We decided to get a better understanding of Lao cuisine by taking a cooking class. The first step was a trip to the local food market to buy some of the ingredients for the dishes we had chosen. There we learnt a lot about the varieties of vegetables, fruits and rice by looking, touching and tasting what we saw around us. Some things looked familiar - but many did not.
Then it was back to our restaurant and time to get busy in the kitchen. Appropriately supervised, we were soon wielding knives like the experts. We chopped up everything in sight, even making little decorative flowers out of tomato peel and cucumber. Maybe good presentation would compensate for any disappointments in the way the meal might taste. In fact, when it came to the cooking, nothing was left to chance. There was a small army of assistants on hand who stepped in to offer wise counsel whenever we students got distracted (which was often).
Finally all the dishes were prepared and set out on the table. Even though we were experiencing the full heat of the midday sun and the kitchen ovens, we made sue that we sampled everything. And it all tasted good.
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