Financial Times

A call for branding Sri Lankan cuisine
By Random Access Memory (RAM)
Think about the South Indian 'Thali', the lunchtime favourite presentation of rice and curry. We know exactly what the 'Thali' consists of; rice, several vegetables, curd, lime and pickle, papadam, ghee, a vadai and a sweet dessert. Think also of the Indonesian 'Nasi Goreng'. The presentation always consists of spiced fried rice topped with a bull's eyed egg, skewers of 'satey' (pieces of barbecued meat), a sweet and sour salad and a red sambol. In Nepal, there is 'Daal Baath', the well known brand of rice and curry, always presented with steaming hot rice, a dry curry side-serving of potatoes and cauliflower, a chicken curry with gravy, pickled lime and a papadam.

There is the Thai hot soup of Tom Yum Kung, the Japanese Tempura, the Singapore version of the Hainanese Chicken Rice, Malaysian Fish Head Curry and Nasi Padang, the American generic brands of the hamburger, cheeseburger and the apple pie, the Germanic sausage based presentations, the North Indian Thandoori or the Korean Kim Chee.

All these are generic brands of food presentations we encounter in different situations. In all instances, these brands help to create effective mental associations with the countries, people, places and the cultures we have either experienced, have heard or learnt of. Brands are about quality, consistency, integrity, associated values, trust and loyalty.

Today what customers buy are not mere products or services. What they buy, are brands that come loaded with these characteristics. While lots of visitors to Sri Lanka as well as we Sri Lankans, love and yearn for our food, we have done very little to present our food to the world as well packaged and value added brands.

The Sri Lankan 'pol sambol' is an instant hit with most, but remain only an insignificant side teaser we all seek in our rice and curry or the breakfast menus of string hoppers. Our 'kiri hodi', 'lunu miris', 'mas curry', 'ala thel', 'karawila sambol', 'kiri malu' can all be hits in the world.

A handful of Sri Lankan culinary experts have presented Sri Lankan food to the world through their cookbooks, demonstrations, food festivals and television presentations. While these efforts are praiseworthy, they have in the main been uncoordinated. At no time have they formed, an integral part of an overall Sri Lankan image building strategy.

Exploring the opportunities we have for branding our rice and curry could begin perhaps with the current presentations available at our 'Rest Houses' and not with the hotel buffets. The buffets at hotels are most often an insult to the quality and value of Sri Lankan cuisine and needs careful scrutiny and review. What we have with our food is an excellent opportunity to present the multi-cultural nature of our nation on a theme of racial harmony.

Let us consider branding Sri Lankan rice and curry on the lines of the 'Ambula', adopting it from the way the rural farmers' consume it, the 'Thali' representing the cultures of the northern peninsular, the 'Biriyani' to represent the food of the Muslims and 'Lamprais' as a reminiscence of our colonial past and the Dutch Burgher community.

We need to build an aura around our food presentations where they become symbols of quality, consistency and value. We need to string together stories that we can tell the world of our food and the associated cultural traits.

We need to first discover ourselves who we are, what we are, our ethos and traditions before we can present them to the world as brands, to build loyalty coupled with integrity.

While we go on shooting ourselves in the foot in the arena of political image building, we may do well, to leave a brand of a different Sri Lanka in the hearts, minds and taste-buds of the world at large, through a well coordinated offering of our exotic nature, culture, adventure resources mixing them with a unique blend of our food, art, music, dance and folklore.

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