desserts, and I pleasantly
discovered that traditional
Khmer food is naturally
free-from two of the most
common allergens, gluten
and dairy.
I grabbed a couple of
akors (spongy steamed rice
balls) and, while dunking
them in a pandan leaf and
coconut milk dipping sauce,
I chatted with the chef. “It’s
really easy for Cambodian
food to be gluten and dairy-
free as here we don’t grow any
wheat and mostly, when we
talk about flour, we refer to
rice flour,” he says.
Also, as one might expect in a tropical
country scattered with palm trees, coconut
milk here is a staple. “Our cows are too skinny
to produce milk. They are mainly used to
work in the rice fields and the only dairy you
can find in Cambodia is imported from other
countries. You ’ll never find butter, milk or
cheese in a traditional Khmer recipe, as those
ingredients are simply not our staples.”
School day
I am fascinated by learning about how the
different climate and local traditions can affect
the entire culinary fashion of a country. “All
of the families in our villages make their own
coconut milk just by grating and straining
coconut pulp. And many of them make their
own palm fruit sugar too, simply by boiling the
sap they collect from the palm fruit trees in
their backyard.”
As a result, most of the Cambodian baked
goods are absolutely fine for those with gluten
and dairy issues, like their ‘g inger cookies’,
the ‘akors’, the ‘num poum’ (typical rice and
coconut waffles that are sold in every school),
or their ‘root puddings’ made with taro,
cassava, pumpkin or banana.
In the past few days, I already had a chance
to try them all. And now, as we are driving
towards one of the
villages around Siem
Reap to visit a family
that hand-make rice
noodles, I even get to
taste the homemade
‘Num Tong Morn’ that
the little girl gave me,
a delicious crunchy
treat made of rice, eggs,
coconut and sesame.Sticking
to tradition
A few cookies later,
we arrive at our
destination: a muddy
backyard, with plucked chickens running
around and three generation of women
tirelessly turning ears of rice into noodles,
through a process that probably hasn’t
changed in the last 200 years.
Forget about the fancy prices of our
store-bought gluten-free pasta. All these
seven women make from selling their daily
production of naturally gluten-free noodles
(30kg) is $12.50.
After 9 hours of grinding and pounding
fermented rice, they shape their freshly-made
noodles into a beautiful, flower-like spiral,
place it in a large basket and deliver it to their
nearby food stands, where they serve Nom
Ban Chok to half of the village.Food journey
This typical Cambodian breakfast consists
of a delectable curry noodle soup topped
with shredded banana leaf, beansprouts,
diced cucumber, long beans, holy basil and
lemongrass, and Chef Pisith shared his
authentic recipe with me, together with that
for his green mango salad and the sweet Akor,
(see the following pages).
Rather than establishing a polished cooking
class at the Park Hyatt, Chef Pisith wanted
to organise an authentic food journey in the
villages, not only to show the staples on whichthe locals thrive, but also to raise awareness
on the conditions in which Cambodian
families live, showing all the efforts they
make to produce local ingredients that often
keep kids away from school, especially girls,
as boys are believed to have ‘more chances’ to
find a better job.
I am blown away when I am told that it
costs 20 cents an hour in Cambodia to learn
maths and English with a private teacher.
Simply by buying some of their gluten-free
noodles for the price we are used to paying
in the Western world would allow these girls
to get an education and break free from the
rice mill.
I stock up on local products that most likely
won’t fit in my luggage, but buying gluten-free
has never felt so good.Internships
LIFE-CHANGING
OPPORTUNITIES GIVEN TO
UNDERPRIVILEGED THROUGH
THE POWER OF FOOD
Aiming to give Cambodian kids the possibility
to build a better future for themselves,
the Park Hyatt Siem Reap Hotel is training
future hospitality leaders
as a contribution to the
program – Everything’s
Gonna Be OK (EGBOK)
http://www.egbokmission.org.
To date, the hotel has
trained and hired 10
students in full-time
roles, giving fulfilling
career opportunities
to the next generation.
The hotel’s internship
program also supports
at least 10 locals
annually, who learn
about the hospitality
industry by working
in the Food & Beverage and Housekeeping
departments and then go on to work in
full-time roles in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and
other cities in Cambodia. “EGBOK identifies
and trains underprivileged young adults,
enabling them to become self-supporting,”
says Sigrid Baldinger, Executive Director.
“Our partnership with Park Hyatt gives these
individuals life-changing opportunities, which
impacts not only them, but their families and
their communities.”