing the oranges. When the metal cup was full, she would pour the contents into the plastic pitcher. Once the pitcher was filled, she poured the juice into the plastic bottles and closed the bottles with self-sealing screw-caps. To her credit, the sealed bottles of juice were kept on crushed ice (unlike the juice in the pitcher).

Here are a few of the breakfast and lunch options available at sidewalk stalls. Many of the foods are mixed or dispensed by ungloved hand, and the food must fend for itself amid the hustle-bustle of street traffic.

And now for dessert. These lovely cakes and cream-filled pastries were protected in covered display cases from the air pollution and street traffic – but there was nothing to prevent the pastries from spoiling in the 30ºC heat of mid-morning Bangkok.