Quest for Nutrition

After biking around siem reap for 3 days, Evan and I decided that we needed a healthy dose of veggies and some protein. This was a huge undertaking considering the minuscule amount of both that the Cambodians subsist upon.

I have been lusting after the beautifully shaped deep purple eggplants that I see in all the markets. I'm not sure where they end up but we never see them in restaurants or at food stalls. I acquired 2 medium sized eggplants for .50$ at the market. Next step: find a food stand to cook them. This project would have gone a lot more smoothly in siem reap where hot woks abounded. But here in kompong thom, all of the food carts and stalls had pre-prepared food with no means of cooking. Finally, I caved and went to a restaurant where an all too eager kid immediately understood what I was after and escorted my eggplants to the kitchen.

As suspected, only about ¾ of 1 eggplant made its way back to the table. I enjoyed my pile of mixed veggies and learned my lesson: next time find a wok on the side of the road and watch them cook all of the food I give them. I asked the kid what happened to the rest of my eggplant after he begrudgingly made his way back to our table when I spotted him trying to hide and motioned to him. His English capabilities suddenly diminished to only knowing how to say the number of riels that we owed him.

With one project complete, we set off in search of protein. I spotted a few ladies with rotisserie chicken setups but $4 for a chicken was too much. The options were dwindling to meat on a stick and the baskets of eggs that everyone had. Not in the mood for mystery meat, we opted for the eggs. At 30 cents each, the eggs were also expensive. Determined not to get the special tourist price, we shopped around. After getting the same price over and over we also learned that these eggs were baby duck eggs. I thought to myself what's the big deal, we eat baby chicken eggs all the time.

We ended up taking the plunge and buying 2 eggs. The first indication that something was different was that the eggs came with a bag of condiments including limes, black pepper, and a pile of little green leaves. Back at our hotel, Evan started to peel his egg. He immediately put it together- baby duck egg means duck embryo. I'm not sure how far along the ducks were but there was quite a bit of development already. Thinking back, I don't think it was a question of if we were going to eat the duck embryos but how we were going to eat them. The eggs naturally broke into 4 pieces. The first 2 were harder than a hard boiled eggs yolk and more chewy. We developed a method of squeezing lime juice, coating in pepper, and then covering with leaves. The last 2 pieces were more challenging. Evan went for the get it down quick method and then had fun taking pics of me making faces. The egg itself had little flavor and the leaves helped with the consistency which wasn't as disgusting as it seemed.

The good news is that we were no longer pissed about paying for eggs, we got some protein, and we were able to try a new interesting food. It's always an adventure.