Does the future of South Asian cuisine lie in the Middle East
Sri Lankan community in New York City probably gravitated to Staten Island, just below Manhattan because of cheaper rents, but there might be other reasons why the place feels familiar.
One of the best ways to get a good meal in New York is to board the Staten Island ferry. It’s free, you pass the Statue of Liberty and at the other end are a bunch of great Sri Lankan restaurants. You can savour their curries with their distinctive deeply roasted spices and the underlying umami note from the grated dried tuna called Maldi fish, enjoy the hoppers (appams) and rich coconut rice and finish with one of the best desserts ever, thick yoghurt with kithul (fishtail palm syrup). And you can wonder why Staten Island has more Sri Lankan restaurants than all of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third swearing-in saw heads of neighbouring South Asian countries appear as guests. It might have been more meaningful without the one obvious omission, but it still seemed a gesture towards something that has almost vanished — the idea of South Asia beyond just how the countries affect each other on a political level. There are links of history, geography, cultural exchange, personal histories, environmental connections and, yes, food that also count in the South Asian space.
It isn’t just Sri Lankan restaurants that are scarce. We have so many Thai places, but just a few like Bomras in Goa and the Burma Burma chain for a country with which India has far longer and complex links with than Thailand. Kimchi has become so popular
