I Like Veggies More

Chicken in my village was not the most satisfying entree. Not fun to eat. I’d gnaw at a bone and wonder why I attempted to have chicken as part of my meal because it was so scrawny. Sometimes I’d end up realizing, hey, eating veggies, rice and soup is delicious. The basics.

^^^ABOVE, Wedding Food: An opportunity to eat yellow flowers! Yum! The only time in my life…

Over time, I think I began to eat less meat. If I did, I avoided red meat for health reasons. And would go for pork to make things like bulgogi or fish (fried simple). But mostly I stir fried veggies and had that for dinner/lunch. I’d also make sandwiches and eat raw tomatoes, chopped garlic, bell peppers, green onion, and smear some raspberry jam (from a western grocer) on and call it a day. Sprinkle some pepper and salt if I wasn’t lazy about flavoring the tomatoes. But one of the weird things was I left Cambodia realizing for two years I had very small portions, not lots of meat for meals, and had so much fresh veggies. Sure, I have no idea what pesticides and whatnot might have came with the food. But luckily I didn’t get sick in the stomach very often or get worms. I also washed my veggies as thoroughly as possible.

Tip: scrub vegetables to wash out the pesticides probably on it, versus just tossing in and out of water

It’s kind of nice to have this craving for veggies most of the time after being back as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. I was a bit lazy about salads pre-Peace Corps because of things like a long snack aisle, where in Asia western snacks are costly (being imported) and limited.

Also as an afterthought, some chubby volunteers lost a lot of weight during the Peace Corps. Kind of interesting what the Cambodian diet can help others on. I ended up fluctuating around holidays as usual, but biking anywhere within 2 miles and standing for work often helped with exercise.

^^^ABOVE, banh mi – a Vietnamese dish available in Siem Reap city. There’s some meat, but mostly noodles and lettuce. YUM!!! The rare times I liked meat in Cambodia because it had the eggroll wrap. Very rare to see eggrolls made in Cambodia in the villages. The wrap is hard to buy

During orientation for Peace Corps in San Francisco, we were told the ladies would normally gain weight and the men would lose. True. For me though I came back around the same weight – with a revived love for veggies.