Food & Drink
Rice, especially sticky rice, is the staple food of Laos, and dishes are Indo-Chinese in flavour. Galangal and fish sauce are important ingredients. The Lao national dish is laap (sometimes also spelled larb), a spicy mixture of marinated meat and/or fish that is sometimes raw (prepared like ceviche) with a variable combination of greens, herbs and spices. Another characteristic dish is tam mak houng (som tam in Thai), green papaya salad.
Lao food differs from neighbouring cuisines in a number of ways. One is that Lao food almost always includes a large quantity of fresh raw greens, vegetables and herbs served undressed on the side. Another is that savoury dishes are never sweet - the concept of 'sweet and sour' is generally considered to be strange in Laos. Lao food is frequently eaten at room temperature, as it is often designed to be eaten by hand.
Lao cuisine has many regional variations, according in part to the fresh foods local to each region. In Laos, a French influence is also apparent in the capital city, Vientiane, such that baguettes are sold on the street, and French restaurants (often with a naturally Lao, Asian-fusion touch) are common and popular. Vietnamese cuisine is also popular in Laos.
Popular Dishes
- keng noh mai som - sour bamboo shoot soup
- keng som kai - sour chicken soup
- khai khuam - stuffed eggs 'upside down'
- khao nom maw keng - coconut custard cake
- khao poon nam jaew - rice vermicelli soup
- laap - a spicy meat salad
- mok kai - chicken steamed in banana leaf
- mok pa - fish steamed in banana leaf
- nem - Lao 'fried rice'
- or - green vegetable stew
- or lam - Luang Prabang style green vegetable stew
- ping kai - grilled chicken
- ping sin - dry grilled beef
- pon - spicy puree of cooked fish
- sai oua - sausage
- sin savane - sweet crisp fried beef
- som khai pa - pickled fish roe
- som moo - pickled pork ('ham')
- som pa - pickled fish
- som phak kad - pickled greens
- soup noh may - green bamboo stew
- soup phak - vegetable salad
- tam mak hung - green papaya salad
- tom mak ha - bitter melon soup
- tom padek - fish stewed in padek
- tom tin moo - pig's trotter soup
Beverages
Lao coffee is often called Pakxong coffee (cafe pakxong in Lao), and is grown on the Bolovens Plateau around the town of Pakxong. The custom in Laos is to drink coffee in glasses, with condensed milk in the bottom, followed by a chaser of green tea. The highly-regarded tea is also grown on the Bolovens Plateau.
There are two general types of traditional alcoholic beverages, both produced from rice: lao hai and lao lao. Lao hai means jar alcohol and is served from an earthen jar. It is communally and competitively drunk through straws at festive occasions. It can be likened to sake in appearance and flavour. Lao lao or Lao alcohol is more like a whiskey. It is also called lao khao or, in English, white alcohol. However, there is also a popular variant of lao lao made from purple rice, which has a pinkish hue.
In more recent times, the Laotian state-owned brewery's Beerlao has become highly regarded by expatriates and residents alike, and has been described by Time Magazine as Asia's best beer.