Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Tucked in the middle of mainland Southeast Asia, Laos is the landlocked neighbor of some of the world’s most visited countries. Home to less than eight million people, Laos is often forgotten, and its food is almost completely unknown- except for the dishes that appear everywhere as Thai food. Lao cuisine is hard to define; the product of a country with 240 different ethnic groups and a natural environment unlike anywhere else. So we spent three days in and around the national capital trying to figure out the story of the local dishes, ingredients, and history, and to try to answer the question: what is Lao food?

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0:00 - Introduction
1:23 - Laos
5:13 - Phakhao Lao
7:10 - The Basics of Lao Food
9:39 - The Children of the Sticky Rice
11:52 - Dinner
14:20 - Embrace the Slow
15:57 - Isaan
19:43 - Wet Market
20:53 - The Plants and Animals of the Mekong
23:26 - 240 Ethnic Groups
26:22 - What Is Lao Food?
30:28 - Lao Khao Soi
32:50 - Road Trips and Marathons
36:20 - Khun Manichan
41:22 - The Cooking Garden Home
43:31 - The Magic of Slow
46:10 - Colonial Legacies
49:25 - Credits and Post-Credits

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Video Credits:

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