late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Tamil laborers were brought in by the British to work on the tea estates in the cooler hilly areas of Sri Lanka. These later arrivals are generally referred to as Indian Tamils, to distinguish them from the long-established Jaffna Tamils.
The majority of Sri Lanka's Tamils are Hindu, therefore they do not eat beef. Indeed, most Jaffna Tamils are strict vegetarians. Vegetables are grown in the gardens of countless families in Jaffna, irrigated by deep wells; anyone who has tasted fresh home-grown vegetables cooked Tamil style is indeed fortunate.
The Tamil dishes found in Sri Lanka are similar to those of southeast India, where the vegetarian cuisine is among the world's finest. As with Sinhalese food, the basis of Tamil food is influenced by the teachings of the Ayurveda, ancient texts on the “wisdom of life and longevity." Seasonings such as curry leaves, brown mustard seed, and dried chiles are widely used, while freshly grated coconut, coconut milk, and yoghurt appear in many vegetable dishes.
Popular Tamil dishes found in Sri Lanka include rasam, a spicy sour soup that is an aid to digestion; kool, a thick seafood soup originating from Jaffna fisherfolk; vadai, or deep-fried savories made with black gram flour; and many types of vegetable pachadi, where cooked vegetables are tossed with curd or yoghurt, and freshly grated coconut. Thosai, slightly sour pancakes made with black gram and rice flours, constitute another delicious Tamil contribution to the culinary scene. Some Tamil dishes, such as the steamed rice-flour rolls known as pittu, have been adopted by Sinhalese, and are now regarded as Sri Lankan.
A market trader removes the skin from a jackfruit.
A Galle Market trader displays his kiri peni, or curd and honey, a popular Sri Lankan snack The "honey" that one sees in the roadside stalls and on restaurant menus is really treacle from the kitul palm. Curd is traditionally made from buffalo milk.
Sri Lanka's Muslims are believed to be descended from Arab traders who settled in and around Galle, Beruwala, and Puttalam from as early as the eighth century, and from Indian Muslims who migrated from southwest India.
Ingredients such as rose water, saffron (not to be confused with turmeric, which is often called "saffron'' or "Indian saffron'' in Sri Lanka), cashews, and mint, as well as dishes like biryani rice, korma curries, and faluda (a dessert of cornflour and water) all reflect Arab or Indian Muslim influence on Sri Lanka's cuisine. Arabs are also credited with planting the first coffee trees—native to the Arabian peninsula—in Sri Lanka.
In general, Muslim food is slightly sweeter than Sinhalese and Tamil food, but it certainly isn't lacking in spice. In fact, Arab traders are said to have been responsible for bringing spices such as cloves and nutmeg from the Moluccan islands to Sri Lanka long before the Dutch colonized what they called the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Muslim dishes in Sri Lanka never contain pork, which is forbidden by Islam, and pork is only occasionally eaten by the Christian Tamils and Sinhalese.
In more recent times, Malays, who were brought by the Dutch, have intermarried with the Muslim community and brought with them several dishes which have since become part of the Sri Lankan kitchen. Sathe is the Sri Lankan equivalent of satay, or cubes of meat threaded on skewers and served with a peanut and chile sauce. Other Malay dishes include gula melaka (sago pudding with jaggery), nasi kuning (turmeric rice), barbuth (honeycomb tripe curry), seenakku and parsong (two types of rice flour cakes).
The multiethnic mix of people living on this small island has resulted in a varied and fascinating cuisine that is delicious regardless of the geographic, ethnic, or religious origin.
Fruit vendors pile their stalls high with whichever fruits are in season.
British colonials celebrate the end of World War II with a victory dinner in Colombo.
Colonial Tastes
Portuguese, Dutch, and British influences and the creation of a Burgher culture
Wendy Hutton
The wave of Western expansionism which began at the end of the fifteenth century, when the Portuguese first rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the west coast of India, was to have a significant impact on Sri Lanka. Over the next four centuries, colonialism affected not only the agriculture, social structure, and religions of the country, but also the cuisine.
In fact, it was cuisine that attracted the Portuguese in the first place, or to be more precise, spices. With refrigeration and modem methods of food preservation, it is difficult today to imagine how vital and valuable spices were several centuries ago. They were used to help preserve food and also to mask the flavors of food that might not necessarily be in prime condition. Many spices have medicinal properties and some were believed to ward off the plagues that frequently swept through Europe.
The trade in spices—particularly pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom—was then controlled by Arab merchants, who obtained the spices in various parts of Asia and then sold them to Venetian merchants at exorbitant prices. The search for the source of these valuable spices prompted the Portuguese to set out on their voyages of exploration. Not only did they intend to cut out the Arab middlemen, they were also filled with missionary zeal, intent on obtaining Christian converts.
By the early 1600s, the Portuguese had gained control of the southwest coast of Sri Lanka (which they called Zeilan), and had converted some of the Sinhalese royalty to Catholicism. The island was an important source of revenue, thanks to its spices (particularly cinnamon), and was also an ideal place for Portuguese vessels to take on supplies in their voyages between their colonies of Goa and Malacca.
The Portuguese introduced a number of plants they had discovered in the Americas, the most important being chile, as well as com, tomatoes, and guavas. It is hard to imagine Sri Lankan cuisine without chile, but prior to the introduction of this taste-tingling plant, all Asians had to rely on pepper for heat. The Portuguese impact on the cuisine of Sri Lanka has lasted until today, but almost exclusively in the area of rich cakes: bolo de coco (a coconut cake), foguete (deep-fried pastry tubes with a sweet filling) and bolo folhadao (a layered cake) are all a legacy of the Portuguese.
By the end of the seventeenth century, the people of Sri Lanka were desperate to oust the Portuguese; they promised the Dutch the monopoly of the rich spice trade if they could get rid of these foreigners who "never took pains to find out what the local laws and customs were.”
However, it proved to be a matter of exchanging one colonial master for another, as the Dutch pushed the Portuguese out and then extended their control over most of the island, except for Kandy, which remained an independent Sinhalese kingdom.
The Dutch—who controlled most of the islands in the Dutch East Indies, and who had followed the Portuguese as rulers of Malacca—brought in a number of Malays to Sri Lanka (there was even a Malay regiment). They also introduced several fruits indigenous to the Malay peninsula, including rambutan, mangosteen, and durian, as well as Malay names for certain dishes, including spicy condiments (sambol) and pickles (achchar).
Laborers at a spice plantation peel cinnamon bark on the verandah of the factory in 1900.
Like the Portuguese,
