Lao culture lesson 2: food

This is the most important lesson everyone visiting or living in Laos should know. In Laos it is all about eating together. Food doesn't taste good unless you share it with someone. This is why it is polite to always offer to share if you are eating or drinking anything. Even if it is just a little bit of food or a glass of Pepsi (water really doesn't count). Lao people are happy to share their food or let you taste it but if it looks like there is not much or you are not hungry the polite thing to say is thank you and good appetite *khoop chai, soen seab *or as I would like to use Finnish letters for this khoop chai söön sääp. It is very impolite to say something about the food being gross. As in any culture food is important and by tasting everything you are also accepting the culture. For Lao people it is important to have some food that is spicy and salty to give it enough flavor to feel satisfied with the meal. If you can eat spicy everyone will be happy. The only boundaries I have regarding foods are based on health risks such as eating raw meat. So be adventurous. At my work for lunch everyone brings one dish of food and their own sticky rice. We all share eat together and have a big variety of food every day. This often includes one or two types of grilled meat or sausage, a dip of some sort and main dishes made usually mixed with, herbs, vegetables, and possibly meat. People will often eat something during a hang out. The most common food for a hang out would be the papaya salad, fruit, grilled special or some type of seeds. *grilled special can be chicken wing (the very tip), small intestines,tongue sides, gizzards, chicken feet, anything else that is usually left over. Here is a picture of the office staff having a snack meal after work. Some spicy salads and grilled goods. Some technical eating words I have learned. I am not sure if there are words for this in English so please tell me if there are. To dip sticky rice in to a dip, paste you call it jim (English j)If you scoop up some food with the rice it is called khui. Scooping food with a spoon onto your own dish is called tak (a as in always and k is unaspirated)And finally to scoop up some food with liquid from a dish and straight to your mouth is to sod (o as in over). All I can say is food is the universal tool for friendship.