Most Lao meals are enjoyed with sticky rice ( khào niaw), which is served in a lidded wicker basket and eaten with the hands. Typically, rice will be accompanied by a fish or meat dish and soup, with a plate of fresh vegetables such as string beans, lettuce, basil and mint served on the side. Grab a small chunk of rice from the basket, roll it into a firm ball and then dip the ball into one of the dishes. At the end of your meal, it's thought bad luck not to replace the lid of the típ khào. Plain steamed white rice ( khào jâo) is eaten with a fork and spoon; chopsticks ( mâi thu) are reserved for noodles.

So that a variety of tastes can be enjoyed during the course of a meal, Lao meals are eaten communally , with each dish, including the soup, being served at once, rather than in courses. If you're eating a meal with steamed white rice, only put a small amount of one dish onto your rice at a time. If the meal is accompanied by sticky rice, it's normal to simply dip a ball of rice into the main servings. If there are two of you it's common to order two or three dishes, plus your own rice.

If Laos were to nominate a national dish , a strong contender would be làp, a "salad" of minced meat or fish mixed with garlic, chillies, shallots, eggplant, galingale, fried rice and fish sauce. Làp is either eaten raw ( díp) - a culinary experience you may want to avoid - or súk (cooked). Another quintessentially Lao dish is tam màk hung (or tam sòm), a spicy papaya salad made with shredded green papaya, garlic, chillies, lime juice, pa dàek and, sometimes, dried shrimp and crab juice. Each vendor will have their own particular recipe, but it's also acceptable to pick out which ingredients - and how many chilli peppers - you'd like. Usually not too far away from any tam màk hung vendor, you'll find someone selling pîng kai, basted grilled chicken. Fish, pîng pa, is another grilled favourite, with whole fish skewered and barbecued.

When the Lao aren't filling up on glutinous rice, they're busy eating fõe, the ubiquitous noodle soup that takes its name from the Vietnamese soup pho. Although primarily eaten for breakfast, fõe can be enjoyed at any time of day, and, outside the tourist centres, may well be the mainstay of your diet. The basic bowl of fõe consists of a light broth to which is added thin rice noodles and slices of meat (usually beef, water buffalo or grilled chicken) and is served with a plate of lettuce, mint and coriander leaves and bean sprouts. Also on offer at many noodle shops is mi, a yellow wheat noodle served in broth with slices of meat and a few vegetables. It's also common to eat fõe and mi without broth ( hàeng), and at times fried ( khùa).

The best way to round off a meal is with fresh fruit ( màk mâi), as the country offers a wide variety, including guavas, lychees, rambutans, mangosteen and pomelos. Sweets don't figure on many restaurant menus, although some offer desserts such as banana in coconut milk ( nâm wãn màk kûay). Markets often have a food stall specializing in inexpensive coconut-milk desserts , generally called nâm wãn. Look for a stall displaying a dozen bowls, containing everything from water chestnuts to fluorescent green and pink jellies, from which one or two items are selected and then added to a sweet mixture of crushed ice, slabs of young coconut meat and coconut milk.