Lao Voices

There was more than Lao food on display at the 2008 Lao Traditional Food Festival in Vientiane on February 22-23. In addition to the 100 booths displaying delicious Lao dishes from all the Lao provinces, many Lao homemade products as well as Lao textiles, arts and crafts were on display and for sale to tourists and the local residents. I have to admit that I am a fan of Lao wood carving and especially from this particular company that used the tree trunks that would have normally been thrown away and turned them into beautiful pieces of art.

The annual Lao Food Festival is something that we all can look forward to. Even though we weren’t there for this year’s event at least we had some pictures from the festival to give us an idea of how Lao culture and food need to be promoted on the international level. I hope this type of event will always take place to give us a chance to sample the great Lao food from all the regions of Laos and at the same time open our eyes to the beautiful work of Lao handicrafts.