Protecting Cambodian Food Cultures

This is a story of a chef, who hails from a family of foodies, his combined love for his culture and noodle soup peppered with some intellectual property.

Luu Meng’s mother and grandmother were both professional chefs. His brother, Luu Hong, is the Executive Chef at a high-end restaurant that serves modern Cambodian cuisine.  “We are food people” says Luu, cooking is in his DNA.  So it came as no surprise that he followed in their footsteps.

Today, at 47, he is a professional chef, restauranteur and president of the Cambodia Tourism Federation. He spent ten years travelling around Asia, learning about different techniques and flavors before returning to his native Cambodia. 

Having worked as a chef in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Viet Nam, Luu came back to Cambodia, worked in several luxury international hotels, and launched his own ventures. Today his various businesses employ close to 1,000 people in 19 restaurants and 3 boutique hotels.

Enter Kuy Teav Phnom Penh (Phnom Penh noodles), a rice noodle soup unique to Cambodia. This is what you need to start the day in the bustling capital, before getting to work. All of Luu’s restaurants serve Kuy Teav Phnom Penh as one of their signature dishes for breakfast and lunch.   The dish comes in several flavors: pork, seafood, beef, chicken, or fish balls. It can be made halal and vegetarian.  As a way to help promote the traditional recipe and make sure consumes recognize the distinctive  character  of Kuy Teav Phnom Penh, Cambodian chefs resorted to a quality control system strengthened by a collective mark.

This means that Kuy Teav Phnom Penh identified with that collective mark (word and logo) complies with certain standards and characteristics. It is registered with the IP Department of Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Commerce  A collective mark lets consumers know that the products have been created/produced/processed according to certain characteristics and quality standards set by the association that owns the mark.

Luu was a key driver in securing a collective mark for Kuy Teav Phnom Penh which was granted in October 2019 in an effort to highlight its cultural importance and provide a standardized recipe.  Although the soup has been famous for decades, it took three months to agree on a standardized recipe due to chefs and street vendors all having their own variation.  After collecting recipes from individual restaurants, street food vendors, and the Cambodia Chefs’ Society, a standardized recipe was agreed upon and presented to the Ministry of Commerce to start the application process for the collective mark. The standardized recipe represents a minimum standard describing the ingredients but users of the mark are welcome to improve on it. 

There are currently 25 members of the association using the collective mark. Most are independent restaurants and some are hotels. The long-term plan is that other provinces in Cambodia can use similar marks by changing the name of the province, for example Kuy Teav Siem Reap or Kuy Teav Sihanoukville, as long as they agree to and use a particular standard recipe.  Street vendors are harder to convince and the association is struggling to finance its outreach to attract more members.

The purpose of creating the mark is not to increase the price of the soup, but to increase sales volumes.  “Most restaurants that adopted the mark saw sales of the noodle soup double,” said Luu.  Cooking for 8 or 15 portions amounts to almost the same cost and work, “but if you sell 15 bowls, you double your gain.”  He also feels it is important to advertise the brand “so people feel proud to eat it.”

Luu’s passion for promoting and protecting specialty food in Cambodia and beyond goes hand-in-hand with his wish to help local farmers.  He was involved in the registration of “Kampot pepper” as a geographical indication and makes a point of using local products in his restaurants.  Geographical indications are signs used on goods that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities, reputation or characteristics that are essentially attributable to that place of origin. 

For the future, Luu foresees that over 25 products can benefit from a collective mark registration in Cambodia, an example being Num Banh Chok Siem Reap, a fresh rice noodle with green lemongrass and spiced gravy.  He feels intellectual property tools are important so local producers can earn an income and for Cambodian culture to be enhanced and preserved for visitors and future generations.

Deputy Director of Department of Intellectual Property at the Ministry of Commerce Lao Reasey said the collective mark for Phnom Penh Noodle is a significant achievement for the national IP system. He said the use of the collective mark for Phnom Penh Noodle entails quality control systems and hygiene standards – “it is a new pride in building a brand on potential products and services in Cambodia.”

Lao Reasey said the collective mark will build a new business model, create a clear brand that is recognizable to consumers and can be used as a marketing tool to compete in national and international markets. The collective mark will also help to promote and preserve knowledge, skills, traditional recipes, hygiene standards and the reputation of Kuy Teav Phnom Penh and its long history. He also hopes that it will encourage innovation and train the next generation in the art of cooking.