The staple meal is 'rice and curry', sometimes fiery hot and usually including a variety of
small curry dishes - meat, vegetable or fish (particularly good on the coast).
Unique to Sri Lanka are 'hoppers', a small bowl-shaped crispy pancake that's served with an
egg or yoghurt and honey.
Sri Lanka has an abundance of fresh tropical fruits and vegetables. Mangos, mangosteens,
rambutans, papayas, bananas, coconuts and jackfruit to name a few. And then there's the
infamous durian, a huge green fruit which smells of sewage (so much so that some hotels
forbid it in their rooms) but luckily tastes better.
You think you know pineapple? In Sri Lanka they eat it sprinkled with salt or a light
dusting of chili powder.. quite tasty actually. On the other hand avocado is a desert -
served with dark honey and sprinkled with sugar.
Avocado's also used to make a delectable drink - put flesh in a food processor with a
little water, sugar and lime juice. Add a dash of milk or milk powder if you like. You'll
be amazed.
Some of the finest tea in the world is grown here and not surprisingly it’s the national
drink. Quite often you'll be served good old English Lipton's tea bags - which have
travelled half way around the world and back again, to make it into your teapot.
Sri
Lankans believe Westerners prefer it - they drink their tea darker and stronger. When
serving guests tea, Sri Lankans use hot milk and add lots of sugar.. and they should know.
Don't bother with the coffee here - its awful.Tap water should be avoided. Bottled water is widely available in shops and most hotels.
There's also a large range of bottled soft drinks and particularly refreshing is the juice
of the king coconut which you drink straight out of the shell.
Arrack, the distilled essence of the fermenting sap of the coconut flower, is the local
tipple. You can see large black pots high up in the coconut trees, being used to collect
the basic ingredient, 'toddy'. Drink arrack neat, on the rocks, with coca cola, ginger ale
or served with gin, for a luscious cocktail… it's fairly intoxicating, but - strangely - it
doesn't take long to sober up. If you can't face arrack there's always the locally brewed
beer - Lion is one of the better brands. |
