Laap, Sticky Rice and Or Lam: Lao Food for the Family Table

Lao food is eaten with the hands, from a shared table, with sticky rice as the fork. Children understand that immediately.

Sticky rice, khao niao, comes in a small woven basket and you take a pinch, roll it into a ball with your fingers, and use it to pick up everything else. Laos eats more sticky rice than anywhere on earth. Kids think it is a game and it is the reason they eat the rest.

Laap is the national dish. Minced meat, chicken or pork or fish, tossed with lime, fish sauce, mint and toasted rice powder, served at room temperature with the sticky rice and raw vegetables. Ask for it mild and it is a bright, fresh salad that most children eat. The Lao version of a taco.

Breakfast, soup, sausage

Khao soi in Luang Prabang is not the Thai one. Rice noodles in a pork and tomato broth with herbs, from a stall by the morning market for a dollar. Khao piak is the other breakfast, thick rice noodles in chicken broth, and it is the one for a tired child.

Sai oua is the Luang Prabang sausage, pork with lemongrass and herbs, grilled and sold at the night market. Mok pa is fish steamed in a banana leaf with dill. Or lam is the Luang Prabang stew with eggplant, wood ear mushroom and a peppery vine, and it is the dish to order once for the story.

Fruit shakes everywhere. Lao coffee, strong, with condensed milk, for the adults. Fried river weed with sesame, khai paen, from the market, which the kids will eat like chips. Baguettes with pate from the French days at any corner cart for the walk to the boat.

Planning Laos with kids? Start with the full Laos family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.