100 mile food
Before we left brisvegas one of our plans was to host a 100 mile dinner – sourcing all the ingredients from the local region. We ran out of spare weekends in the end and didn’t get around to it. There are various arguments around at the moment with regards to the sustainablility of our food systems in the west and the distance food travels to get to our plate
Hanging out with Chhay’s cousin and her daughters who run a restaurant in Battambang, and just generally watching the process of food production/shopping in Cambodia it has been interesting to note how locally sourced so much of the food is.
Most dishes are sourced exclusively from the local market where produce is sold directly from the farmer in small stalls or on mats laid out on the ground. Not only fruit, spices & vegetables but also baskets of fish and seafood and fresh meat hanging from hooks open to the elements!
It helps that the countryside in Cambodia is incredibly fertile with large amounts of water available so that a huge range of produce can be farmed in most areas.
Much of this system is due to a lack or refridgeration, however it also means that the food is fresh daily (that is not counting the whole smoked pigs and ducks that hang bright orange in other stalls – but that is another story) and full of flavour. It is also a much more sustainable food system – relying a lot less on oil for transportation.
It’s quite funny to see systems that have been abandoned in the West but that are now being reintroduced in limted niche upmarket areas (think farmer’s markets) for lefty greenies like me are still a daily way of life for much of the world.