On the specificity of Vedda traditional food
According to different sources, the culinary practices of Veddas, the descendants of the ancient population of Sri Lanka, were simple and not too diverse. The most popular constituents of the local diet were meat and honey. It was logical, since Veddas were engaged in hunting wild animals and birds, gathering wild plants and harvesting honey from wild bees. The most well-known traditional Vedda dish is meat soaked in honey. The article focuses on the tradition of eating meat that has become the dominant eating pattern also in the food consumption cultures of the neighboring peoples of the island. The article also addresses the following issues: a variety of meat products consumed, kinds of meat preferred by the indigenous people, methods of food processing, and taboos and beliefs connected with this product. Although the vegetable component undoubtedly played a major and often crucial role in the diet of Veddas, we merely mention its varieties, both wild and cultivated, methods of processing, kinds of vegetable dishes, and combinations of certain wild plants, since the information concerning vegetable and fish products consumed by Veddas is scanty.