Culinary Tour of Sri Lanka

Introduced in 2013, this gourmet food tour is led by a zealous Sri Lankan food expert. Experience the complete range of Sri Lankan and Southern Indian cuisine, from mouth-watering street food to the kitchens of the Raj’s. Pali will reveal fresh insight into how food is closely influenced by both the country’s religion and culture, and how each region’s character comes into its own in the kitchen.

In all its recorded history of over 4000 years, Sri Lankan cuisine has evolved from being a rustic, nomadic diet consisting of meat and grains to using indigenous and imported spices and fresh ingredients to create flavourful mouth-watering dishes. This journey has been a fascinating one – and the piecing together of the evolution of Sri Lankan cuisine even more so.

Religious attitudes, civilisations and rituals the historical influences of the invaders are all deeply linked to the food and the eating habits of the people. The fascinating interplay of all these factors have resulted in complexities in Sri Lankan cuisine that is taken without any notice by locals and often goes unnoticed by visitors.  You will still be able to see how Buddhist Sinhalese food is different from the east coast Hindu Tamil meals or from the Colombo/Negombo “Burgher” Catholic/Christian (the Dutch and Portuguese descendants and those living in the West Coast of Sri Lanka), different from the Kandyan culinary taste, or even more different from the street food such as Kothu rotti with some chicken curry.