Laos
Lao food is very similar to that eaten in the northeastern Isaan region of Thailand: very spicy, more often bitter than sweet, and using lots of fresh herbs and vegetables served raw. Some of the raw vegetables can be used to cool your mouth when the chilis are overwhelming.
Rice is the staple carbohydrate. The standard kind is sticky rice (ເຂົ້າໜຽວkhao niaow), eaten by hand from small baskets called tip khao. Using your right hand, never your left, pinch off a bit, roll into a ball, dip and munch away.
The national dish is laap (ລາບ, also larb), a "salad" of minced meat mixed with herbs, spices, lime juice and, more often than not, blistering amounts of chili. Unlike Thai larb, the Lao version can use raw meat (dip) instead of cooked meat (suk), and if prepared with seafood makes a tasty, if spicy, carpaccio.
Another Lao invention is tam maak hung (ຕໍາຫມາກຫຸ່ງ), the spicy green papaya salad known as som tam in Thailand, but which the Lao like to dress with fermented crab (ປູດອງ pudem) and a chunky, intense fish sauce called pa daek (ປາແດກ), resulting in a stronger flavour than the milder, sweeter Thai style. Other popular dishes include ping kai, spicy grilled chicken, and mok pa, fish steamed in a banana leaf.
Laos also boasts a range of local desserts. Kanom kok is a small, spherical pudding made from coconut milk, tapioca and ground rice. Sang kaya mayru is a pumpkin filled with a sweet custard and then steamed. The pumpkin itself is also sweet, and the resulting mixture can be quite delicious. Sticky rice with mango or durian is also a popular snack.
In addition to purely Lao food, culinary imports from other countries are common. Khao jii pat-te, French baguettes stuffed with pâté, and foe (pho) noodles from China are both ubiquitous snacks particularly popular at breakfast. Foe can refer to thin rice noodles (Vietnamese pho), and to the wide flat noodles that would be called guay tiow in Thailand.
Drink[edit]
The national drink of Laos is the ubiquitous and tasty Beerlao, made with Laotian jasmine rice and one of the few Lao exports. It maintains an almost mythical status among travellers and beer aficionados. The yellow logo with its tiger-head silhouette can be seen everywhere, and a large 640 ml bottle shouldn't cost more than 10,000 to 15,000 kip in restaurants. It's available in three versions: original (5%), dark (6.5%) and light (2.9%). The brewery claims they have 99% market share.
Rice spirit, known as lao-lao, is everywhere,
Beerlau is rice beer. The Beerlau website's history page describes Laos as a luscious landlocked land, forgotten jewel of Far East Asia..
WARY WARNINGS - STAY SAFE
The warnings on Wikivoyage include dengue fever, drinking only bottled water, avoiding drugs - which can incur the death penalty as in other neighbouring countries including Malaysia and Singapore, and more.
Interestingly, women must not touch monks (and vice versa), some of them won't talk to others, although they speak the language, and they don't accept money, only food which women place on the ground in front of them, so monks demanding money are imposters. Enough to dent my desire to go there immediately and be happy that I am forced by Covid-19 to postpone my next trip indefinitely and stay safe at home and to simply enjoy the pleasure of reading all about the attraction and admiring the photos and dreaming of the food, which I shall hunt out online.
Sounds very similar to the temples of Cambodia, and the communism of Vietnam, and the cuisine of Thailand, not surprisingly when the history of the countries is intermingled.
Laos Dress
To end on a happy note, from a woman's point of view, in addition to the calm yet exhilarating colours of the gold temples and orange robed monks, the national dress for women of sarongs and conical hats is most appealing.
The shawl is called a sbai.
SINGAPORE
Singapore has several restaurants which serve Lao food or a mixed menu of food from Laos and another country. When the dining restrictions are lifted I shall eat at a Lao restaurant or get a member of my family to collect a take away to try it out.
LAOS
https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Laotian+Food&find_loc=Kampong+Bukit+Panjang+67%2C+Singapore
https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Laos
http://www.authentic-beerlao.co.uk/
Other beerlao websites for other countries.
Australia delivery
https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_ER_1000004677_BEERLAO/beerlao-lager-330ml
Other beers and beer places in Singapore.
https://www.ramblingfeet.net/singapore-craft-beer-bars-map-review/
Sinh clothes to buy
http://laoshouse.com/t/sinh-store
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places, landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.
Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.
Angela Lansbury B A Hons is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books.
About Angela The Speaker & Trainer
Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.
Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:
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