Life in Cambodia

Ubiquitous Food 22 September 2009 It seems that there is a correlation between the level of development in a country and the availability of food on the street.  The less developed the country, the more food is available.  I suspect there are two reasons for this.  First, from the customer's point of view, homemade food sold on the street is cheap and so is attractive, especially in a country where people normally do not eat breakfast at home but on the way to work or school.  Second, from the vendor's point of view, in a developing country where people are really poor, being able to create some sweet or some staple dish and sell it in front of the house is an attractive way to supplement any other income for the family.  There's a real match-up between supply and demand in the street food business in Cambodia. This page will focus on some of the foods sold from bicycles on the streets of Phnom Penh.

This man has baguettes on the handlebars and a variety of other breads in the basket in back. A real drive-by food experience: the vendor going one way is stopped by two girls on a motorcycle going the other way. "What kind of bread did you guys want?"  Two women buying bread for their colleagues.  The bread is just eaten plain. Another popular cooked street food is corn on the cob. The corn is sweet and is eaten without salt or butter or anything. Two women selling rambutans, a red, hairylike fruit. Like the corn, this is a seasonal offering. This man is selling small limes in the bags and another fruit with an unknown name in the basket. The basket on this bicycle is full of some sort of tuber. More corn on the cob for sale.

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