Sri Lanka: It's own magical (food) paradise
You shouldn’t compare countries, but of course everyone does. “Sri Lanka is a more chill India” is a common refrain; so much so that I actually expected Sri Lanka to be kinda like India. Surprise! It’s not at all!
We’ve been here for a week and a half (oh my how time flies!), and in that time we’ve walked along the high rise waterfront in Colombo, seen a dance show in the “cultural capital” of Kandy, rode the iconic tea estate-lined rails from Kandy to Ella, hiked a couple baby mountains in the Ella-Badulla region, and surfed Unawatuna.
It certainly feels like a breath of fresh air—literally and figuratively—after our month racing around India. Culturally and in terms of travel experience Sri Lanka is totally different from its northern neighbor. (Important qualification: we have concentrated our trip in Sinhalese-majority southern Sri Lanka, where most of the major tourist destinations are; the Tamil-majority north may be totally different and much more India-like.) Sri Lanka is 70% Buddhist overall (95% in the Southern Province), so if we’re playing the comparison game that’s more like Thailand or the mountain regions of Nepal than India. The cuisine includes curries, but they tend to be soupy and coconut-based and served with rice not flatbreads. No one stares at us, touts try once then give up at our first “no thank you,” and there is a blessed lack of loud music at all hours of the night.
In my last newsletter I talked about how we—foreign tourists—were an anomaly in India. Here in Sri Lanka we’re two of so so so many! Just arriving at the airport in Colombo we saw countless couples and families and white girl dreadlocks. I’d guess this beach in Unawatuna is 85% Russian (restaurants and tour companies post their signs and menus in Russian) and 15% other European.
But enough about what Sri Lanka is not! This delightful little country deserves its own accolades. The big activity here is train-riding (did you even go to Sri Lanka if you didn’t take a photo leaning out of a moving train?), closely followed by visiting verdant green tea estates and warm-water beaches.
It is all very lovely, but the part I want to talk about is THE FOOD. I cannot believe that I spent almost 35 years on this Earth not knowing the gloriousness of Sri Lankan food. At the end of our time in India, Chris and I speculated about what Sri Lankan food would be like (Hmm probably kinda like less interesting Indian? Lots of biryani? You never hear about it, so it’s probably fine but not great…) Today, two weeks later, we debated whether Sri Lankan is our favorite cuisine of them all (jury is still out—honestly, how is one to pick a favorite?).
The curries are all great and tend to be coconut-based with whole fresh curry leaves liberally applied. I don’t think I’ve seen whole curry leaves used like this before! Our favorite was pumpkin curry (“wattakka curry”) served with red rice, but of course we also loved the shrimp and fish version of the same. Along with your curry comes coconut sambol (grated coconut, chili pepper, and red onion), and amazing tangy fresh mango chutney. The seafood is fresh and fantastic (spicy “deviled” squid is my jam), and desserts are heavy on what they call “honey” but I am 95% sure refers to kithal syrup (dark, rich, made from palm).
I strongly encourage you all to fire up the Google machine, find your nearest Sri Lankan restaurant, and get there ASAP.
