The typical feature of the Khmer is that they settle down mainly in the countryside,

which is an agricultural production area, with the main food crop being rice. Today,
over 90% of the Khmer population specializes in agriculture, mainly producing rice
and other crops. These agricultural products are both a source of food and a source of
fodder for their livestock. From sticky rice, they know how to process rice and grind it
into flour to make cakes.
In the past, rice was served on bamboo cots and placed in the kitchen. Khmer people
also use chopsticks like Vietnamese and Chinese, but when someone finishes eating,
they hold chopsticks in both hands to their forehead to show gratitude to the person
who made the food.
In addition to processing fresh food, they also boil, dry or make fish sauce for long-
term storage. Especially, for Khmer people, fish sauce is both a food and a main spice
in food processing. The making of fish sauce also has many types, each type has very
elaborate techniques. Example: Making "prochoc" fish sauce, a kind of fish sauce
favored by Khmer people and used almost every day
The way to make this sauce is fresh snakehead fish. After cleaning, dry in the sun to
dry; At that time, salted, mixed with cold rice, put in a jar, poured with salted water to
cool down to cover the fish, then put the areca on top and tied the bamboo stick
tightly, do not let the fish float, and let it dry in the sun for about half a month. . After
6 months, it can be used, but the longer the better. Before using, people bring hearing
mixed in. The color of the sauce is pale, the smell is strong, the taste is salty... all are
strongly stimulating. Prophoc sauce for a long time (one year or more) eaten raw,
accompanied by star fruit, bananas, raw vegetables; or bruised with chili pepper, eaten
with cold rice; very delicious. This kind of fish sauce, if made with yellow catfish,
called "Prochoc op", becomes a famous dish in Soc Trang. The Khmer also make a
kind of sour sauce called "proot", made of shrimps, a type of shrimp that is easy to find
in the field, when mixed with papaya, galangal or young ginger, it can be eaten after a
few days.
In addition to using spices such as onions, peppers, peppers, garlic, Khmer people
often use fish sauce as the main seasoning for seasoning, especially "samlo" dishes.
Now, Soc Trang noodle soup has spread inside and outside the province, has appeared
in anecdotes of art villages, has become a reminder of close friends and friends near
and far; "For example, visit Soc Trang to eat vermicelli with broth and bring back Phu
Tam fish sauce (My Tu district, Soc Trang)"'.
Besides the rice-growing village, the Khmer people of Vinh Chau district are very
famous for growing radish and making pickled cabbage, which they often call "chhay
pau", which is ordered by people inside and outside the province.
With this type of food, the daily meal of the Khmer is rice, soup, and vegetables, but in
the winter season, their meals are very sketchy. But at parties, blessings, anniversaries,
traditional New Year, they organize meals and treat guests, like Vietnamese and
Chinese people, with daily dishes, they never bring out to guests, because they give
them food. is disrespectful. Food prepared on this occasion is domesticated or
purchased cattle and poultry meat, with a variety of dishes, such as islet, curry, braised
meat with coconut water, noodle soup...
From glutinous rice, Khmer people also process many kinds of savory and sweet
cakes, such as Tet cake, little cake, especially cakes with specific characteristics of the
national culture, such as gingerbread, flat rice. Gingerbread is a type of cake made
from glutinous rice flour with chicken seeds, shaped like a ginger root, so people call it
gingerbread (num kh'Nhi). After being fried with cooked fat, they also sprinkled the
cake with a layer of sparkling white granulated sugar, which looks very beautiful. This
cake is an indispensable offering in traditional Khmer wedding ceremonies,
symbolizing the happiness of the couple. People can also make this small cake to use
as a gift or treat guests.
Beautiful sticky rice is made from roasted, flattened sticky rice, but it must be new
sticky rice, which means that the sticky rice is ripe and red, freshly cut from the field.
The main tool is a large clay pot with a wide mouth and a bowl. This mortar has a
slender vertical shape, cut from a log, about 1m high and pierced with a vertical pestle.
When the sticky rice is roasted evenly, there is a crackling sound, that is, the sticky
rice is cooked, the shell is broken, people bring the whole batch and pour it into the
mortar to pound, usually pounding: one person, one hand is flowing, With one hand
holding a spatula, mix until the sticky rice emerges evenly. Due to the fact that the
sticky rice is still fresh, it is initially pounded, and the seeds are flattened and sticky.
And so on, people pound until the glutinous rice seeds dry up and fall apart; they will
pour out nia. Use a sieve to remove the milky white husks, scattered with green seeds.
Beautiful rice mixed with sugar, delicious coconut, or eaten with ripe bananas. It is an
indispensable offering in the Oc-omboc festival, worshiping the Moon. Today, on the
occasion of the Ocomboc festival, new guests who return to Soc Trang to attend the
Ngo boat racing festival are given a meaningful souvenir package by the Organizing
Committee: it is flat rice (Om-boc), pre-mixed. with sugar, coconut.
The popular drink of Khmer people in Soc Trang is rain water stored in a jar, stored in
the rainy season, used for drinking throughout the year; or tea used for the elderly and
to receive guests in festivals, parties and receptions, Khmer people often use white
wine or medicinal wine, which is cooked from rice; but alcohol is not used in the
temple, because this is forbidden.
Khmer people inherently have very sensitive intelligence in absorbing new things, all
ways of doing business, all cultural forms of the ethnic groups; However, due to
limited qualifications, they absorb in a non-selective and massive way, so they are
easily influenced by the cultures of the ethnic groups: some young people today forget
both their language and their pure beauty. customs of their own people, even women
and girls no longer wear "bom-pong" or "sa-rong", a traditional shirt of the nation. If
they have to wear that, they feel ashamed. Similarly, in eating and drinking, they also
feel ashamed whenever their brother from another ethnic group says, "You eat proph",
which they think he or she says they eat "dirty" food. It is reasonable for someone to
say that: "the shape and taste of national dishes remind us of our roots and our
homeland".
Lifestyle changes according to the history and nutritional system of different ethnic
groups are determined, not only by geographical conditions, ethnic traditions but also
by society. Also by the level of production development. In the spirit of the Resolution
of the 5th Central Committee on "building and developing an advanced Vietnamese
culture imbued with the culinary culture of Khmer people Soc Trang has many
conditions to be preserved and developed.