Hill Country - Rice Fields
Photo and Text by Siri
In Sri Lanka rice has always been the staple food. In the low country, where most of the Sri Lankan Christians live, (most Buddhists try to be vegetarians) and also fish and meat are easily available, rice is eaten with at least one fish or meat dish and several vegetable dishes. Sometimes various pickles and chutneys are also included for added flavoring. In the hill country where the population is mostly Buddhist, rice is always supplemented with various vegetables, tubers, various pickles and chutneys, and occasionally some dried fish.
Note: When the writer is was growing up in the hill country, in the thirties and forties, no electricity was available, and the transportation from the sea side cities was to be generous "poor". That meant perishables like fish and meat never, made it to the hill country towns and villages. Perhaps that is another reason, apart from the fact that Buddhism forbids destroying life, for the pronounced vegetarianism among the peoples of the hill country..
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