Cultural dimentions of hot, cold and ‘Kirandi’ in east coast Muslims’ gastronomy

Abstract

Food habits are among the oldest and most entrenched aspects of many cultures that exert deep influence on the behavior of people. The cultural background determines what is eaten as well as when and how. In every part of the society, people have diverse feeding habits that have been inherited from generation to generation. Among various dimensions of food selection and intake, a combination has been used in different cultural contexts to classify food. East Coast Muslims of Sri Lanka claim a different dimension in their gastronomy. The study was based on the author’s own experience, observations, recordings, and interactions with locals of Sainthamaruthu Divisional Secretariat area. When started to live in the study area the author experienced a different explanation model in their gastronomy. What I intent to find in the research study more specifically were my two research objectives which were precisely reliving on my research goals. They were to find out cultural dimensions of hot, cold and Kirandi among East coast Muslims and to examine the explanation models of hot, cold and Kirandi related to their food culture. Sainthameruthu Muslims share a unique explanation such as kaduppu and kirandi when they select food.