Cambodia's gastronomic history:
n 1960, Princess Samdech Preah Reach Kanitha Norodom Rasmi Sobbhana published one of the first definitive texts on her country’s cuisine. L’Art de la cuisine cambodgienne, or The Culinary Art of Cambodia, was an extensively researched, beautifully illustrated tome years in the making. It came at a pivotal moment, just seven years after Cambodia declared independence, when the nation was fighting to codify an identity beyond that of its former French-colonial rulers.
Only a few years after the princess’s death in 1971, civil war ripped Khmer society apart. The Khmer Rouge, under the leadership of Prime Minister Pol Pot, purged Cambodia’s artists and intellectuals, along with records that detailed much of what came before “Year Zero” on April 17, 1975. Copies of The Culinary Art of Cambodia all but vanished.
Nearly half a century later, Rotanak Ros, better known as Chef Nak, has dedicated her career to preserving and reclaiming thousands of years of Khmer culinary history. After leaving her position at a nonprofit organization in 2017, Ros traveled throughout the Cambodian countryside documenting recipes from home cooks that culminated in her 2019 cookbook, Nhum: Recipes from a Cambodian Kitchen.
For her second work, Saoy: Royal Cambodian Home Cuisine, Ros turned her lens from home cooking to the lofty kitchens of the Khmer palace at the height of its influence. Saoy roughly translates to “dining in a royal setting” and the recipes here are the kind that might have once been served at state dinners. Princess Rasmi Sobbhana—a highly educated, fiercely independent maverick who met with President John F. Kennedy, refused to marry, and spent her life advocating for women—became something of a personal inspiration for the project. While the recipes in Ros’s work have all been thoroughly tested for a modern audience, the book is very much an homage to this powerful figure in Khmer history.
Gastro Obscura spoke with Ros about unpacking the essence of a cuisine, cooking with flowers, and the unlikely series of events that landed an original copy of the princess’s manuscript in her possession.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/c ... e-cookbook?
Royal Menus before the years of disaster
- Mike Farce
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Someone writing "history" who is completely ignorant about history.Happydragon1234 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:52 amOnly a few years after the princess’s death in 1971, civil war ripped Khmer society apart.
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Can you be a bit more specific here? I can’t see what’s wrong with it.Mike Farce wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:17 pmSomeone writing "history" who is completely ignorant about history.Happydragon1234 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 07, 2023 12:52 amOnly a few years after the princess’s death in 1971, civil war ripped Khmer society apart.
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The civil war started in 1970 and was in full swing by 1971. The writer is confusing the 1975-79 Pol Pot regime with the civil war.
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