It was during a recent food festival hosted at a luxurious property in Delhi that the thought of connections between Sri Lankan and Indian cuisine struck me. It is said that the flavours change every few kilometres, just like the languages in India. And well, each region is known to have their own cuisine and even sub-cuisines, at times. Amid this diversity, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the neighbouring areas are also affected by the same.
Take Sri Lanka, for instance. The cuisine of this island nation is said to be about 2,500 years old, with the then Ceylon, serving as a trade port for several spices like cinnamon. It was only after the discovery of this island by the Portuguese that Sri Lanka found a place for itself on the world map. Gradually, the Dutch and British identified it as a lucrative spot due to its geographical location and started settling here.
The colonisation of the Dutch and the Portuguese seemed to have the most long-lasting influence on the culture, particularly cuisine of Sri Lanka. Duminda Abeysiriwardena, a renowned Sri Lankan chef, expressed a similar emotion when he stated that 75% of the country’s cuisine is a culmination of the coastal flavours of South India - namely Andhra, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. A similar belief also finds place in Lathika George’s cookbook, The Kerala Kitchen, where she highlights how the Pattini cult of Kerala brought their ruler Cheraman to Sri Lanka via traders in the 14th Century and that resulted in a widespread influence on the country’s food practices.
Transcending boundaries
The prevalence of Tamils in Sri Lanka today is evidence of the influence South Indian culture and cuisine have on the population. The staple food of the locals - rice and curry - is one of the biggest examples of this amalgamation. The curries in Sri Lanka are usually made with coconut milk, which is an important part of South Indian and many other Asian cooking too.
In fact, the spices that go into the making of these curries are similar to the Indian palate too. Nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, and green chillies etc., are commonly added to the dishes which lend them a distinct flavour. “In India, chicken inline-cta , lamb, and goat are the most common foods because pork and beef are banned. However, in Sri Lanka, these kinds of red meat are often eaten. Sri Lankan curries have a higher proportion of seafood than Indian curries,” remarks Chef Anura Chandrasiri Lenora, a chef from Colombo.
This is not to say that you wouldn’t find similar dishes in South Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine. Take the Kothu Roti, for instance. This is a popular street food in Sri Lanka, where “kothu refers to chop in Tamil”, explains Chef Anura. The dish is made by chopping the Gothambu Roti into smaller pieces, along with sautéed vegetables and meat curry. This finds resonance in the Tamil cuisine as the Kothu Paratha or Parotta.
The Sri Lankan population is a mix of Tamil and Sinhalese communities, with interlinked customs, cultures, and practices. You’ll find the appams from South India, steamed bowl-shaped rice breads being called hoppers in Sri Lanka and paired with a Kerala-style ishtew, called Hodhi. The puttu of Kerala is called pitthu in Sinhalese. These interlinkages in terms of names and dishes are an important aspect to draw connections between the two cultures.
Confluence of Indian and western cultures
The Tamil influence has been attributed to the businessmen who travelled to Sri Lanka from Thiruneliveli, a city in Tamil Nadu for trade purposes. Since the hot spices in the native food of the island nation did not go well with the palate of these immigrants, they imported urad dal and rice from their homeland and started making idlis and dosas here.
Interestingly, it is not just the food but eating habits that are also consonant with Indian styles. Celebrity chef Peter Kuruvita who specialises in Sri Lankan cooking states, “You eat with your hand, mixing the rice with some of the curry, forming the food into bite-sized balls and popping them into your mouth.” And the idea of eating swathes of food with your hands is still prevalent in many parts of India too, based on the Ayurvedic teachings which believe that our fingers control all the five elements and this method of eating keeps us in sync with them. Even the traditional Sadya meal that is served on banana leaf, is eaten by hand, with each curry and dish carefully placed in an orderly manner.
Apart from the Indian connection, the colonised past of Sri Lanka has also witnessed several Portuguese and Dutch culinary influences. Vidya Balachander, an independent food journalist, expressed how a Sri Lankan dish called lamprais was brought to the region about 150 years ago when the island was a Dutch colony and has remained a part of the cuisine ever since then. Borrowing from its colonisers and neighbours, the fascinating history of the island nation has shaped its cuisine as we know it today.