Eating Laos Style
Fiery and fragrant, with a touch of sour. Traditional Lao cuisine owes its distinctive taste to fermented fish sauces, lemon grass, coriander leaves, chillies and lime juice and is closely related to the better known Thai cuisine.
Eaten with the hands along with the staple sticky rice, much of Lao cuisine is roasted over an open fire and served with fresh herbs and vegetables. Pork, chicken, duck and water buffalo are often to be found on offer, but freshwater fish is the main source of protein.
Very few people in Laos are vegetarian, but it's fairly easy to ask for a vegetable-only rice or vegetable dish - in many places that may be your only option unless you eat fish. Most Lao cooking calls for fish sauce so you may want to specify " baw sai nâm pa " ("without fish sauce").