Laos has a wide range of food, ranging from European to Asian cuisine. Almost all Lao dishes are cooked with fresh ingredients , including vegetables, fish, chicken, duck, pork, beef, water buffalo. In rural area , wild rather than domestic animals provide most of meat in local diets - especially deer, wild pig, squirrels, civets, monitors lizards, jungle fowl, pheasant, wild dog, rats and birds. Food is salted with Nampa, a thin source of fermented anchovies imported from Thailand, and paa daek, a coarser Lao preparation that as fermented freshwater fish, rice husks, and rice " dust" as its main ingredients. Common seasonings include galingale root, ground peanut, hot chillies, ginger, coconut milk. Chillies are sometimes served on the side in hot pepper sources is also a common seasonning, an in Laos, you may even see it served as a table condiment in noodle restaurants. In Luang Prabang, dried water buffalo skin is a popular ingredient in local dishes.

All meals are eaten with rice or noodles is the preferred  variety, although ordinary white rice is also common. Sticky rice is eaten with the hands, the general practice is to grab a small fistful from the woven container that sits on the table, then roll it into a ball and dip it into the various dishes. Noodles may be eaten with fork and spoon or chopsticks. The most common noodles in Laos are flat rice noodles, thin white wheat noodles.

In Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Savanakhet , French bread is a popular breakfast food