Son La is home to 12 ethnic groups, each with its own distinct and unique culture, customs and traditions. This may be also the reason why the dishes in Son La have exquisite flavours that are di to find anywhere else.
Com lam is a dish normally seen in the festivals of ethnic groups in Son La. It is made of sticky rice soaked in clean water overnight, a little salt, grinded ginger, a little water, and all stuffed into a green bamboo tube sealed with banana leaves. The bamboo with rice inside then is roasted in the fire place.
When it is done, gently separating the outer shell (bamboo tube), and there the dazzling, pleasant fresh glutinous rice mixed with the light fragrant of bamboo is ready to be devoured.
Com lam can be dipped into the toasted sesame salt or into a special condiment named Cham cheo. Cham in the Thai ethnic minority's language means a condiment, and "cheo" means mixing many seasonings to gether. Cham cheo is made of salt, grilled fresh chili, garlic, monosodium glutamate, and an indispensable spice named mac khen (a kind of forest pepper, also called Indian prickly ash or Indian pepper). All of the ingredients are grinded and mixed together to become a viscous condiment.
The Mother nature also blesses Son La with numerous unique foods such as khoai so Man (a kind of taro) dua Meo (a large kind of cucumber), oc da Suoi Bang (literally stone shellfish of Suoi Bang commune), violet garlic, and popular dishes such as thit trau gac bep (dried buffalo meat), grilled fish, nam pia (a mix of blood pudding, tail, gastric, and small intestine of cow or goat).
