Southeast Asian Food

Southeast Asia has a rich and diverse cuisine. There are many foods that are not on most thai restaurant menus. I didn’t explore the food as much as I could have but here are a few interesting drinks and dishes that we discovered along the way.

Ginger Tea
This was a favorite of mine on the island of Koh Phangan and I later found it in Cambodia and Laos as well. Fresh ginger chopped and steeped for at least 5 minutes makes a spicy hot drink. Longtail Resort served it with honey and lime, which made it especially good.

Ginger tea from Longtail resort just down the beach from where we stayed on Koh Phangan in Thailand.

Winter Melon Tea
Mitch made this adventurous choice at a stop in Angkor Wat. It was good but we have no idea what a winter melon is and it is very hard to describe the taste.

Looks like zuchini but doesn't taste anything like it.

Dragon Fruit and Shakes
This fruit was in every fruit salad or mixed fruit shake throughout Southeast Asia. I must admit we were a bit perplexed the first time we saw dragon shake listed on a menu signboard in Bangkok. All of us liked it although Emma says, “It doesn’t have that much taste to it.” And she’s right. It isn’t as flavorful as some of the other common fruits: watermelon, papaya, pineapple and mango.

Rice in Bamboo
Some cambodian and vietnamese tourists that we met in the van to Bankok shared this common street food with us. I later saw many people peddling along on bicycles or motorcycles with bamboo sticks in a bag at their side. Perhaps this would be their lunch. It is rice and beans cooked inside bamboo.

Water buffalo
I got to try water buffalo for the first and perhaps the last time at a street stall near the Kuang Si Waterfall. I approached the food stall attracted by the wonderful aroma of what I thought was pork skewers on the barbecue. Turns out it was water buffalo. The cook also sold roasted sweet potatoes that were both gold and blue. The meat turned out to be very tough and full of gristle. Most of it was too chewy for me to eat. I might have chewed for hours to finish one bite. I didn’t get much sympathy. Mitch is vegetarian and thought it looked revolting and Emma and Bjorn were appalled that I would consider trying to eat such a noble beast.

It smelled great but it was a little tough.

Rice Cakes and Mekong Weeds
The owner of our guesthouse in Luang Prabang was very friendly and must have thought we looked hungry. Every time she saw us, she offered us a little of whatever she was eating. She gave me very yummy rice cakes which I later found at a street stall. We saw them drying in many places, sometimes on the roof. The cakes pictured below, sat on a railing overlooking the Nam Kan River.

Our lady at the guesthouse also gave me some dried mekong seaweed sprinkled with sesame. I thought it was quite good. The rest of the family was not impressed. We saw it listed on many menus in restaurants around Luang Prabang. However, looking at the water quality of the Mekong flowing by the city and knowing that there is much open sewage spilling into the river upstream, took away our desire to try more.

Many people in Southeast Asia eat all types of insects. We never quite got up the courage to try any. Maybe next time we visit!
-Margit