LUANG PRABANG | Cooking Class

Would you like to join us for a gourmet adventure on a unique lakeside location just outside of Luang Prabang? Then come and try your hands at cooking Lao food while learning about the habits and customs at the heart of the Lao cuisine .Travel together to visit the colorful and vibrant Phosy Market, where you will make your guided food selections. Continue onward to an exotic jungle garden and prepare the ingredients for. The chef will explain to you the differences of South East Asian cuisines and distribute printed recipes providing you with the possibility to cook Lao food for your friends at home

Name	Luang Prabang - cooking class
Duration	Half Day
Price from	40 USD / pax (based on 2 pax)
Pick-up point	Hotel in Luang Prabang
Drop-off point	Hotel in Luang Prabang
Places to visit	Phosy market, Nam Khan river, Ban Nadueay, Tamarind Restaurant

ABOUT LAOS CUISINE
If you are a first-time visitor to South-East Asia (or even if you have spent time here) you may not have discovered the distinguishing features of Lao cuisine. That’s because many Lao flavours and foods are not at all well known.

Landlocked Laos, with no trading port to the outside world and until recently, with a relatively small emigrant population, hasn’t spread its culture globally like Thailand and Vietnam, and the nature of the food and eating style has remained undiscovered. The balance of flavours in dishes is different from that of the West and even neighbouring Thailand, and to some visitors it appears strange and difficult to investigate. As a result, many people never get the opportunity to experience this intriguing cuisine.

Historically, Lao food has often been regarded as essentially the same as Thai food. Some guidebooks and internet sites still describe it this way. One reason for this misconception is the popularity and spread of Isaan cuisine in Thailand. This region of north-east Thailand was once Lao territory, and its food has retained many characteristics and dishes of Lao cuisine, for instance grilled chicken, papaya salad, sticky rice. And there’s a practical reason Lao cuisine differs from Thai: sticky rice! It’s the staple here and is eaten with the fingers – most traditional Lao dishes were designed to accompany it. To keep fingers clean, and rice from dropping into communal food, dishes do not have a liquid consistency. Much Thai food is more soup-like, often incorporating coconut milk, or even stir fried in oil, so steamed rice is a more suitable accompaniment

This morning you will be picked up from your hotel before 9 a.m. and taken to the restaurant, which is on the banks of the Nam Khan river. You then will travel by tuk tuk to the colorful local food market for a guided tour, learning about fascinating local ingredients and Lao culinary customs. Riding a tuk-tuk down a bumpy road through the last swirls of morning Mekong fog, you are off to the Phosy market. Here, souvenir stands sell riverweed sheets dappled with sesame and chile. Mounds of red-, white-, and plum-colored rice reflect not only origin but also harvest time.

After the market tour, we head for the restaurant's stunning lakeside open-air pavilions, situated in Ban Nadueay, about a twenty minute drive south east of town. The classroom kitchen overlooks the drowsy Nam Khan River. Here, under the guidance of the Lao chef, you will learn to cook some traditional dishes and then sit down to feast on a range of delicious authentic Lao cuisine, including lemongrass stuffed with chicken, fish steamed in banana leaves, orlarm, (a very special local dish), varieties of local 'jeow' or savory dips, as well as the art of cooking sticky rice. Participants will cook over a sputtering fire on a wooden floor, just as village mothers do. During the cooking class, you will experience elements such as :
• Fundamental Laos spicy dipping sauces
• Mok Pa, a popular dish of herbed fish steamed with banana leave
• Laap, a national favorite of herbs with minced meat, fish or tofu and mushrooms

What you learn to cook is all traditional dishes, yet having written recipes in our hands is unusual, as Laotians rarely cook from a book. They use their eyes, their stomachs, and their hearts; creating from necessity by using what is growing today.

Your tour finishes at approximately 3 p.m.

This is a sample itinerary so the cost really depends on the number of people in your group and time of travel. Please send us your enquiry for availabilities & the most up dated price.

INCLUSION
• Transportation to the market and the cooking school
• Market tour, shopping in a local market.
• Local English-speaking guide
• lunch
• 1 complimentary drink during the meal (1 beer or 1 soft drink)
• Introduction to Laos herbs, spices & other ingredients for cooking
• Laos dishes recipe booklet
• After preparing each dish, you have time to relax and enjoy your culinary creations
• 24/24h assistance from our company
• Service charges and government tax

EXCLUSION
• Travel insurance
• Visa
• Drink and beverage
• Personal expenses
• Tips for guide & driver
• Other items than mentioned in the program
• Any additional expenses caused by reasons beyond our control such as natural calamities (typhoon, floods), flight delays, rescheduling or cancellations, any accidents, medical evacuations, riots, strikes etc.