Recipe for Success

At a chef's homestay near Phnom Penh, travelers learn about Cambodia's traditional dishes-and help save them from extinction.

- Shamilee Vellu

MOST PEOPLE struggle to describe Cambodian cooking. Chef Rotanak Ros starts by saying what it is not. "Cambodian cuisine is not survival food," the 39-year-old Ros told me. Popularly known as "Chef Nak," the celebrity chef is an energetic advocate of Cambodian, or Khmer, cuisine. She collaborates with the staff at Brasserie Louis at Rosewood Phnom Penh (doubles from $300), in the Cambodian capital, and partners with the hotel to offer epicurean experiences (private cooking classes, market tours, and food-focused homestays) in her hometown of Prek Loung, a 40-minute drive away.

Ros has also published two cookbooks that delve into some of Cambodia's most iconic dishes. As part of her research, she spent 19 years crisscrossing her country, coaxing villagers to share recipes for half-forgotten dishes. She fears that unless work like hers continues, Khmer food traditions will be lost over the coming generations.

Cambodian cuisine typically incorporates rice, fish, soups, plenty of spices, and fresh produce. But Ros is quick to point out that these vary greatly depending on where you are. "Khmer food is regional, seasonal, and very personalized," she said.

Ros's mission to reinvigorate Khmer dining stems from her country's poisoned past. In the late 1970s, an estimated 2 million Cambodians nearly a quarter of the country's population-died through mass violence, starvation, and disease under the radical communist regime of the Khmer Rouge. As the government eliminated private property and food became scarce, rice gruel became a staple and people began eating insects, bats, and even poisonous fruits.