When in Sri Lanka, eat as the Sri Lankans do. A (chillie) hot and spicy rice and curry mixed with the fingers and savoured, while the spices clean out your sinuses in toto. Western influence has crept into the palate of those in Colombo and the larger towns, with restaurants serving up anything from Chinese to Mexican, with Japanese and European fare thrown in for good measure. But in the villages, the traditional three plates of rice a day continues to give the health, strength and energy to function in the hot humid climes. It is a belief that foregoing a daily portion of rice is guaranteed to make one weak and lethargic.

Sri Lanka's rich heritage however has more than its share of conqueror fare - with indigenous dishes sprinkled liberally with Portuguese, Dutch, British, Malay, Arab and South Indian cuisine serving up a smorgasbord of food. Dutch and Portuguese food like bolo fiado (laminated cake), broeder (Dutch Christmas cake) and boroa (semolina biscuits), lampreys (rice cooked in stock accompanied by five shredded meats wrapped and baked in banana leaf) and kokis (rice four biscuits found on every auspicious occasion) are now accepted as part of the Sri Lankan food, while other ethnic groups have contributed biriyani (Muslim rice dish cooked in meat stock), wattalappam (a traditional Muslim dessert of coconut milk pudding) and Thosai and vada from India, spicy pancakes and doughnuts made Ulundu flour.

Rice and curry however still comprises the main meal in Sri Lanka, which generally has curries cooked in coconut milk in a variety of colours and flavours and various sambols, chutneys, pickles and pappadams as accompaniments. Creamy white curries that just have only saffron, turmeric, curry leaves, rampe grass and some other spices, the brown curries which have raw curry powder added, bright red curries which are fiery hot with plenty of dried red chillies and black curries. Sri Lankan curry powder should not be confused with the Indian one as it is a totally indigenous brand of powder, made using age old recipes and methods coming down generations. The curry powder generally has a mix of roasted and ground fennel seed, coriander, cumin, turmeric, black and red pepper, mustard, cardamom, clove, curry leaves, sera grass, rampe, cinnamon, fenugreek and raw rice. Food is cooked traditionally in clay pots over the hearth to give the curries an earthy rich flavour, but modernization has paved the way for non-stick and metal pans cooking over a gas, kerosene or electric burner.

With the curries, a mallung which is made of shredded leaves sometimes with coconut or onions added, a sambol, which is hot and spicy made of a variety of ingredients including coconut, chillies or maldive fish, crispy fried wafer thin papadams, pickles and chutneys made of lime, mango, dates or any other fruit. With over 15 varieties of rice to be bought in various shades, sizes and shapes, each Sri Lankan rice and curry meal can be a discovery in itself.

Breakfast dishes too come in a wide array of flavours and shapes. Hoppers or Aappa, a crispy cup shaped cake made from flour and coconut milk (ideal with a sunny side up in the center), string hoppers or Indiaappa which are small strings of rice flour dough strands made into small flat circles, Pittu another local preparation of rice flour, coconut milk and water mixed into dry lumps and steamed in a tube, rotti which are flat circles made from flour, coconut and water and of course, the all staple kiribath or milk rice, which is literally rice cooked in coconut milk, a must have for every traditional festival or auspicious occasion. All these are eated with a mop up of different curries, white, red, brown or black, accompanied by sambols and finished off with a banana, a range of which are found in abundance in Sri Lanka. For the sweet tooth, some of these can be eaten with grated jaggery.

Made desserts are not a priority in Sri Lanka but fresh fruit and curd and honey will be proferred at the end of a meal. Succulent pineapples (believed to be the best in the world), mangoes, rambutan (similar to lychees), mangosteens, ripe jak, avacados, papaya, watermelon, guavas, jambus, passion fruit, woodapples and bananas are found in abundance.

A large assortment of sweetmeats, most of them rich and sticky are usually served on special occasions. Kavum (a little cake made with rice flour and honey in the shape of a stupa), Athiraha (similar to a kavum but without the pinnacle), Aasmi (strings of flour poured into an envelope and sprinkled with sugar honey), thalaguli (sesame balls made with jaggery can be bought at Warakapola at the halfway point on the Colombo Kandy Road), Halapa (a mixture of coconut, jaggery and kurakkan flour baked in leaves), the fudge like dodols and aluwas and puhul dosi (pumpkin preserves), Bibikkan (traditional Sinhalese cake made with ricke flour, jaggery, coconut, cashew, eggs and spices) and Indian sweets like pani walalu (honey bangles), Muscat (oily sweet fudge) and gulabjamuns (milk balls in sugar syrup) can easily turn a sweet tooth into an addict.

In Sri Lanka, the most traditional food cooked in villages can never be replicated by two women alike. Recipes are almost impossible and no one measures ingredients. It all comes with years of experience that have been passed from mother to daughter, as in the rural households, a man should not sight the kitchen or know how to cook, as the kitchen and hearth is the woman's abode.