Cultural Triangle Travel Guide

Eating Out

The locals eat with their right hand, dipping rice into a variety of delicious curries and sauces filled with seafood, meat, and/or vegetables. While for some tourists eating by hand would seem unhygienic, the Sri Lankans have perfected the art and it is by no means as easy as it looks.

Eating in the traditional manner at everyday food outlets is also the best way of meeting the locals and learning insights into the day to day customs and lifestyle of the people, but it is not without risk, so choose the eatery carefully and take standard precautions such as only eating well-cooked food and drinking bottled water.

Local cuisine

Sri Lankan cuisine is typified by its liberal use of sumptuous curries, fresh seafood, tasty vegetables and mouth-watering tropical fruit. Rice is the staple food, and is dipped in hot, spicy curries flavoured with meat, seafood and vegetables which can take some getting used to for the uninitiated (though those with a taste for Indian curries should have no trouble).

The curries of the hill country of which the Cultural Triangle is a part have their own distinctive taste, differing from ones in other Sri Lankan regions due to the adding of local herbs and spices into the base spices which are mixed in differing ratios to create concoctions unique to the area.