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One Day in a City > Destinations > Asia > Cambodia > Tricky Food in Cambodia

Tricky Food in Cambodia

November 2, 2020 By Gina 11 Comments
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One Day in Cambodia, this Happened…

I start to gag. Swallow, just swallow, I tell myself.

I gulp down the bite and put my fork down and stare at the rest of my “shrimp salad”, i.e. lukewarm, soggy shrimp covered in warm mayonnaise. I take a big gulp of my water and put my hand over my mouth. That. Was. Utterly. Disgusting.

So far the food in Cambodia has been quite bland.

Not bad, but not exactly good. This was baaaaad. Good thing it’s just a side dish and not my actual meal.

I sneak a peek over at Tom. We’re sitting on a bench in Butterflies Garden Restaurant, which doubles as a home for butterflies. Or a jail, considering the restaurant is completely enclosed in netting. It’s a nice atmosphere, albeit kind of a weird one since we’re sitting in the butterfly-infested garden in the middle of a busy street in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Tom is picking at his food, still looking a bit close to death. 5 minutes earlier I thought I was going to have to ring 911 – or whatever the equivalent of that is in Cambodia. Come to think of it, do they actually even have an equivalent of that in Cambodia?

Anyway, I was busy eating my main dish, a bean with pork wrapped cornmeal roll…thing. (Like I said: weird. Ok, ok, it’s probably not that weird in Cambodia. I’ll say different.)

The evil shrimp. It is the white blob next to the weird roll concoction.
The evil shrimp. It is the white blob next to the weird roll concoction.

Suddenly, Tom begins gasping for breath.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” he wheezed. His face contorted and his hands and arms began waving and convulsing. I wondered for a moment if he was suddenly attacked by some poisonous, killer butterflies, when he spit out his food and began drinking water. He stopped after a few seconds and put his head down on his knees, moaning.

I, being the devoted fiancé I was, scooted a few inches away, worried he was going to throw up on me. I gingerly reached over and patted his back.

“Um, are you ok?” I asked, still not sure if I was going to have to figure out if Cambodia had a 911-type system.

He took a few deep breaths. “Pepper,” he panted.

I looked down at his plate where sure enough were the barely chewed remnants of a dark red pepper.

He raised his head a bit and he was red faced and his eyes were teary. I bit my lip to try not to laugh. Now that I knew he was not about to die, the whole episode seemed quite funny.

“Why did you eat a pepper?” I asked, incredulously.

“I didn’t see it!” he groaned. “I didn’t think they’d mix it in with the noodles.” He took another couple sips of water. “I can’t feel my tongue,” he said pitifully.

Then I did laugh.

Several minutes have now passed since Tom’s encounter with the pepper and he still seems scarred from the spiciest encounter ever in his life. I look deviously at the shrimp concoction on my plate. Maybe it will help get his mind off the burning…

“Hey, Hun,” I say soothingly. “Want to try some Cambodia shrimp? It’s really interesting.” If interesting is code for absolutely disgusting.

He looks at it dubiously.

“And it’s not even remotely spicy,” I assure him.

He opens his mouth and I shovel in a bite of the mayo slathered shrimp.

I wait for it.

It takes a second and a half and then his face contorts for the second time in the past ten minutes, only this time for a completely different reason.

To his credit, he manages to swallow it, and then glares at me through squinty eyes.

“That was the most horrible thing I’ve ever tasted,” he said.

I burst out laughing. “Yeah, it’s pretty bad, huh?” I keep giggling. “I thought maybe it would take your mind off the spiciness.”

He shakes his head at me. “Oh, you’re going down.” He picks up the red pepper. “Eat it!” he says and tries to shove it in my mouth.

I squeal and turn away. “I really will die!” I exclaim. I can barely handle the mild sauce from Buffalo Wild Wings.

He gives up, apparently too weak from horrible food experiences to fight any longer.

I give him a playful hug. “Love you, T,” I say in a teasing voice. “And see, you’re not thinking about the pepper at all anymore!”

Tom all forelorn after eating super hot peppers and gross mayo-shrimp.
Tom all forlorn after eating some of the food in Cambodia: super hot peppers and uber disgusting mayo-shrimp. No killer butterflies around.

About Gina

I'm a former travel agency marketing director turned freelance travel writer. My editorial and copywriting work has been published on and in USA TODAY, Travel + Leisure, the Travel Channel Cities app, TripSavvy, and many more online and print publications. I love sharing my knowledge of traveling with limited vacation time and with kids, being a work at home mom, and cozy WAHM fashion on this blog. This blog is mostly about helpful tips for travel and moms, but I get more personal on my Instagram so follow me there, too: @onedayinacity

Comments

  1. Jennifer says

    August 14, 2012 at

    This is too funny! When Tim and I were first dating, we were at PF Changs and he ordered the kung pow chicken. Wanting to impress, he ate the red pepper and had a similar reaction. A glass of milk courtesy of our laughing waiter did the trick to calm the fire in his mouth.

    Reply
    • Gina says

      August 15, 2012 at

      I’ve heard milk helps! Learned that watching a spicy wing eating contest. 🙂 Unfortunately, there was no milk around at that restaurant, lol.

      Reply
  2. Emily McGee says

    August 14, 2012 at

    What is with mayo shrimp? The serve it in Kenya too, so gross!

    Reply
  3. Beth Yost says

    August 15, 2012 at

    You are so evil and I love it! Hey, if it worked he should be grateful! And for the record, that plate of food looks suspect. You are evil AND brave. 😉

    Reply
    • Gina says

      August 15, 2012 at

      Haha, thanks Beth! I was TOTALLY doing him a favor. 😉

      Reply
  4. Stephanie - The Travel Chica says

    August 15, 2012 at

    That photo is priceless 🙂

    Reply
    • Gina says

      August 16, 2012 at

      Haha, thanks Stephanie. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. 😉

      Reply
  5. Andrea says

    August 16, 2012 at

    Copping a bit of hot pepper is never fun!

    Reply
    • Gina says

      August 16, 2012 at

      Definitely not. Glad it wasn’t me. 😉

      Reply
  6. Pamela says

    August 25, 2012 at

    Hilarious stuff! I really enjoyed reading your story. It reminded to a day when Adam ordered “spicy soup”. The food in Thailand is already spicy enough so you can just imagine how it was… I will be back to read upcoming adventures!

    Reply
    • Gina says

      August 25, 2012 at

      Thanks Pamela! Kudos to Adam for ordering spicy soup in Thailand – he’s much braver than I am. Anything that actually had the word spicy in the name I stayed away from while there! 🙂

      Reply

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