Laos

Please consider this a formal invitation to have Lao food with me! Besides the three Lao restaurants I’ve already sampled, I have twelve more on my list that I want to try. Yes, it is that good! My first taste was at Vientiane Lao Thai in Garden Grove with Gladys, Leina, Lidia, Bea, Lynn, and Wayne in August 2019. What an amazing meal! We had Lao style sliced beef, chicken satay, Lao curry noodle soup, Khua Mee Lao, battered trout with green mango relish, Kao Moo Dang, and Thai Flower Cookies. Everything was so good that even the guy who usually eats at Denny’s liked it! (Thanks for joining us, Wayne!)

I had a nice conversation with the owner of the Famous Lao Papaya Restaurant in San Jose while waiting for Kristen when we ate there just a month later. This place is more casual than the first and more strictly Laotian. It focuses on its homemade sausages. The flavor is unique and good.

Then just last month, I asked my mom if she was willing to try food from Laos while I was visiting. She hesitated. “I haven't liked everything you've brought me," she said. (I probably shouldn’t have given her pounded cassava from West Africa.)

“I think you'll like this,” I told her. “Laos is between Thailand and Vietnam, so the food is similar.” Once we picked up the food from Vientian Café in Oakland and ate it at home, she said, “Oh, this reminds me of Mrs. Bui's food. This is so good.” (I’ll tell you about Mrs. Bui’s amazing food when we get to Vietnam.)

Suzy said Vientian Café serves the best peanut sauce she has ever had. We had the vegetarian fried spring rolls (full of cabbage, taro, silver noodles, black mushrooms, celery and carrots), the fresh spring rolls (with lettuce, mint leaves, beans sprout, vermicelli, and tofu served with peanut sauce), deep fried tofu with more peanut sauce, Gang Ga Ree (yellow curry), Param (steamed vegetables with even more peanut sauce – and we ate every bite!), vegetable fried rice, and my dad’s and my favorite, pumpkin curry with salmon. I might have over ordered for the four of us. The food lasted for two meals.

Where are the other Lao restaurants I want to try? Corona, Palm Springs, two in Anaheim, more in Garden Grove and Oakland, and four in San Diego. With so many options available, why had I never heard of Lao food until I started looking for it?

Although I could eat Lao food indefinitely, I also did other things to travel to Laos while staying at home – like watching Gordon Ramsey attempt to fish and forage for insects in the lovely river and jungle of Laos. His goal was to cook for monks and receive a blessing. Gordon Ramsey Uncharted is on DisneyPlus. To get deeper into Lao food, check this video from a Lao chef: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk2A45AOlQc&t=181s and these recipes: https://ourbigescape.com/15-of-the-best-recipes-from-laos/

I also read, of course. When I picked up Slash and Burn by Colin Cotterill on CD at the Los Angeles County Library, I had no idea it was one of fifteen mystery novels set in Laos by someone who was once an UNESCO worker there. I like the diversity of the characters and the primary importance of the Laotians in this 1970s period piece.

I also read a children’s book set in Laos, Moon Bear by Gill Lewis, that I picked up at San Bernardino County Library. It is an inspiring story about what an individual can do to make changes in a setting that is uniquely Laotian.

Kanopy has a series of videos on the Mekong Region, as well as a documentary called Village of Jars which follows an archeological dig in Laos, and a movie about a Laos child who wants to prove he isn’t unlucky called The Rocket. Other films about Laos that I was able to watch include:

· Laos Wonderland, which follows photographers trying to camera trap animals in Laos, on Amazon Prime or free with ads here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00H8UZSI4/ref=atv_dl_rdr?autoplay=1

· Deadliest Roads: Laos, which is not just about the roads, also about the elephants, the river boats, and other things that allow the people to earn a living: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBjfVjKCTs4

· A documentary on traditional Lao storytellers and how they preserve and perpetuate their stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpRjDJTgbJc

I also enjoyed a Lao traditional dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6DZRXfyUrg as well as a program on Hulu called Basic Versus Baller: Travel at Any Cost with an episode on “Levels of Luxury in Laos.”

Some of the best places to visit in Laos are noted here https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-laos/ and yes, it would be so much fun to go! I am looking forward to a time when we can travel again and hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Laos and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Anna Hoch-Kenney https://unsplash.com/photos/xaYxlhda7oI