Food

Food here is excellent, and much healthier than back home. While we are on our induction programme, we have been spoiled with a cook who spends all day creating 3 delicious meals for us. Breakfast is either French bread with fruit (mashed banana for me!), peanut butter and jam, or pancakes or omelettes. Lunch and dinner are fairly similar affairs: we help ourselves to a spoonful of each of six or seven cooked dishes plus loads of steamed rice. As we have a couple of vegetarians in our group, there are always several vegetarian dishes (e.g. mixed veg, ginger, tofu, soup), usually something fishy (e.g. pieces of fish with giant mushrooms, fish and coconut soup) and some meat dishes (pork, beef and chicken, cooked with various vegetables, fruit and sauces). We always have fresh fruit afterwards: pineapple, papaya, banana, rambutan, water-melon. No meal has been the same, and all have been delicious. Once I move to Kompong Thom, I will be cooking for myself, so my diet will probably be much more boring. Fortunately, my house is next to the market, so I will be able to buy the best fresh food at 6.00 a.m. before going to work. It is quite normal for volunteers to employ their own cook, who would also do cleaning and laundry, but I am not planning to do so. No doubt I will be disappointing a few hopeful Kompong Thom ladies!