Culture & Living Traditions
Cooking in a village home
A morning at the market and an afternoon over a clay pot, learning the rice and curry that Sri Lankans actually eat at home.
- Time needed
- About 4 hours
- Where
- Sigiriya, Ella, Galle
- When
- Any time of year
Sri Lankan food is not Indian food, and rice and curry at home bears little resemblance to a hotel buffet. Five or six small curries, a sambol, a mallum, papadam — balanced against each other rather than served as one dish.
The morning starts at a local market, choosing vegetables and picking out spices whole rather than ground.
Cooking is over firewood in clay pots, which changes the flavour in a way a gas hob cannot reproduce. You will eat what you make, with the family.
Vegetarian and vegan by default — most home cooking here already is. Tell us about allergies beforehand.