Cambodian food

Cambodian food is a relative of Thai, Vietnamese or Chinese food. In Cambodia, the staple food can be mentioned as rice and fish. People eat rice as steamed, fried, and also as rice noodles. They like to eat fish as dried, fresh or salted.

Sometimes you may not like to eat a Cambodian food. I am talking about ‘prohoc’. This Cambodian food is made from rotten fish. In this process the fish is left to ferment to become a fish paste. This fish paste is eaten with rice. The description of the food is scary and it really sounds worse than it is. The foreigners face a tough time getting accustomed to its strong flavor. The Cambodians really like the ‘prohoc barang’ i.e. French prohoc. The Cambodians think that the cheese must taste like rotten fish paste. As seasonings they like to use lemon grass, hot peppers, mint and ginger.

Some older Cambodians like to chew betel nuts. Because of this habit some of the person’s teeth and gums have become dark shade of red. The Cambodians believe dark teeth are more beautiful because they think white teeth as the teeth of a skull. Some Cambodians who do not like to chew betel nuts try some pate just to darken their teeth. So, don’t be afraid if you see some people spitting out red liquid that looks like fresh blood in Cambodia. As a matter of fact this red liquid is the juice from betel nuts.

In Cambodia, desserts are made from either rice or fruit. Cambodians love the taste of sweet. In the urban areas, ice cream is very popular. In countryside it is not possible as there is no option to keep it cold there. In Cambodia you can easily get tea but they also like coffee introduced by the French. Coffee is best taken with very sweet condensed milk.