Why Is Sri Lankan Cuisine Suddenly Booming?

Got very few regrets in life, but one of them is having not had Sri Lankan cuisine until I went to Sri Lanka.

Kind of came away thinking, I can't.

Believe this isn't the most popular cuisine in any country.

The voices, you know, Timothy, Tracy and Joe on the show, from front of house to chefs on the line, every voice can shape the future each time, every voice can.

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You haven't come to here to listen to me talking about music, have you? You've come to hear what we've got to talk about in the hospitality industry. Well, today I've got a question for you.What do you know about Sri Lankan food? Why is it booming?Me and my co host, Joe McDonnell are joined by the co founder of the Sri Lankan Culture Collective festival, author, podcaster and storyteller Ranjithangia, who will be spilling the beans on just why Sri Lankan food is experiencing a boom within the uk.

Talking Hospitality.

Ranjit, thank you very much for coming on today. We meet at last.

Finally we're here. In terms of what I'm doing, I've actually started my own podcast, which is something that I'd wanted to do at Sri Lankan Culture Festival.So that was with food, comedy, fashion, music and sold out. And that was incredible. Amazing. So, yeah, two big things have been happening this year, so it's been pretty amazing.

We were going to talk about the community and the cuisine and how that's growing and bringing the community together, but also celebrating it.

We got the opportunity to do this festival which was really sort of the ethos of all of that, celebrating food, celebrating the culture. And then we went a little bit wider than just food. We.And it's about the Sri Lankan diaspora who've grown up here and how they're expressing their identity, whether it's food, comedy, we've got fashion and you know, music, which some amazing musicians. So that all came together through this festival and that sort of, that's kind of really expresses what I'm about.And that also probably comes about because Sri Lankan food, even though we've all grown up with it just recently, sort of in the last almost 10 years, it's really elevated and it's, it's getting more of a presence, say within the city centre and more accessible to people outside of the community.Whereas when I grew up, you know, our restaurants were just near where we lived and that's where we went to and you wouldn't really know about them unless you were from within that community. So now all of that is changing. It's, the landscape is really different and it, and it's exciting, it's really great.

What inspired you to get.Because when I last spoke, when I first met you, I just remember being hugely inspired by the fact that this is what you were going to do, the whole celebration of culture. But what was it that made you go, right, I need to get.

So if I sort of wind back? So I originally started Tooting Mama. It was essentially, it was a mummy blog.So I had adopted two kids and it was about the time when mummy blogs are really popular. But I did it as a way of kind of sharing my experience, expressing myself.So I did that for a bit, moved to France for a couple of years through my husband's job, took the kids out there and that kind of gave me an exposure to food.Not just the, when you have a family, you're, you know, you're just cooking, you know, you're just trying to get food into kids and then kids into bed. I had a bit of time and space to really enjoy food, like go around the markets, go around these amazing shops.I started to buy French food magazines, cook with them and really kind of enjoy that. Then when I got back to England, I was playing a bat, so I pivoted, I decided I'd do food, not, not talk about my kids anymore.And I sort of played around a bit, but then I thought, you know, I live in Tooting. It's almost like a little epicenter of Sri Lankan food. We have these amazing groceries, restaurants, everything's on my fingertips.I'm Sri Lankan, so bit of a no brainer, let's explore that. So that's, I started to move into that.But the real sort of catapult into this was basically in 2020, I lost my father, he died and he was a great Cook. What I realized was our parents, like never wrote down any recipes ever.You know, you'd have all this amazing food, you try and ask them how they cooked it, they wouldn't be able to tell you. They just couldn't. They just added a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and then you got this amazing food.And then when he passed away, I thought, you know what? I'm losing all of this kind of heritage, everything that I've grown up with.So I've got all my parents old recipe books and I'm using those to sort of try and recreate some of those recipes, but then also kind of take it a little bit further and don't think fusion's the right sort of word, but I'm integrating like say Sri Lankan ingredients into more contemporary recipes. So I've done things like jaggery, meringues, roasting pineapples and jaggery.So just kind of taking elements of flavours and then playing about with them and just, just having, enjoying, enjoying what I feel, enjoying the food. So.

Yeah, you know Sri Lanka quite well.

Yeah, I was, I was really lucky to spend a month in Sri Lanka at the beginning of the year.

Amazing.

I've not been before and I, I've got very few regrets in life, but one of them is having not had Sri Lankan cuisine until I'd gone to Sri Lanka.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I couldn't. I kind of came away thinking, I can't believe this isn't the most popular cuisine in any country. It just was blown away by it.I can remember one example was a hotel we were staying at and wasn't a, it wasn't a particularly fancy hotel by any stretch. It was nice, but. And the breakfast they put on was. It was a Western style breakfast.

Yeah.

Mainly consisting of eggs. I don't eat eggs.So when I said, when they sort of saw me eating, you know, just a little yogurt, a little yogurt pop for my breakfast, they came over and again, the hospitality I just thought was incredible, but came over, noticed I wasn't eating much and they said, do you like, you know, do you want anything else? I said, no, no, this is fine, this is fine.And then I smelled the most amazing smell coming from the kitchen and I said, oh, did you do lunch or did you like, can I order some lunch? I can order dinner for, for breakfast? Oh, no, no, that's, that's just the staff breakfast that one of the cleaners cooks and.

Oh, wow.

Yeah. And I said, and I said, it smells like I was like, this smells incredible, right? And he says, what? Do you actually want that? And I was like, can I?Anyway, so for the next five days, instead of us having the breakfast buffet that they put out, they'd bring us out dishes from the staff meal.

Brilliant.

One of them. This sounds like an exaggeration. It's not. I almost cried. It was the best meal I have ever eaten in my entire life. It was like a pumpkin curry.It was like a red sambal. Yeah, I forgot what they're called, but the noodle.

Yeah.

Pancake with noodles.

String hoppers.

String hoppers, yes, yes. Just unbelievable. Like the food, I think it should be. If you have, if anyone listening hasn't tried Sri Lankan food, you just, you have to.

And the restaurants here now are great. We've got some really, really good restaurants. The ones in central London, so like Hoppers Paradise, Zo Columba, Rambutan I think is like the newest.They all do really incredible food. And even outside London now there's more and more Sri Lankan restaurants opening.There's a chain called Coconut Tree which is opening more, more regionally say, than in central London. But then also you've still got the smaller little kind of cafe setup, smaller restaurants that cater for the diasp.So that the people who, who are Sri Lankan and want that real.Basically the heat that you may not get in other, other restaurants, but there's some really interesting things happening and a lot more, say the next generation down coming up doing supper clubs as a way of taking their food out. The food that they've grown up with, they've cooked with, they've eaten, and sharing that with a wider community as well.And that's like a quite a thriving scene as well. There's, there's a lot happening in our food scene.

Why do you think that is?

I think so I was kind of doing like a little bit of research, trying to think, okay, how did this happen? Because this is kind of like in the last 10 years this has happened and it's probably that Sri Lanka is opening up to tourism.So like you say, you go, you experience the food and you think, wow, where can I have this? And you know, you've got to travel almost to the end of the tube lines to find the food.People are growing up, wanting to get into food, wanting to express themselves. Hoppers opened in 2015, I think, and that really sort of set the scene for sort of a high end restaurant with Sri Lankan food.And then shortly after that, Columba opened.And then we have Rambutan Paradise Soho, you know, most of them opened by Sri Lankans doing their food their way, and that's really sort of elevated the cuisine.And I think it's just given the community a bit of confidence that we can go out and we can showcase our food and people are really interested in what it's like because it is quite different to Indian food and it's really adaptable. So great for vegans, because the food is naturally vegan, even though we. We do eat a lot of meat and fish.There is plenty of options for vegans as well, because the base is coconut. There's so much coconut in it and coconut milk. So it's an incredibly diverse, diverse cuisine as well.

Does it change region by region? Because Sri Lanka is not a huge island, is it? But there's not a lot to go at, isn't there?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, there. A lot. There will be regionality and a lot of that will be informed by where. How the communities are positioned, so to speak.So you kind of have, like, Singhalese cuisine, you have more Tamil cuisine, but then you've got the influences of all the migration that has come in and through. So we have. So say the colonization. So there's three.Three successive colonialists from Dutch, Portuguese and then the English, and they've all brought in their influences and. And so you have the Portuguese and the Dutch heritage, and that's got its own cuisine as well.And then more recent, say, Malay food in Sri Lanka as well. So. And it's continually changing, continually changing. So it's a very, very sort of dynamic cuisine. So I think it's just brilliant.And then again, reflected over here as well. So it's kind of almost getting. And I think here in London, it's getting its own identity.

So what I'm quite interested in is because you've done this journey of sort of almost like rediscovery of the Sri Lankan culture, but within the uk.What were some of the highlights or some of the things that really stood out to you that you go, oh, I didn't know that, or I hadn't thought of it this way.

How did I think, like, when. So last year we did a fundraising festival for.To raise money, to send money back to Sri Lanka because just, you know, from the economic crisis that was happening, a lot of people were struggling over there. And I think when we brought people together, it was things like the music scene, you know, young musicians sort of breaking out, incredibly talented.And we brought them again here to this festival, a really soulful guy called Ajahnala a lady who kind of mixes Tamil with British lyrics. Nosh. And that was like incredible. And then South Asian and Sri Lankan comics who were brilliant. And it's like, it's not only.Not only Romesh, there are other comics who are incredible out there. And then just the welcome that we got for our food. So I teamed up with two other foodies, Rosh, and she's.So what Rosh has done is like she's taken Hoppers, which is our iconic. So you'd have had them Jo, probably in Sri Lanka. So that pancake.Pancake style dish, which then you eat with sambals, you break it off with your hand and eat it with curries. It's normally for breakfast, but you kind of have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You eat it with curries.So she has a business where she's doing kits that you can buy them and make your own because they are quite hard to make just from a recipe book. Really tricky.So I teamed up with her and another lady who set up an artisan food brand, bringing Sri Lankan sambals and pickles and chutneys over to the uk and we got together and set up this kind of food masterclass at the festival. Just the reception that we had. People really keen to learn the food and not.Not only non Sri Lankans, we had a lot of Sri Lankans there because I think there is. Maybe we just don't learn from our parents so much. Everyone is so busy.So being able to learn and just celebrate your own cuisine and that was, you know, that was really great, really great to see.

You just. You talked about the festival earlier. What inspired that and how did. How did that come about? What were the Resistance Institute?I don't know why I can't speak today. It's because I did the whole day yesterday. Right, what.

What work?

Green tea.

Too much get you going?

Yeah. What were the resistances that you faced and what was the. Some of the successes?

So it was a. It was. We organized it. So we applied for funding through Wandsworth Council. They had a pot of money to.For communities to apply to celebrate South Asian Heritage Month, which is in sort of July, August. So we applied for that and got the funding and then we put together a sort of. So we put together this festival, but we also did a digital program.So we had sort of playlist of Sri Lanka contemporary music, all these artists from around the world that you could download. I did three little mini podcasts as part of that, interviewing sort of Sri Lankan foodies and talking about their heritage.And then we had a little short film documentary that we released as well as part of that around Cool, which is a seafood soup. Just very kind of specific to Jaffna, which is in the north of the country. Country. And then that culminated in this festival.So the resistance, I think it was, that we didn't have so much resistance. I think it was people really want to come and see their culture, be around their people and just see what each other's doing, celebrate.So food is a real anchor. So we did the masterclass around Hoppers. A lady came in, Mahala, who's really great at fashion. She did a sari draping workshop.So teaching, like, sari draping techniques, the different styles, the history. Then we had a series of small talks where each of participants was interviewed. And then it culminated in the evening where we had four comics.Then we had a restaurant coming in to make kothiroti, which is shredded roti, which is cooked olive for our listeners.

Jo just raised his hands in the air with joy.

Yeah, gotta have some of that.

It's like bubble and squeak, isn't it?

Yeah.

All the different things go in and. Oh, my God, it's unbelievable.

It's like. It's just sort of like leftovers elevated onto another level. So shredded ready curry.And then once it's fried on flat iron, and so it gets really sort of like, toasty hot. And then it's just served to you in a little bowl where you just go in. It's like comfort food, but it's. It's so good. So good.

And all the textures, too.

Yeah, textures and flavors. Yeah.

Yeah, I love it.

So we served that and then we had music. But it was just amazing to see, because.Amazing to see everyone coming together and just really enjoying Sri Lankan culture as it is today, here and now.

Foreign.

Because I don't think people realize just how big the community is, even. Because, you know, my. My best friend from school, Sri Lankan. I go to a Sri Lankan temple sometimes.It just up the road for my Buddhism, and it's everywhere, really. But I really went about the spiciness because when I was at Temple Moose, I can't remember what we celebrated. Probably Vesak.And for those that don't know, it's kind of like it's the birth of Buddha, so it's a bit like Buddha's Christmas. And. And I had some food there, and all I could say was. All I could think of was expletives because I was not expecting the heat.And I realized it was the Most inappropriate place surrounded by monks in their orange robes to be thinking certain words.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mindful.

I was not.

Yeah, yeah, you can.

My poor Western palate.

Yeah, yeah, it is.I mean, when you go to smaller cafes around, say, for example, teaching or arrow, where they're sort of cooking for their community, the food, the spice level is incredibly hot. Really, really hot. I mean, you just sweat. I mean, that was the kind of food my dad cooked.You know, it was like he knew, you know, only if you sweated did he think he had done a good job. You know, that was kind of his. His take on it or just, like, laugh at us because we're so, like, can't take the heat.

Thank you very much for sharing your passion. It's one of those things that inspired me when I first met you.

Oh, thank you.

And I love that you're trying to share your culture with more people. I think that's so important. We live in that, you know, a day where we could all be educated a bit better.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So somebody's interested in Sri Lankan food or the. Or even the culture or would like to get involved in some of the community activities, where would they go?

I mean, they can definitely go to. So I write a substitute stack so they can go there. So I talk a lot about the Sri Lankan culture, food. I do recipes.We're also setting up a website for the Sri Lankan culture collective. People can find that on my substack as well. I'll direct people to that. And I think go find a restaurant, Go sit down and eat. Go to a supper club.I think that's kind of an amazing way to try out the Sri Lankan food because that would have been cooked by someone who grew up with their food sharing with you. And that's such a great way to sample Sri Lankan food and just kind of almost like just dip your toe into the culture and sort of taste it that way.

Links to the substack will be at our website, talking hospitality.com. okay, thank you. I think that I feel like, you know, I feel like just switching the mic off and just talking to you about everything, but just. I find.I find I just love this. I love it when people, like, promote other cultures than. Than what I know, if you know what I mean.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I have an interest because obviously it's touched my lives with my friend, of course, and the country I have not visited. And I feel like every time I don't I go to Asia, I think next time I'll go to Sri Lanka.

Yeah.

And it sort of made me think I need to reprioritize my thinking. So.

Yeah, I think as a trail. As a trail. You know, lots of people do. Southeast Asia and India is so huge. It's. That's all encompassing.But I think somewhere like Sri Lanka's almost got everything in that little small island. Whether you decide you want to do beaches or you want to go to the mountain regions, it's got wildlife parks, you know, it's got so much in it.It's such a rich, verdant little island. There is just so much to see and just incredible history of its own, you know, really, really rich history. So I think it's an incredible play.Put it on your list.

I will join.

I just want to apologize for not asking any decent questions because I was just daydreaming about.

That's all right. I'll invite you to the next festival. You got to come along.

I'm there 100% there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Come along.

Thank you very much. Ranji, thank you so much for joining us on the show. It's been a pleasure to have you.

Oh, it's been amazing. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Thank you, thank you.

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