As a Sri Lankan, you are aware that mixing rice and curry with your hands increases the flavour because this is the only method to combine the flavours. When eating with a spoon or fork, the taste and texture alter. Just make sure no food gets past the tips of your fingers. I can proudly state that after three years in Sri Lanka, I not only understand why people eat with their hands, but I also do it now.
Table of Contents
- How to Cook Sri Lankan Food
- Take a sip of tea. At least twice per day.
- Eat some rice. There’s a lot of it.
- Spiciness in food
- Consume rapidly. Later, talk to each other.
- Encourage them to eat more. Then there were several more.
- Put your forks and spoons away. Eat with your hands.
How to Cook Sri Lankan Food
I first noticed individuals eating with their hands in a small roadside café in Sri Lanka. I grew up watching a lot of Hollywood and Bollywood flicks in which Mithun Chakraborty would battle a dozen bad guys at once and then break out into a spontaneous dance. Nothing seemed stranger than seeing him eat directly from his mother’s hands. Knowing that eating with one’s hands is a tradition in both India and Sri Lanka made me feel more prepared. Finally, reality differs substantially from what is depicted on film. My buddies still make fun of me because of the wide range of emotions I could depict on my face at the time.
The story’s moral highlights the importance of understanding not only what meals people in other nations consume but also how they make them. When I say preferred tools, I don’t just mean hands, chopsticks, or forks. I’m talking about all the minor aspects that define a country’s connection with food. See this page for information on what to eat in Sri Lanka. But if you want to learn how to eat like a Sri Lankan, keep reading!
Take a sip of tea. At least twice per day.
If you’re from Sri Lanka, a cup of ceylon tea awaits you every morning. This first cup does not come with breakfast. You have it as soon as you get up, before your mind wanders thinking about what to make for breakfast. It jolts your body and mind up, beginning off your day.
At four o’clock in the afternoon, your second cup of tea will arrive. This cup is a slap in the face, with seven spoonfuls of sugar and milk. If you were slowly drifting off at your desk, you will now meet all of your deadlines, do the tasks you have been putting off for months, and provide assistance to all of your coworkers, even if they don’t need it.
If you’re from Sri Lanka, you won’t be surprised if the company employs a tea maker and server who prepares and serves tea twice a day and knows just how to brew your favourite recipe.
Eat some rice. There’s a lot of it.
If you’re from Sri Lanka and don’t eat rice at least once a day, you’re either 1) on a diet, 2) experimenting with your body in some way, or 3) your mom is on vacation and you can’t switch on the rice cooker. In any event, you’re starving yourself to death because skipping rice and curry is the same as not eating at all, whether you have a burger and fries for dinner, half a loaf of bread for breakfast, or spaghetti for lunch.
When rice is served, three or four curries are frequently available. You make sure your plate has a large quantity of rice on it, making it difficult to take to the table.Please bring a homemade lunch. Place it in a newspaper bundle.
For people of Sri Lankan descent, deciding what to eat for lunch and where to acquire it is never an issue. To be fair, your mother is the source of the problem, not you. Do you remember your first cup of tea? A Sri Lankan mother will normally drink a cup of tea at five o’clock in the morning before preparing the family’s supper. When you’re up in the small hours of the morning chopping veggies, frying papadam, and shredding a coconut, your spouse and children are sound asleep. What’s the deal with moms in the West? Can you fit an apple, a sandwich, and a cookie in a zip-lock bag? Mothers in Sri Lanka are not all the same.
By the way, what exactly is a zip-lock bag? Too complicated. To keep your rice and curry warm, wrap them in a plastic sheet and place them between two layers of old newspaper if you’re from Sri Lanka. If there is any sauce left, place it in a plastic bag, seal it up, and fill it with rice and newspaper.
Spiciness in food
There is never too much heat for a Sri Lankan; in fact, “tasty” is synonymous with “spicy.” Of course, you’ll cry when you see the rice and curries your mother packed for lunch. Extra chile taste, however, improves more than just curries. Mango and pineapple slices with chilli powder make wonderful snacks. A spicy omelette contains all of the ingredients for a fantastic meal. A Margherita pizza topped with chilli flakes is even better!
Consume rapidly. Later, talk to each other.
Even when you have people around, you are not used to spending hours at the dinner table eating, drinking, and socialising. Instead, a series of events occur in a specific order.
First and foremost, you and your loved ones are enjoying a cup of tea or a cold beverage such as cordial in the living room. Despite the fact that Sri Lanka is a tropical country with abundant of fresh fruit, you provide a cordial that tastes artificial. To be honest, I’m not sure why anyone would drink cordial when fresh papayas and mangos are right outside their window. This is where you may relax, enjoy the moment, and communicate.
Dinner follows, which is limited to the time it takes to consume a plate of rice and curry in the dining room. In particular, no more than twenty minutes. Following that, there are extensive debates about politics and current events over cocktails. With the exception of arrack and whisky. Assuming That You Are the Only Man
If you are a male from Sri Lanka, you probably like arrack or whisky. By the way, it was either black label or red label whisky, for whatever reason. Arrack, which is made from the sap of coconut flowers, is a natural choice. Despite the fact that it is more difficult to define, a black label is a beverage that is served at all festivities and get-togethers.
It is against the unwritten law of Sri Lanka for women to consume alcohol alongside men. So you and your wife get a cup of coffee in the living room. To be honest, city females in their 30s and 20s adore their cocktails, but not while their families are there.
Encourage them to eat more. Then there were several more.
A Sri Lankan would never leave a hungry person in their home. Keep an eye out for the following indicators: sweating, undoing the button on your jeans, and taking deep breaths are all indications that you are doing everything correctly. But don’t let your visitors fool you into thinking they’re so full they can’t move. “Just eat some more, will you?” she replied.
Put your forks and spoons away. Eat with your hands.
As a Sri Lankan, you are aware that mixing rice and curry with your hands increases the flavour because this is the only method to combine the flavours. When eating with a spoon or fork, the taste and texture alter. Just make sure no food gets past the tips of your fingers. I can proudly state that after three years in Sri Lanka, I not only understand why people eat with their hands, but I also do it now.