Cambodian fish paste from the Lake
Fermented fish paste is the essential ingredient in Kymer cooking
On the banks of the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia, hundreds of families congregate to collect the tiny silvery fish which they mash into a pungent paste used in Kymer food.
If there is one thing Cambodians like it is prahok, fermented fish paste. The smell of it hangs heavy in the air at this time of year as hundreds of peoplecrowd the riverbanks of the Tonle Sap River in Cambodia waiting for the small boats loaded with the silvery catch to unload the tiny fish. Whole families join in the work of making the paste.
The fish is gutted and crushed (usually by barefoot children), then the mess is left out to dry for 24 hours after which it is salted down and packed into jars to ferment for months - weeks for those who can’t wait.
If you like challenging, pungent, spicy additives, then prahok is for you. If you can eat this with evident enjoyment, Cambodians will take you to their hearts, because prahok, they told me, is the soul of the Khymer cuisine. Actually, it is more than that, Prahok is an essential part of the diet for these people.
It is back-breaking work, but machinery is too expensive for these fisher folk, so grandparents and children are enlisted to help in the work. Some local entrepreneurs hawk roughly made contraptions that promise to take the hard work out of making the paste, but few can afford to hire them.
Prahok is also a good bartering tool. Farmers travel from outlying districts to trade rice for the protein-filled fish paste, a much needed supplement in the countryside where fish paste and rice is often the only food on offer. It can also be used in soups, but it is mostly used as a condiment in a wide variety of Kymer dishes.
But this year the fish harvest is poor, and the fishermen are grumbling that they have not caught as much as last year. Ask them why and they just shrug resignedly. Just another example of the troubles lying in wait for people who can do nothing about it.
“Without the prahok, health will suffer. Without the prahok, food will taste bad in the mouth, without the prahok life is not as we know it” said one man to me.
“Maybe next year will be better”.
