PEACE wrote on 21
st Mar, 2011 at 2:48am:
Coconuts in Laos should taste better than the ones sold in the US probably of different varieites of coconut. Coconuts sold in Laos are most likely grown 'organically' as well so taste should be much better than 'conventiionally' grown coconuts.
It would be nice to believe that indigenous, local varieties grown organically taste better than modern varieties. Unfortunately, that is generally not the case.
Have you ever eaten a wild carrot? I have and believe me, you wouldn't like it - they are incredibly bitter as well as being tiny. The modern tasty varieties of all the vegetables we eat are the result of hundreds of years of selective breeding by farmers. Unfortunately, in Laos, there has been little selective breeding for taste and size - especially of livestock.
Those of you in the U.S. typically enjoy a Thanksgiving turkey that looks like this:
You won't find any local Lao poultry with even a quarter of the amount of meat on that bird.
Same applies to local varieties of cows, pigs, etc as well as many vegetables. Boy, what I would give for some of my home country's 'Jersey New Potatoes' right now!