Sri Lankan Cuisine

Sri Lankan cuisine is characterized by particular combinations of herbs, spices, fish, vegetables, rice and fruit, shaped by the island's long history as a maritime trading hub that brought Indian, Indonesian and Dutch culinary influence into contact with local ethnic cooking traditions. Rice and coconut, which grows abundantly across the island, form the center of the cuisine, seafood both fresh and preserved plays a major role, and Sri Lankan cinnamon, historically distinguished as Cinnamomum zeylanicum for its delicate sweetness, sets local cooking apart from Southeast Asian traditions that use related but coarser bark. Other distinctive ingredients include Maldive fish, goraka, pandan leaf, lemongrass and kithul palm jaggery, and heritage red rice varieties remain prized. The characteristic meal is boiled or steamed rice served with a curry of fish or meat alongside further curries of vegetables, lentils or fruit, accompanied by pickles, chutneys and sambols, most notably a coconut sambol made with chili pepper and lime juice.