Cambodia #3: Kep Crab Market
Kep crab marketFood markets are a grassroots reflection of culture so when I’m travelling, these monuments to everyday life are at the top of my must-do list. Cambodia was no exception.
Countryside food vendors, often a lone seller squatting by the roadside offer the overflow from their agricultural endeavours while villages and towns have permanent structures under which the daily markets pop up.
crabs at KepWonderful photographic opportunities presented themselves at Kep on Cambodia’s southern coastline at a shoreline seafood market which predominantly sells blue crabs. The live crabs are held in wicker baskets submerged in the sea waiting to be sold. That’s what I call fresh. There was plenty of other seafood and related products at this market too, dried, barbecued and fresh, sauces, pastes and seasonings. There is no refrigeration so the fresh fish and prawns are stored in bowls ingeniously suspended over ice. The ice man makes regular deliveries.
the ice manDried prawns and calamari are commonly used to add a delicious umami to local cooked specialties. Khmer cooking also sparingly uses a fermented fish paste product prahok which is similar to Thai belachan. Fish sauce, teuk trei in Cambodian, is a common seasoning. All were available at the Kep crab market.
dried seafoodsAt the same market I engaged with a woman armed with a domestic mortar and pestle pounding chillies, lemongrass, galangal, lime leaf and garlic into a paste, and bagging it into meal sized portions for sale, an instant start to dinner. That’s my kind of fast food.
pounding aromaticsKep’s market is a one stop shop, a small amount of fruit and vegetables in season are also sold here. It was rambutan season when we visited and the good humoured knife wielding sellers insist you try before you buy. It’s a great marketing tool.
rambutan sellerLunch at an adjacent restaurant was crab, of course.
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21 comments on “Cambodia #3: Kep Crab Market”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
What a fabulous trip that was! Great pics and enviable markets. Makes me long to visit.
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It was a great trip Linda, full of surprises
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Wonderful, again! What a lovely trip you had.
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Cambodia is amazing destination Michelle, it far surpassed my expectations.
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I love markets like this. Those crabs look very tasty and the rambutan looks very fresh and I bet they were nice and sweet.
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The rambutans were really delicious Ron. I think most I’d eaten before that day had a lot of air miles attached, these were truly local
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Great market shots Sandra. Love those pounded pastes they make through Asia, makes you want to start cooking.
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Thanks you and yes it does. I was surprised at the locals looking for shortcuts….
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wow how fascinating is that market. you couldn’t get fresher seafood. i remember going thru a market in china one time; dogs in cages, businessmen in suits carrying home a couple of live chooks by their feet for dinner, every kind of animal and insect …
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Lots of poultry “on the hoof.” The locals had a great attitude about buying small amounts fresh for consumption on that day, no fridges of course, so there was a constant demand and high turnover. I think they have a much more grateful and respectful attitude to food. Perhaps the memory of famine still bites
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A very neat and tidy market compared to many I have seen in the East . . . since I could eat crab most days what a delight . . .! Absolutely love the idea of being able to buy a meal-sized portion of freshly pounded spices . . . that plus the seafood and a meal ready in the time it would take one to order takeaway . . ,
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All the markets we visited in Cambodia and Vietnam were spotless. Very reassuring and emboldened me to eat food prepared on site.
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The markets in Cambodia weren’t like this 15 years ago, though I agree that these days, the markets are spotless throughout Asia, at least those I have seen in recent years in Northern Thailand, Vietnam and Bali.
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Great shots, Sandra. Market sellers wielding knives is one way to get your attention. I couldn’t refuse.
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Thanks Al, loving looking closely at my pics. Yeah, the knife worked a treat…
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How fresh are those crabs?! Were you tempted to buy and have a cook up back at the hotel?
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Doesn’t get any fresher. Not even tempted, I was loving EVERYTHING about being on holiday including no cooking
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Yes, it is one of the joys ~ and a great way to eat the local food.
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Photographic opportunities indeed!!! Fabulous post and photos.
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Thanks Mimi, I’m really enjoying looking through the photos I shot in the 5 weeks away
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I believe it!
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