Veteran Chef Pubilis Silva will launch his masterpiece, Maha Supawansaya at on Monday, April 27 at 3 pm, at the BMICH, Colombo. He is a director of the Mount Lavinia Hotel’s Board of Management. The book gives an extensive account of the nutritious as well as medicinal value of indigenous foods.
Pubilis recounts his past: In my teens I was brash and mischievous. One day, I felt the peculiar taste of a young coconut and became curious of the novel experience, and this led to the turning point in my future.
Our wrong food habits have largely contributed to the spread of non-communicable diseases, such as, diabetes, heart ailments, cancer and asthma. This is a cardinal reason which prompted me to launch a book of this nature for the future well-being of the people, he said, in an interview with the Lake House publications.
Q: Does your book aim at enlightening the people on the richness of local foods?
A: Yes, my view is that our food varieties are the best in the world. Sri Lankans were not used to additives, artificial colouring, flavours, preservatives and animal oils. It is our legacy and we ought to stick to it.
Our food varieties have not been fully documented, yet. We had a superb food culture in the past. Legend has it that a rich traditional variety of rice had been offered to the great Arahats.
The Ten Great Men - Yodayas of the Dutugemunu era were not ever afflicted with modern day evils like obesity, which has taken a heavy toll on precious lives. With the advent of Prince Vijaya, our food culture began to deteriorate, followed by the subsequent foreign invasions.
Our forefathers made it a habit to have a glass of warm water with a piece of cinnamon, which helped drop sugar levels. Some of our fruits contain sugar-cutting properties.
Q: Have you observed any frequent shortcomings or lapses in our household cooking?
A: Yes, shortcomings occur due to the modern day busy lifestyle. Our women used to prepare a mixture of local spices such as, turmeric, chillies, mustard and so on, to be used in cooking curries. Today, things have changed vastly and we buy packets of these mixtures from the market which are not genuine. When vegetables are cooked it is necessary that their colour, taste and smell are retained.
Q: Is your Maha Supavansaya as large as our great chronicle, Mahavamsa?
A: My book contains 1,450 indigenous varieties – 56 yams, 76 fruits and over 100 fishes. I had to spend about Rs. 35-40 lakhs of hard-earned money to put out this book, without aiming at profit. The book is being translated into English. My only wish is to bestow on our posterity an invaluable legacy of our great nation.