The baguette, a delightful culinary legacy of the French is unavoidable in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Especially in Laos, baguettes are everywhere; sold at stalls, off of bicycles, bakeries, and vegetable markets. Baked in brick ovens using firewood, the baguette in Vientiane is particularly good and true to the old French culinary style. And fresh-a Lao baguette doesn’t have any preservatives so day old bread is usually fed to the pigs.

In Vientiane, a baguette means a sandwich. Traditionally, it starts with a French baguette and can be filled with almost anything. For breakfast, you can have an omelet baguette; for lunch a tuna baguette. But the most authentic is the pate and cheese. Unlike the Vietnamese, the Lao will fill the baguette with 3 types of pork filling: a pate, a luncheon meat, and stewed pork leg. This delectable sandwich is made by smearing on the pate and mayonnaise then toasted and topped with more slices of meat, pickled carrots, daikon radishes, cucumber, cilantro, and Chinese celery.

My love affair with the baguette began on Rue Samsenthai, near the Nam Phou fountain. There is a small sandwich shop with a side walk cafe. The sandwich maker, a no- nonsense Chinese woman stands at the sandwich counter. She’s not much on customer service, as I had to call her over to place my order. I ordered the Pate and cheese baguette. “Good, “she replied, with a note of approval in her voice, and returned in about 10 minutes with a toasty, nascent sandwich. The contrast of textures and flavors literally made my eyes roll back in my head. It’s worth the trip all the way to Laos just to have a bite. Aromatic and savory, it was so good I had order another and take a picture.

A little baguette history

Rice is so ingrained in the Lao mind that the Lao call the baguette “Khao Gee” which means grilled rice. When baguettes were first introduced, the poorer Lao fed the bread to their pigs, so adding the baguette to the Lao diet as a staple was no easy task. Eventually, as the social status improved, they adopted bread, butter, and cheese.

After 1945, Vientiane was mostly inhabited by the French, the Vietnamese and Chinese merchants. Naturally these foreign communities had a significant influence on the local cuisine. As a result the baguette was produced more in Vientiane than any other part of the country.

By 1975 most of the foreign communities of Vientiane left, but when the economy recovered there was a large influx of Vietnamese, many who were bakers. Production of the baguette returned to Vientiane and hopefully never to leave.

Back on Rue Samsenthai, another foreigner sits and orders the stewed pork, pork loaf, and pate baguette… with hot sauce. Se la vie, each to his own. Bon appetit!

Source by Emmy Ebanks