The staple food of the Lao is sticky rice, also known as glutinous rice or sweet rice. The rice must be soaked for several hours before being steamed in a basket over a pot of boiling water. It is then put in another basket that serves as a serving dish or lunch pail. Sticky rice is eaten with the fingers, so one doesn't need dishes or silverware. People take a bit of rice from the basket and shape it into a small ball. It is then dipped into the serving dish for whatever other food is offered, most likely a hot sauce of chilis, garlic, fish sauce, and lime. The Lao have two categories of food—rice and "with rice." Foods other than rice are limited and are served more as condiments, something to add flavor, so they tend to be very hot or very salty so that one will eat a lot of rice with them.
Dried salty beef is a favorite dish if meat is available. Beef is sliced thin and liberally doused with fish sauce (a salty liquid made from salt and fish) or salt, and placed on a tray to dry in the sun to preserve it. The meat can also be deep-fried to cook it and remove most of the moisture
Read more: http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Japan-to-Mali/Lao.html#ixzz31aX5t4ah