Sitting on the edge of the Indian Ocean, just below India, is a tiny teardrop-shaped island called Sri Lanka - Lanka is Sanskrit for island, in Tamil meaning ‘that which glitters’. It is a country full of contradictions, and the food of Sri Lanka is equally hard to pin down. While the dishes are slowly gaining international recognition, the foundations and building blocks of Sri Lankan cooking are complex. They reflect the many diverse peoples, history, flavours and ideas that have overlapped to create a cuisine that is distinct yet difficult to define.

It was O Tama’s love of the addictive pancake-like Sri Lankan staple hoppers that drove her to start professionally cooking the food from her youth, her heritage and her travels. In Lanka Food, the Lankan Filling Station owner brings her knowledge together with recipes that demystify vegetable-dominant curries, hoppers, and the full range of spices and curry powders that enliven Sri Lankan dishes.

With essays that further contextualise the cuisine, this cookbook is a guide for people wanting a deeper understanding of the culture and the central place of food, and serves as a wonderful starting point for cooking and sharing Sri Lankan feasts with friends and family at home.