Food for Thought or Vice Versa

Those of you who know me may be surprised that, aside from tantalizing you with the Sri Lankan Airlines menu, I haven’t yet talked about the food. It was not, in fact, a memorable part of my trip, except for one or two meals. This is partly my own fault – or rather the fault of my stomach.
Sri Lankans eat curry morning, noon and night. Curry that is among the world’s hottest. A friend of mine once ordered curry in a Sri Lankan restaurant in London. The waiter tried to dissuade her but she insisted that she “liked spicy food”. At the first bite, tears sprang to her eyes. Though she was unable to finish her meal, her tongue, throat, esophagus and stomach have not yet forgiven her for what she did eat.
I also found the way Sri Lankans eat mesmerizing.Though some use cutlery, many eat with their right hand. With a delicate gesture they mix their curry into their rice with their fingertips before lifting their food to their mouths. I never saw anyone spill anything or wipe their fingers.
Hotels and restaurants serve their visitors modified Western fare – and cutlery! Most serve all three meals buffet style. One evening, I had a discussion with a fellow-tourist about the reason for these ubiquitous buffets. His opinion was that it saved on staff. Since the Sri Lankan economy is still very labor intensive, I wasn’t convinced. I thought it enabled them to hire people who didn’t speak English well enough to interact with Western visitors (many of whom do not themselves speak English as their native language.)
Later, a hotel owner said that the real reason was to cut down on wasted food.
So what do tourists eat in Sri Lanka?
Breakfast starts with something both Sri Lankans and Westerners enjoy – fruit. I had a delicious fruit smoothie and a plate of fruit every morning – bananas, papaya, watermelon, pineapple and others whose names I never learned. Then the Sri Lankans move on to their dhal (lentil curry) and hoppers (very thin pancakes made of rice flour, coconut milk and a dash of palm wine) while the westerners sample whatever version of eggs, “chicken sausage”, “pork bacon” cold cuts, cheese and bread this particular chef has conjured up – often quite tasty and sometimes a little – well – unusual.



At first, I had the buffet for lunch – until I realized that it was almost the same as dinner. So I switched to “short eats” – the local name for sandwiches and snacks. The menu was the same everywhere I went. I alternated between a cheeseburger served with a sort of cole slaw, delicious fries and ketchup and a club sandwich (each one slightly different, according to the chef’s imagination) with the same side dishes.

The salad was always exactly the same no matter where I was. Chefs probably call it “Tourist Salad”.
There was compensation for the slightly mundane fare my lack of spice tolerance imposed – the lunchtime view.





And sometimes I had company.



Lunch and dinner buffets consisted of soups, salads, meats in sauce, several kinds of rice, and boiled vegetables followed by fruit or Sri Lankan sweets – mostly puddings and flans flavored with different fruits, coconut and spices. There were always several kinds of curry -- meat, fish and vegetable -- for the Sri Lankan guests and the adventurous. I did try some from time to time. But I was glad for the less spicy fare, even though it was nearly always the same.
But enough. I’ve finished my club sandwich at the river cruise restaurant. It’s time to discover my next hotel.