'Can you cook this for me please?' - which ASEAN countries most ameniable?...

[hermespan]

For health, ethical, sensual and budget reasons I have a diet that is both restricted and expansive. I have an unusual way of finding exactly what I want to eat. It is a combination of self-catering and restaurant dining (well, that's stretching it). For the moment I live in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I adapted to this after getting fed up in Vietnam trying to cook in my budget hotel room (Hanoi is a desert for a vegetarian and even in Saigon, at least for those who loathe fake meat). The induction cooker took something like six million years to get beans soft enough. The pots and pans were albatrosses. So I gave away my travelling kitchen and tried something that seems to me to be the perfect compromise. It started with giving up on South Asian cooking (dhals, breads etc) and converting to a diet of ingredients that are very easy and quick to turn into a meal - kasha and shitake mushrooms that have been soaked overnight, green leafy vegetables, ginger and chili, tempeh from a local Balinese restaurant etc. I

My shopping is an adventure and I love it! Every 2-3 days I shop at local street markets (sometimes supermarkets too, though produce is always better value and fresher where ladies sell vegetables and spices on the street in my experience). I get to know which ladies have the best deals on which fruit for breakfast. They get used to seeing me and start charging a lower price and knowing my tastes.

Then I take my supplies to my hotel room, wash and prepare it for cooking. But I don't cook it. I make it as easy as possible for someone else to do so.

I take it to a nice lady who runs a hole in the wall from almost dawn to well past dusk. She speaks good English, better than my Khmer - she even teaches me culinary vocabulary. I have her cook it for me. She charges a buck to cook one or two dishes. Sometimes I order a duck egg or two, maybe a cocoanut. All she supplies is the garlic.

My habit is simple wholesome cooking from whatever fresh ingredients I find in the outdoor market primarily. This way the food isn't cooked to death. I know exactly what went into my sustinence. I supply oil and am thinking to start ocassionally bring gifts of kitchen doodads. I remain sensitive to when are slow but not rest hours. I am not critical. It is like a relationship. I periodically tip. I don't take up a place in her eating area, leaving that for her customers. I take an interest in her baby, am careful to not behave inapropriately lest her husband misunderstand why I come 5X a week, am polite with her neighbours etc.

What does she get out of it? She charges 80 cents to a dollar for dishes for which she supplies everything. I pay slightly more and cost her nothing but her time. What do I get? Cheap custom meals.

Bowls with removable lids serve as both 'tupperware' to carry all back in the basket of my bicycle to my hotel room closeby and as eating vessels. I cannot think of a more perfect solution to being fussy, cheap and social. I invite friends to share and contribute sometimes.

I got this idea from an italian couple who actually travelled with a campstove and cook on their balcony. With my current modus operendi I don't get kicked out of my hotel for cooking in my room (though my bum gun is getting yellow from turmeric root on my hands. Trust me you get over the taboo against WC as a kitchen).

I did this at a border town in China successfully. It works only with self-owned very low-end family-run places of course. I looked for someone who is clean off course. A diamond in the rough. A place just getting started. I became a regular. There are so many foods that just are never cooked in restaurants. I get to eat whatever strikes my fancy and that won't be a hassle for the cook.

What countries do you think it would be easy (and which close to impossible) to continue this style of getting myself fed? Somehow I just can't see Vietnamese or Malaysians agreeing to do this. But maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is all about finding the right fit. I want to try this in Indonesia because the tempeh is cooked with the chicken and so much of the food in warungs is hours old. Burma? Philippines? Laos?

[bkkcanuck8]

I think probably a lot of countries you could get into this relationship DEPENDING on who you build a relationship with -- how busy they are (if you come when they have a backlog, spending time with you might be a hassle) -- and you make it worth their while. While fresh ingredients are great, they are likely not perfect.... from time to time you will likely have vegetables that have a late application of pesticides or even from time to time formaldehyde sprayed on the vegetables.... not necessarily as big a problem as countries like Bangladesh and India -- but still there.

[zeichen]

find a single man that can cook.

I do think that most Asian countries would accommodate these requests. I think that you make extra work for yourself though. Most eateries will know how to get good and fresh veggies. If you build a relationship with any store owner, you can get things made your way. As for not being able to get vegetarian cooking in Vietnam, I think that you just don't know how to do anything. more than 30% of their population is vegetarian. Again if you just learn to communicate in their language, you can get things made the way you want.

As for your dilemma with beans. You need to learn how to use a pressure cooker. 15-20 minutes and any bean is cooked completely.

[mike2011]

Philippines will be paradise for you. When travelling I buy my fish in the market and have it cooked right next to it in a carenderia. You might have some problems in Manila or Cebu but otherwise it is nothing unusual.

Thailand: I suspect you will need a lot of talking although my usual hangouts cook for me those Thai dishes I like and that are not on the menu. But these are Thai dishes.

[Morakot]

What countries do you think it would be easy (and which close to impossible) to continue this style of getting myself fed?

Should work well in Thailand.