A colossal melting cauldron of cultural delights Sri Lanka is just the place to indulge your taste buds with a dizzy gastronomic adventure. The ‘Spice” Island’ has a very long history of foreign influences driven in by the trade winds with which sailing ships from Africa, Arabia, and Europe as far back as the 15th and 16th centuries all hungry for its legendary spices.
‘Tea’ is the operative word at this point to get your tastebuds tingling. Sri Lanka has a long history for dispersing across the globe some of the finest teas in the world. Chests full of these beautifully blended and packaged legendary teas offer making their way to the four corners of the world open up a small window to the island’s flourishing tea industry in the gorgeous highlands. Sri Lanka, you may not know is the world’s third-biggest producer of black tea.
The aromatic delights of a cup of Sri Lanka’s best will surely move you to book a flight and explore more of this tiny island in the sun.
When you do finally get there make it a point to plan a couple of night stays in a homestay at a tea estate in the hill station of Nuwara Eliya in the verdant highlands. Chatting with the tea pluckers, visiting a tea-making factory, or even trying your hand at a bit of tea tasting, offers a wonderfully immersive experience of that journey from the ‘two leaves and a bud’ from the pluckers’ collection basket to high tea at a fancy restaurant in town.
While hanging out in these glorious environs you can pack in a lot of other action, such as a cycling tour along the pretty trails, where one may also enjoy short hikes. You can picnic at a waterfall and even learn all about Sri Lanka’s horse racing traditions at the Nuwara Eliya Racecourse, one of the highest in the world. Head back to Kandy, this time by train which passes through this glorious highland terrain.
Back in the urban expanses of the island turn your attention to the culinary influences shaped by the Portuguese, Dutch, Arabs, British, and Indians. Originally a Portuguese bastion for a bit Galle showcases its Dutch and British culinary colours in a variety of ways. You will love the colonial-era atmospherics of this old port town with its picturesque setting. Tuck into flavourful bread (locally called paan) and confectionary, traditions brought in by the Portuguese, who also introduced chilli pepper to Asia. A spoonful of fiery Sri Lankan curry is sure to transport you to the Portuguese era of the island. Today there are over 60 kinds of chilli peppers grown on the island and at least 15 different varieties of rice. You’ll be surprised to learn that the ever-popular lamprais or ‘lumprice’ ( a rich medley of samba rice, 3-meat curry, cutlets, eggplant, ash plantain, and shrimp paste rice and sambol chili sauce), served on a banana leaf, also has Dutch as well as Indonesian influences. If you are a visitor amongst the remaining Sri Lankan Burgher community, you’ll probably get to sample this unique dish. And then there’s always the British roast beef and chicken and ‘short eats’ you should not miss.
Uncover the mysteries of its wealth of spices in the Sri Lankan kitchen where ‘curry’ means a whole range of delicious variations for vegetarians and meat-loving foodies. And how can you resist the ubiquitous hoppers, pancakes that marry well with prawn, pork, and cuttlefish curries. In Jaffna tuck into ‘buryanis’ (biryanis) made the way the old Arab community gifted to its descendants on the island.
With New Year's Eve celebrations coming up you’ll find it quite appropriate to enjoy the traditional festivities snack, crispy kokis, or koekjes (cookies) of Dutch origin.
On your culinary adventure in Sri Lanka what you’ll find quite remarkable is how even staple dishes can taste different from home to home, place to place, or even region to region. And that’s what makes it so exciting. Novelty is the name of the game. Every time you return, you’ll always find a fresh twist to your culinary journey across the island nation.