You really can’t talk about the Long Beach food scene without mentioning Cambodian food. It’s a cuisine that was shaped by tropical jungles, the Mekong River and its flood plains, and the abundance of freshwater fish with culinary influences that include China, India, and France. Today, Long Beach is home to the largest population of Khmer people outside of Cambodia. It’s the result of Cambodia’s dark history involving the second worst genocide in modern human history, of which many refugees fled to neighboring countries and eventually migrated to the US. Despite the shared trauma of the Khmer people, the story is not entirely heavy—there’s hope and resilience—and much of it is found through food.
Traditional Cambodian food, or Khmer food, has several unifying elements. Those include kroeung, which is a ubiquitous term for a range of spice pastes, often including lemongrass, turmeric, and galangal, and fermented fish products such as prahok and fish sauce.
In Long Beach, many of the traditions not only survived but evolved as the diaspora of Khmer and Khmer Americans found their footing in a place between worlds. I’m a second-generation Khmer American, and here are the spots for some of my favorite Khmer food in Long Beach.