2016 Oct 17
by Sandarenu Amarasinghe
They can cook amazing food and they can take equally amazing photos. The combination is mouth-watering pictures of food on our Instagram feeds that give us definite Sri Lankan Food goals.
Here are five Instagram foodies who love to cook Sri Lankan dishes and post their scrumptious results.
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Sammani – @sammaniii
Sammani Ruwanpathirana is a Marketing Manager working in the renewable energy sector in Perth, Australia. Inspired by her mother, she has always wanted a balance between being a career woman and a good wife. She is in love with cooking, gets emotional when people appreciate her food and confesses to having cried watching Masterchef.
Most of the food she posts is what she cooks for her husband and friends who crave good, spicy, flavourful Sri Lankan curries while living away from Lanka. The Sri Lankan style Chicken Curry is the signature dish that’s well loved and often requested.
She started Instagramming about 2 years ago and we are glad she did because the response she got encouraged her to start her own facebook page, “Lankan Gal’s Cookbook” where she gives out her tried and tested recipes.
We sure are thankful to her husband, as this task of concocting yummy dishes that Sammani took up to impress him has gifted us this gem of an Instagram account, giving us yummy Sri Lankan food goals.
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Shiffani Riffai Shamoon – @me_loves_cooking
Shiffani is a wife, mom and teacher from Colombo who has been cooking since she was 16. She started Instagramming photos of her delicious food about a year ago and her account went from a personal one to a food blog.
She loves experimenting with international cuisines such as Mexican and Indian food, but her love for her homeland’s cuisine runs deep. She tries to keep it simple and create extraordinary dishes out of every day ingredients.
She has several pictures of rice and curry but each one of those show different delectable combinations and look equally mouthwatering. She also posts experimental dishes such as Bread Kottu, and her Watalappan pictures during Eid win the show.
The best part of her Instagram account is that she gives out the recipes to most of her dishes.
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Surani Mackeen – @thewhimsicalchef
Surani is an Engineer by profession and a foodie by passion, living in Singapore and married to her childhood sweetheart. She was her mother’s little helper in the kitchen growing up but it is living away from Sri Lanka that got her into cooking delicious Sri Lankan favourites for herself. Today, even pictures of her packed lunches to office looks absolutely delicious.
She is not one to follow recipes. She cooks whimsically and tries to recreate flavours she has tasted. She reluctantly admits her favourite food item to make is her infamous chocolate biscuit pudding that brings back childhood memories.
She started sharing pictures of her cooking in 2013 when there weren’t many posts under #srilankanfood. Over the years with all the encouraging responses she has received, she has even made friends with Sri Lankans all over the world because of her Instagram account. Her Instagram followers have encouraged her to start a food blog to share her recipes and www.whimsicalchef.com is a must check before you whip up your next Sri Lankan dish.
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Dayanari Wijethunge Jayawickrama – @dayanarij
Dayanari: accountant by day, a homechef by night and dwelling in Australia. Coming from a family of four girls, she didn’t get to try out what she learnt from her mother who was an amazing cook, until she got married and got a kitchen of her own. Since the first meal she cooked for her husband blew him away, she just had to keep up with the standard she set by learning and discovering new dishes. We are glad she decided to post pictures of her culinary journey on Instagram.
Her Instagram account lead to the Australian TV show, “My Kitchen Rules” to discover her, an opportunity she couldn’t take due to her work commitments. This, nevertheless, inspired her and while she loves making legendary Sri Lankan dishes like Black Pork Curry, she is fearless enough to try out new things like Beetroot Kola Kenda.
She takes all her food pictures with her iPhone and what started with an Instagram account has now developed into a food blog and a facebook page. Do check out www.gigglesinthekitchen.com for recipes for the amazing Sri Lankan food Dayanari whips up.
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Savindri Perera – @savisquishles
Savindri is yet another foodie from Australia who works in customer service and sings in a Blues Rock band names Blue Mountain Haze. She has been cooking since she was 15, picking up tidbits of wisdom she picked up from her Mother and maternal Grandmother.
To her, food is poetry and she experiments by adding Sri Lankan flavours to other cuisines. She describes her culinary style as ‘rustic, generous, home-style food’ that reminds her of long Sunday lunches her mother used to cook. The pictures of Sri Lankan style ‘Wattakka Mirisata’ and ‘Ala Thel Dala’ sure does remind us of home, but at the same time is good enough to be featured in any culinary magazine.
Savindri started Instagramming her food inspired by other popular Instagram food accounts. Her photography skills are as amazing as her culinary skills and she is currently working on a small light room at home and investing in a new camera. We don’t know if the delicious looking pictures on her Instagram account can look any better but we sure are waiting for more posts!
What we do know for sure is that Sri Lankans sure love their food and when we look at these Sri Lankan Foodies on Instagram it is clear that wherever in the world we may be, we can never let go of our Sri Lankan flavours. Whether cooking is a passion for you or even if you are just in love with food, these Instagram accounts will sure give you inspiration for your next Sri Lankan meal.
