Sri Lanka - A Nation of Rice & Curry
Published on Indulge - the weekend supplement of the Nation newspaper on 16th March, 2008
"Keerae! Keerae!" shouts the keera-man; "M'lu! M'lu!" shouts the fishmonger; "trrrrrrring! trrrrrrrrrrring" rings the baker's bicycle. The mornings of Colombo suburbs are thus punctured as a myriad of vendors advertise their products and services. Their wares are not sophisticated; their services of collecting bottles and plucking coconut and such like are not advanced. The existence of these people clearly indicates Colombo-ians are not as far removed from Sri Lankan lifestyle as they like us to believe.
Colombo, been the economic hub of Sri Lanka bringing more opportunities than anywhere else in Sri Lanka, is deluged with citizens from other parts of the country. As these people's lifestyles adapt to the fast pace and social status increases accordingly, it is interesting how quickly they scorn and forget their typical Sri Lankan upbringing. Even the simple domestic-helper takes great pride in ditching their rice and curry for bread and butter.
These new Colombo-ians, who have just begun the climb on the social ladder begins their entertaining in Chinese restaurants, with more rungs passed they progress into North Indian cuisine, and after couple of more rungs to Thai. If you are eating sushi, well then, you've reached the top. Sri Lankan food - despite been one of the most fabulous Asian foods in the region - gets increasingly viewed as 'godae' (rustic) and certainly not worthy of their bloating image. Funny how Sri Lankan food gets ditched so quickly, but not the other cuisines, even if it proves detrimental to our health.
Think I'm too cynical? Ok, how many of us would pick Gamae Kadae if we are going to have lunch with a bunch of friends? How many of us would pick 'Curry Leaf' over 'Wok' at Colombo Hilton when entertaining an important guest - especially a foreign guest? How many of us would request for the Sri Lankan menu when at 'Saffron', Trans Asia? In fact, Trans Asia used to have this absolutely fabulous Sri Lankan spread compete with toddy, but it got petered out due to lack of demand (though they now have a weekly Sri Lankan night in Summerfield's and a monthly hopper fiesta). I rest my case.
Yet, the active presence of the keera-man, the fishmonger and so on tells another story of these people who have settled into their new lives in Colombo suburbs. Despite their outward pretensions and blustering of preferring so-called sophisticated world cuisines over Sri Lankan, at home they need a hearty meal of typical Sri Lankan rice and curry.
While it is downright dangerous to open the gates to some of these vendors and while some become a terrible nuisance, others are humble and quite harmless and a quick peak at their baskets and carts will reveal it's filled with ingredients that we urbanized people patronizingly identify as 'village fare'.
The keera-man, besides his bundles of leaves for fresh sambols and mallums, will also have bags of jackfruit, cleaned and ready for what he'll assure for the perfect kiri kos maaluwa (creamy jackfruit curry), or the raw fruit sliced for a nice polos mallum (tender jackfruit mallum) or tender jackfruit, cleaned and cubed for a good polos ambula (slow-cooked spicy tender jackfruit curry). He'll also have raw mangoes for a sweet and spicy mango curry and a few home-grown vegetables like brinjal that he'll swear will make the best brinjal curry ever. For all his effort, he'll charge you a measly Rs. 20 - 30.
The fishmonger will assure that he's got the freshest catch and will thoughtfully include a bundle of 'drumstick leaves' (these leaves besides adding its unique flavor are also believed to both balance the heaty-ness of shellfish and subdue any poisoning) with crab for a spicy crab curry.
Appearances apart, it's great that we Sri Lankans still love our rice and curry, that we eat these wholesome food that are devoid of any chemicals and so full of natural goodness. It is said that those who eat their own home-grown produce live longer and healthier. We Colombo-ians, with our tiny gardens may not always have the luxury of growing our own food, but at least the second best option is available to us in the form of our keera-man and fishmonger. May their businesses and our health thrive!
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