Cambodian Rice Wine
Death toll from tainted Cambodian rice wine in village rises to 7. When in China, Vietnam, or even Laos you will find rice-wine everywhere. In China “BaiJiu” is almost like a national religion.
In Cambodia much less so, and you are more likely to find Soju in a corner store that local moonshine.
To read bout Soju click here
The Rice Wine Situation in Cambodia
Basically the rice-wine situation in Cambodia is that it tends not to get made on an industrial level. When it is made it tends to to be of the home-brew variety. Despite my love of all things moonshine, I have only seen it once. That was at the floating village in Siem Reap. Alas I have yet to try the stuff.
To read about the floating village click here
Can you get it in the cities?
You can, but it tends to be like making a back street drug deal. Certain stores have it hidden behind the counter.
Death toll from tainted wine in Cambodia rises to 7
Now the problem with making stuff at home is that things can tend to go wrong. As per a story in the Khmer Times today 7 people are now confirmed dead after drinking “tainted” rice wine.
You can read the full story here
Aside from the 7 dead, 124 people have been hospitalized. The incident took place in a rural village in the Teuk Pos district on Saturday when the victims drank the wine, which was suspicious of containing high levels of methanol. Fate was indeed not without a sense of irony as they drank the poison after a funeral….
Will this put me off my quest to find Cambodian Rice Wine?
I take being the street food guy seriously, and I shall one day try Cambodian Rice Wine. Ideally it doesn’t kill me.