Luang Namtha: Laos' Culinary Mecca

One major feature of Luang Namtha, our first stop in Laos, is the huge night food market located right in the centre of town (seeing as Luang Namtha is a one-street town, it is pretty hard to miss).  Even before reaching the market, you can smell the chilis cooking, ducks roasting, and chicken feet barbequing from over a kilometer away...

This is the place where both falang and kohn Lao gather to sample some of Laos’ delicious and distinctly Lao cuisine.

The staple food in Laos, which you can find in both purple and white varieties at the market (fancy), is kao niao or sticky rice which is eaten by hand.  Not only is sticky rice eaten with almost every meal, but it is also used as an ingredient in everything from desserts to whiskey and wine.  Once you have your kilo of sticky rice, then you can move on to the main courses which are spread out across tables strewn all over the market place. 

Just a warning, but Bor Phet, Bor Saep (not spicy, not tasty) seems to be the general rule in Lao cookery.   The national dish, which you can find in buffalo, fish, mushroom, pork and even squirrel varieties, is laap – a spicy mixture of minced and marinated meat mixed with herbs, greens, and spices.  Competing with laap for the title of national dish is tom sum, a spicy green papaya salad made by shredding green papaya into thin slices and mixing it with tomatoes, garlic, fish sauce, green beans, and at least ten chilis using a mortar and pestle.  No meal in Laos, however, would be complete without a barbeque (showing off the manliness of Lao men, of course).  As per the Lao way of life, if you can catch it, then you can barbeque it.  The barbeque, served alongside the papaya salad and sticky rice usually with a type of chili dip (or jaew), can be anything and everything from water buffalo to frog, snake, or even bat.  Take a chance at the night market, sample some barbequed chicken feet or fish laap, it's actually pretty good!   

Dishing it up at the night market in Luang Namtha