Roast chicken the Khmer way

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The other day I went to lunch with a local friend of mine. We went to this nice little restaurant adown at the beach, and there were only locals around and about four chickens running around pecking at the dirt. After being seated, or in my case, being hamocked, and exchanged pleasantries with the staff, we got around to order. Taking my friend’s advice we decide on a whole roast chicken and beers. The preparation does take quite some time, but we pass the time with comments about the beach and sipping our not-so-cold beers. Not until the roast chicken find its way over to our table does it suddenly occur to me… were there not four chickens here when we arrived, packing happily around at the ground. Looking around and doing some quick calculations on my fingers reveals that there are only three chickens clucking about. Squinting at the roast bird in front of us, I try to discern whether this chicken was until very very recently a live chicken, or whether I cannot really count. The proof came shortly after, four guys turn up and apparently also order roast chicken. But this time I see the cook chase after one of the three remaining chickens, catch it, and then offer it up for inspection to the guys. Having poked and weighed the chicken in their hands, they seem happy enough to have the bird for dinner, and the chicken disappears into the kitchen never to be seen alive again. I must say, I have never had any chicken that fresh. And coming from a society where meat does not come from animals, but from long, cool, disks at the supermarket, all nicely packed into plastic, it felt somewhat a bit odd to eat something that until so recently were alive. But, nonetheless, the chicken was delicious.

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