The Cambodia Restaurant Association (CRA) recently organised a meeting on ‘Khmer Gastronomy’ in the context of tourism development and cultural renaissance, with the support of the Cambodia Tourism Marketing and Promotion Board (CTB), to begin formulating a list of the top dishes to be promoted in Cambodia's tourism strategy.
The meeting, held on February 19, 2025, at Villa 5 Contemporary Cuisine, brought together around 25 chefs from some of the top restaurants and hospitality institutions in Cambodia. The chefs held a brainstorming session to begin narrowing down which traditional Khmer dishes should be highlighted and promoted.
The meeting concluded with the selection of 20 quintessential Khmer dishes. While the official list from the meeting has yet to be publicised and is in the process of ministry approval, the compilation of must-try Cambodian dishes included Amok, Num Banhchok, and Kuv Teav Phnom Penh.
The intention of making an official agreed-upon list of dishes to promote is to help to make the promotion of Khmer cuisine more streamlined and focused towards a shared goal.
Speaking with Ith Vichit, CEO of the CTB, about the significance gastronomy plays in tourism promotion, he told B2B Cambodia:
We are promoting Cambodia along the line of culture, adventure and nature, and gastronomy and cuisine represent an integral part of our culture because food always unites people… and Cambodian food, so far, is not well-known globally, so it's high time right now that we start promoting our gastronomy to the world.
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“Our Cambodian cuisine is very diversified, the diversity is incredible. It means that our cuisine remains very authentic and has not really been westernised,” he added. “I would say there's nothing wrong of being westernised, but we remain authentic in our array of dishes.”
In addition to this latest initiative to focus Cambodia's gastronomy promotion around signature dishes – similar to how dishes like Pad Thai and Pho are promoted in Thailand and Vietnam, for instance – Vichit shared that he believes breaking into the international food and travel show scene would provide a significant boost to Khmer cusine.
“I think we all went through this experience during COVID, where we all did our research through TV, we all become either Apple TV watchers or Netflix watchers, right? This led to a new trend called ‘set-jetting’, not jet-setting, but set-jetting, meaning that people are traveling… to places that they have seen on Netflix,” he said.
Ultimately, Cambodia needs to be featured in this type of media platform, be it on Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, because this will bring Cambodian food, Cambodian gastronomy, to the bedrooms or living rooms of people everywhere in the world.
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As for the broader work the CTB is doing this year to promote tourism in Cambodia, beyond just gastronomy, Vichit explained that the board is taking a multi-prong approach.
“Of course, the bulk of our activity will be practical overseas promotion, because what we tackle, first of all, is our weakness [which is] that Cambodia as a destination is not very well-known to the world,” said the CTB CEO.
Of course, Angkor Wat is well-known, but the world doesn't know that we also have pristine, excellent beaches, we have rainforests, and we have, of course, gastronomy. So the promotion of the diversity of our product and service-offering to the world is really paramount for 2025 and beyond.
“There's this new trend too, which we call JOMO, the joy of missing out. [People with JOMO] are Generation Y, Generation Z, who are looking for countries and destinations like Cambodia, which is so far considered ‘off the beaten track’, which remains authentic. That's why [the CTB] need to provide a solid foundation and market position, and also strengthen what we call the four A's: accommodation, accessibility, amenities and attractions,” he concluded.