East vs. West

Wednesday, August 27, 2008
6:36 PM ICT
Bangkok Airways Passenger Lounge, Phnom Penh International Airport
Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh Province, Cambodia

For a second, I want to discuss the selection of free food available at the Bangkok Airways Passenger Lounge at the Phnom Penh International Airport; and in doing so, I hope to shed some light on the prevailing cultural differences between East and West. You see, the lounge must cater to all passengers, no matter what compass point they hail from. And so:

In terms of drinks, nothing spectacular: tea, coffee, water, mystery fruit juice. All relatively culturally neutral. In terms of food, we have a selection of four items. The first two are similarly neutral: cake (everyone loves cake) and chocolate croissants (Cambodia’s history of French colonization means the croissant is well-established). So far, so good. It is in the final two items that the crux of my argument lies.

First, for the Easterners: wrapped in a banana leaf comes some form of dumpling thing. Outer shell is somewhat shiny, somewhat sticky, may have at one point been rice… or potentially noodle. Congealed, green-ish. A few oddly-textured black beans are stuck to the thing. Inside, some form of bean paste. Ever so slightly sweet, even perhaps slight bitterness. Very subtle, very strange flavor.

And representing the West, sausage rolls.

So do you want your bread perfectly square and infused with coconut… or would you prefer it deep-fried?