FOOD

The cultivation of many types of rice, spices, vegetables and fruits, coupled with past forieg influence, ensures that Sri Lanka enjoy a varied and select cuisine. As a staple, rice is consumed with as assortment of colorful curries (eggplant, potato, green banana, chicken, and fish) that range in potency from delicately spiced to near dynamite.

Other Sri Lankan staples include hoppers ( a pancake-like snack), string hoppers 9steamed rice noodles) and pittu ( a mixture of flour and coconut). Lamprais – rice and accompaniments baked in plantain leaves – is a legacy of the Dutch. Seafood lovers will rejoice at the fresh fish, prawns, crab, squid and crayfish available. Dessets include buffola curd eaten with palm honey, and the mayaly-derives caramel-like wattalappam.

Sri Lanka has a wonderful array of snacks, known as short eats, named cutlets, patties, buns that are excellent for trips.

Delectable fruit included the popular mango, pineapple, banana, and papaya, but also many lesser known but distinctive examples such as sapodilla, mangusteen, rambutan, woodapple, custard apple and beli.