One of the best perks of being in Cambodia is the food. You might initially think that a third world county doesn’t have anything good to eat. I’m sure that other parts of the world that are crippled with poverty have nothing but the barest of sustenance. Cambodia however, is trending positive in a big way, so this is not a problem.
Everything here is fresh. People simply don’t have the money to keep food in a refrigerator for weeks on end. Also, prepackaged items that spit out the back end of a factory are also not acceptable or necessary when you have everything growing around you. This is an odd juxtaposition. If you are just above the level of poverty, you have clean, fresh food. If you live in a high modernized society, almost everything is high fat, sugar, and processed.
Combine these factors with the Cambodian history as a French colony many years ago, and you have an incredible result: extremely high quality ingredients that were picked within hours of cooking time, with an unreal combination of French and South Asian styles.
After my morning classes I frequent a shop called The Blue Pumpkin. They have free wireless internet and an amazing bakery. They are also branching out (See the blog entry on the Golf Outing), another sign of success.
Try finding anything close to this level of taste and quality in the US, and you will pay about 5 times the price. Almost everything in the picture is about $1. The most expensive items are $2.
Everything here is fresh. People simply don’t have the money to keep food in a refrigerator for weeks on end. Also, prepackaged items that spit out the back end of a factory are also not acceptable or necessary when you have everything growing around you. This is an odd juxtaposition. If you are just above the level of poverty, you have clean, fresh food. If you live in a high modernized society, almost everything is high fat, sugar, and processed.
Combine these factors with the Cambodian history as a French colony many years ago, and you have an incredible result: extremely high quality ingredients that were picked within hours of cooking time, with an unreal combination of French and South Asian styles.
After my morning classes I frequent a shop called The Blue Pumpkin. They have free wireless internet and an amazing bakery. They are also branching out (See the blog entry on the Golf Outing), another sign of success.
Try finding anything close to this level of taste and quality in the US, and you will pay about 5 times the price. Almost everything in the picture is about $1. The most expensive items are $2.
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