Recently I have been eating in the NUOL cafeteria for lunch, and it is some of the best food I’ve had for lunch in Laos.

School Lunch in Laos

At NUOL, the entire school has one lunch break from 11:40-1:00 every day. The cafeteria is in a large, open building and has no air conditioning.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

A view of the cafeteria

There is a station in the middle of the cafeteria that has sodas, ice cream, juice, and fresh smoothies. I really like getting mango (mak-mouang) and pineapple (mak-nut) smoothies. In Laos, nobody calls fruit smoothies “smoothies.” They are always called shakes because the word is “nam-pan” in Lao, which means “drink-to shake.” The adjective always goes after the noun in Lao, so a mango shake would be “nam-pan mak-mouang.” (A shake costs 15,000 kip in the cafeteria.)

After you arrive in the cafeteria, you scope out the options and look for something to eat. The cafeteria has many kitchen cubicles that each have individual stoves, woks, and staff. The staff of each cubicle prepare about 6 dishes each. There are about 5 or 6 of these cubicles, so that’s about 30-36 options for lunch. The cubicles always serve the same things, so you just pick a different one or a different dish if you want something new.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

One kitchen cubicle in the cafeteria

You pay at the cubicle, and then they write you an order ticket. You wait in line to the left. Each lunch is 25,000 kip and comes with a small soup.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

A delicious pork and rice dish

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

School lunch pad thai

School lunch was absolutely delicious and some of the best food I’ve had in Laos. I really look forward to lunch every day now.

Mildly Entertaining

Max and I met Pierre, a French volunteer, at lunch on Friday. Pierre was from Paris. When I told him that I was from Texas, he said “Oh! There is a Paris in Texas, no?” I was shocked! There is indeed a Paris, Texas! Why would he know that?

Courtesy of Wikipedia

The town of Paris, Texas

Courtesy of Trip Advisor

The Paris, Texas Eiffel Tower