Organization
Battambang Market
Battambang Market is a Cambodian-owned Asian grocery on East Kingsbridge Road in the Bedford Park neighborhood of the Bronx, New York.[1][2] It is also known as Battambang Market II, and it is named for Battambang, the second-largest city in Cambodia.[1][3]
History
The market is one of the last traces of the Cambodian refugees who settled in the northeast Bronx in the 1970s and 1980s. The neighborhood known as Little Cambodia had about 10,000 people in the early 1980s and fewer than 1,000 by 2021. Besides the Wat Jotaranam Buddhist temple, a few food markets such as Battambang Market remained.[4] In 2013 it was one of two stores in the area selling Cambodian goods.[3] By 2022 the surrounding area was mostly Latino and Black.[2]
The market
The corner market is small. It carries goods from many Southeast Asian countries, and it is known for hard-to-find Asian vegetables, herbs and spices, as well as Cambodian ingredients and condiments.[1][2] In 2009 it sold containers for cooking sticky rice and bushels of the rice for shoppers to take home, and DVDs were on display throughout the store.[1] In 2013 its shelves held jars of prahok, the fermented fish paste, and banana sticky rice cakes were for sale.[3] A shopkeeper's tip in 2013 was to add a beaten egg to fish amok so that it sets as it steams.[3] In 2022 the owner and a store clerk gave advice on making Cambodian fried spring rolls.[2] The store takes cash only.[5]
Battambang Market in Modesto
A separate store of the same name stands at 929 Paradise Road in Modesto, California.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Eat the World NYC, Battambang Market II (February 2009)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Natalie Love Cruz, A Journey to Cambodia in the Bronx (May 2022)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 CookedEarth, Kingdom of Cambodia (March 2013)
- ↑ Le Monde diplomatique, 'The Bronx wasn't a choice' (November 2021)
- ↑ Atly, Battambang Mkt. II