From A Vegan Guide To Bristol 2006

Sri Lanka is primarily a Buddhist country, and being not far off the tropics, rich in lush fruit and vegetables, so the signs were good. I have to hold my hands up at this point and explain that I am vegan to the extreme, and having not tasted animal fat in any description for over twenty years now, was not in the mood for compromise. The first big question for any long haul traveller is of course, what’s it gonna be like on the plane for food. Well, we flew Sri Lanka airways, and pre-booked a vegan meal for me both ways. However, from previous experience, at best you may get a vegetarian option, at worst nothing at all. Delighted to say though that Sri Lanka airways managed to provide a perfectly adequate vegan meal for me both outward bound and coming home, which was pretty cool.

After a couple of hours on one of the most appallingly dangerous roads in the World, we arrived at our hotel, on the coast at Kalutara, seventy odd kilometres south of Colombo. The hotel was a three star, which meant not too posh but well set out and equipped, with a beach to die for right on its doorstep. And so the first big test – our evening meal. Was anyone gonna understand the word vegan, or was I living off hemp bars and pineapples for the next two weeks.

Most hotels and restaurants in Sri Lanka, run a buffet system, which as it happens served me just right. None of the hotel staff seemed to have a Danny La Rue what I was on about, and after trying to explain to the fifth fella, I suddenly hit on a brainwave. ‘I am Buddhist’ I declared, ‘and I respect all sentient beings. It is not possible for me to eat the flesh or produce of an animal.’ That, along with a little bow with both hands placed together (traditional Buddhist greeting), seemed to do the trick and everyone seemed to understand immediately. There were always several vegan dishes on the go, and the best bet was always what they call the ‘tempered’ and ‘devilled’ vegetables – cooked in earthenware pots and always spicy. They don’t really go in for dairy product much anyway, and most things were cooked in coconut cream or coconut oil, which was absolutely perfect. There were usually one or two other dishes to choose from, including several different rice varieties, and there was always a top notch selection of salads too.

Of course one thing that was always superb was the quality of the fruit. There was always a selection of mouth watering pineapples, water melon and papaya, as well as fresh coconut and pineapple smoothies in the beach bar next door. We were on half board so we were doing lunches on the beach, at one of the many bars and restaurants that dot this coastline. In fact, wherever we ate there were always cheap and plentiful salads to be had, so it was gonna be hard to go without.

One thing that particularly stood out was the consistent and imaginative use of spices and flavourings. Now it’s true to say that the veg didn’t always vary much – usual salad ingredients, pumpkin curries, okra dishes and suchlike, but they always tasted different and interesting, which was a welcome relief, that’s for sure.

We did venture out into the rest of the country a couple of times, and everywhere it was the same deal – buffet for lunch and supper, always with plentiful vegan choices. The chips are fried in coconut oil and very rarely polluted with anything else, and the food always tasted clean and fresh, and I have to say that in the end I didn’t even have to go through the palaver of explaining what vegan was – a lot of the food in Sri Lanka is naturally vegan, which is more than can be said for any Western country I know. In fact, I have never eaten so well, so consistently in any other country in the world – except Bristol of course. And, as you might expect, extremely cheap too – expect change out of an Ayrton for a full blown meal for two, including beer.

We did get around a bit - the elephant sanctuary just short of Kandy in the middle of the island was fascinating, many ill, blind and damaged elephants are cared for here, including one three-legged soul that was the victim of a land mine in some part of the world somewhere. There is also a celebrated turtle hatching place north of Galle on the south west coast, where over a million turtles have been safely hatched and released into the sea, thereby ensuring survival of four species of these amazing creatures. And everywhere you go, there are beautiful spice gardens, where a short guide accompanied by a quick massage introduces the visitor to an amazing myriad of natural herbs and spices, plus the basics of Ayurevedic medicine, one of the worlds oldest established healing systems.

Of course, one thing we could never escape on our little stretch of Paradise on the South West coast of Sri Lanka was the devastating effects of the Tsunami. Take a trip 50 kilometres south, to Galle, and you see the full extent of the damage. Here, whole communities got swept away, and many people died, including a lot of tourists. You can see the freshly dug graves all along the coast road.

Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, rich in just about everything – but now it is facing an uncertain future. Not only the effects of the Tsunami, but now also an increase in violence as trouble between the Tamil Tigers in the North and the government forces continues to escalate. But the troubles are isolated to the North of the island, and the rest of the island presents no danger to visitors. So – if you fancy a cheap(ish) holiday abroad, and you are vegan, you could do an awful lot worse than while away the hours on a sunkissed beach in this beautiful place, surrounded by fresh coconuts, pineapples, loads of vegan options, and some of the friendliest and most beautiful people to be found in the four corners of the globe.