Organization in Cambodia gets kids off the streets and teaches them job skills for a better future

A student looks up from her work. At Romdeng students start by washing dishes then move up through the cold and hot sections of the kitchens as well as waiting tables and greeting guests in Phnom Penh, Cambodia (Sarah Dallof, Deseret News)

Monday, April 2 2012
By Sarah Dallof
Deseret News (Utah, USA)

Four years ago Srey Nim was stuck in a life that few would envy and she herself did not want. She spent her days on the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, selling flowers and water to tourists. It was hard work, day after day in the heat making little to bring home to her widowed mother. To escape, she would leaf through magazines looking at the pictures but unable to read the words.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Four years ago Srey Nim was stuck in a life that few would envy and she herself did not want.

She spent her days on the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, selling flowers and water to tourists. It was hard work, day after day in the heat making little to bring home to her widowed mother. To escape, she would leaf through magazines looking at the pictures but unable to read the words.

Then came the turning point. An outreach group with Friends-International invited her to play sports with a group of kids. They made her an offer: If she wanted off the streets, they would give her an education and teach her a trade of her choice. She accepted.

Today, the shy and smiling 17-year-old is a student at Romdeng restaurant, which is owned by Friends-International. She works hard and one day hopes to open her own restaurant featuring both Khmer and international cuisine.

Cambodian street kids spearhead Khmer food revival

Friday, March 7, 2008
Gillian Murdoch
Reuters

Phnom Penh - First kill your tarantulas by pressing hard on their bodies then remove the fangs and wash the spiders thoroughly, advises the glossy in-house recipe book from Phnom Penh's Romdeng restaurant.

Served with a lime and pepper sauce, the crispy arachnids, fried to remove their venom, became a delicacy during Khmer Rouge reign over Cambodia when Pol Pot's plan to create an agrarian utopia forced millions from cities to the country.

The spiders are part of the restaurant's mission to champion Khmer food from the present and dating back to the Khmer Kingdom of over 1,000 years ago while also helping provide work and a new life for street kids.

Virtually annihilated during the Khmer Rouge's reign that ended in 1979, Cambodia's traditional specialties are less well-known than Western-friendly pad thais and rice-paper rolls from bigger neighbors Thailand and Vietnam although many regional dishes have their roots in Khmer cooking.

But with Cambodia rapidly developing, restaurants such as Romdeng are helping spearhead a comeback, said founder Sebastien Marot and top chef Sok Chhong who put together the cookbook "From Spiders to Water Lillies."

While the spiders may seem like a gimmick, the restaurant also has a serious social mission -- getting young people off the streets and into employment and education.

Run by Cambodian non-profit Mit Samlanh or Friends, Romdeng and its sister restaurant Friends are staffed by former street kids who design the menus, cook the dishes, wait tables, and even sew the silk cushions for the chairs.

So what will Cambodia's breakthrough dish be if tarantulas are not to everyone's taste?

The country is considering submitting its "prahok" fish paste and peppercorns from the southeastern town of Kampot for trademarking as distinctive national products but it is "amok" curry that probably has the widest crossover appeal.

Milder than other curries, as Cambodia's traditional dishes were first cooked up in the days before traders introduced chili to the region, it is named after the dark green amok leaf that's shredded into the dish as a seasoning.

Not surprisingly in a country crisscrossed by the Mekong and two other mighty rivers, the Tonle Sap and the Bassac, fish and shrimps feature heavily on Cambodian menus.

A range of local vegetable dishes also get a creative spin, in dishes like morning glory and water spinach salad, and sautéed rice and chive flower cakes on green papaya salad.

As there are no starters or mains in Khmer culture, all the food comes at once, and there are also no knives so don't wait for anything more than your fork and spoon.

Washed down the meal with a bottle of local Anchor beer, a shot of honey-flavored Khmer rice wine, or fancy combination juices such as sweet tamarind, guava and honey.

True converts to Khmer cooking can end the meal with a commitment by buying the cookbook that feeds its profits back into the endeavor.

Romdeng:#21, Street 278 Phnom Penh (Tel:+ 855 92 219 565)
http://www.streetfriends.org/CONTENT/BUSINESS/romdeng.swf

Friends: #215, Street 13, Phnom Penh (Tel:+855 12 802 072)
http://www.streetfriends.org/CONTENT/BUSINESS/restaurant_final.swf

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

Cambodian street kids spearhead Khmer food revival

Tue Jan 15, 2008
By Gillian Murdoch

Phnom Penh (Reuters Life!) - First kill your tarantulas by pressing hard on their bodies then remove the fangs and wash the spiders thoroughly, advises the glossy in-house recipe book from Phnom Penh's Romdeng restaurant.

Served with a lime and pepper sauce, the crispy arachnids, fried to remove their venom, became a delicacy during Khmer Rouge reign over Cambodia when Pol Pot's plan to create an agrarian utopia forced millions from cities to the country.

The spiders are part of the restaurant's mission to champion Khmer food from the present and dating back to the Khmer Kingdom of over 1,000 years ago while also helping provide work and a new life for street kids.

Virtually annihilated during the Khmer Rouge's reign that ended in 1979, Cambodia's traditional specialties are less well-known than Western-friendly pad thais and rice-paper rolls from bigger neighbors Thailand and Vietnam although many regional dishes have their roots in Khmer cooking.

But with Cambodia rapidly developing, restaurants such as Romdeng are helping spearhead a comeback, said founder Sebastien Marot and top chef Sok Chhong who put together the cookbook "From Spiders to Water Lillies."

While the spiders may seem like a gimmick, the restaurant also has a serious social mission -- getting young people off the streets and into employment and education.

Run by Cambodian non-profit Mit Samlanh or Friends, Romdeng and its sister restaurant Friends are staffed by former street kids who design the menus, cook the dishes, wait tables, and even sew the silk cushions for the chairs.

So what will Cambodia's breakthrough dish be if tarantulas are not to everyone's taste?

The country is considering submitting its "prahok" fish paste and peppercorns from the southeastern town of Kampot for trademarking as distinctive national products but it is "amok" curry that probably has the widest crossover appeal.

Milder than other curries, as Cambodia's traditional dishes were first cooked up in the days before traders introduced chili to the region, it is named after the dark green amok leaf that's shredded into the dish as a seasoning.

Not surprisingly in a country crisscrossed by the Mekong and two other mighty rivers, the Tonle Sap and the Bassac, fish and shrimps feature heavily on Cambodian menus.

A range of local vegetable dishes also get a creative spin, in dishes like morning glory and water spinach salad, and sautéed rice and chive flower cakes on green papaya salad.

As there are no starters or mains in Khmer culture, all the food comes at once, and there are also no knives so don't wait for anything more than your fork and spoon.

Washed down the meal with a bottle of local Anchor beer, a shot of honey-flavored Khmer rice wine, or fancy combination juices such as sweet tamarind, guava and honey.

True converts to Khmer cooking can end the meal with a commitment by buying the cookbook that feeds its profits back into the endeavor.

Romdeng:#21, Street 278 Phnom Penh (Tel:+ 855 92 219 565)

http://www.streetfriends.org/CONTENT/BUSINESS/romdeng.swf-

Friends: #215, Street 13, Phnom Penh (Tel:+855 12 802 072)
http://www.streetfriends.org/CONTENT/BUSINESS/restaurant_final.

(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)