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About this Book

It is a curious trait of humanity to take a keen interest in all matters culinary, so much so that in social conviviality whenever the topic of food comes up, people irrespective of gender join in and an animated discussion ensues. So insatiable are people when it comes to matters of food. This is particularly true of heritage foods , that is it say foods which they have come to regard as their own. So it is with the people of this multifaceted island, for Sri Lanka’s rich variety of food dishes and preparations is a happy topic of conversation for both men and women, old and young, and has always been so.

The delicious variety of cuisine in Sri Lanka which has come down to us of this generation goes back to an admixture of the Asian and the European. The geographic position of the island placed as it is on the highroads of sea routes linked the west and the east. The Arabs who came as traders laced their sweetmeats with rose water and honey; from Indonesia and Malaysia came pungent flavours – spice and chilli. From India came a variety of preparations of rice, whole or ground. The Portuguese and Dutch, European colonial powers who held sway in the island’s littoral for a good many centuries, added flavours of their own. It is from these that we have inherited our more delectable fare. And so it is with Bolo d’ Amor and the Bolo Fiado, Karmenatchi, Fios and Moju which have their origins in Portugal, and the Breudher, Pannekoek, Wafel, Smoor and Frikkadels which have their origins in Holland and the Hanseatic Towns of the low- country in Europe of the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

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