The Food Ranger
Trevor James visits Sri Lanka
The instagramming food community was all agog when they realised that celebrated food and travel enthusiast
Trevor James was on home turf here in Sri Lanka. With a following of 350,000 plus Instagram followers and almost 2.5 million Youtube subscribers, Trevor
James is quite an influencer. With a packed schedule which included trying food, food and more food, Trevor gave his only press interview to DM Life.
The affable Canadian had always harboured a desire to show the world how friendly people could be. He coupled this desire with two of his other loves, food and travel. Now Trevor and his wife Ting who is also a videographer spend more than 250 days of the year travelling the world shooting food videos and entertaining their cyber fans with stories on exotic culinary fare from around the world.
Based in China, Trevor has travelled to 22 countries, most of them in the Asian region. In Sri Lanka for just two weeks, Trevor and Ting came with open hearts and minds and a desire to sample most of Sri Lanka’s legendary cuisine, especially seafood.
I’d definitely put Sri Lanka in the top for cuisine. I love spice and I was totally surprised by the spice levels.
Asking for recommendations from their followers, they were swamped with suggestions which included visiting the
Ministry of Crab, the street food vendors at Galle Face and personal invitations to many Sri Lankan homes showing them the serendipitous nature we claim our own!
It was more than evident from our conversation that he loved the crustaceans our country has to offer particularly crabs. “They were so juicy and succulent. Cooked in spices with fiery peppery notes, they tasted absolutely fabulous". Did he smack his lips at this point? Yes he did! Apart from the Ministry of Crab, Trevor and Ting visited Upali’s,
Station.lk and had a lovely experience in Negombo. He added “We visited Negombo and got some huge crabs which were cooked for us at the
Old Rest House in Negombo. They cooked up the most beautiful rich dark Negombo style crab which was so flavourful with peppery notes”
This intrepid foodie also extolled the virtues of stringhoppers, faluda, and vadai and also hoppers. His personal favourite were jaggery hoppers. Another highlight of his visit was meeting fellow
food vlogger Ruzaina Hadige of The Minority Taste who is also currently in Sri Lanka. Their collaboration saw Ruzaina not only show him around the eateries of Colombo but also invite the duo to their home to sample a veritable feast of homemade delicacies cooked up by Ruzain’s grandma. “Ruzaina’s grand mother cooked us a delicious sri lankan meal which included a brain curry and bull’s testicles. This was the first time I had eaten the bull's testicles and it was quite tasty".
Moving on from Colombo, Trevor is heading to Galle and Kandy where he hopes to try more seafood and
Sri Lankan cuisine.
When I asked him where he positioned Sri Lankan cuisine with the rest of what he has experienced without hesitation he replied “I’d definitely put Sri Lanka in the top for cuisine. I love spice and I was totally surprised by the spice levels. The combination of spices make it shine and it is a lot stronger and pungent compared to others. It keeps your mouths alive and tastebuds on their toes. The inclusion of coconut milk is fantastic as it gives the curries a nice creamy consistency.”
What will you take back from Sri Lanka I ask him. The genial culinary traveller smiled and said “The memories of the friendly people and the fine Sri Lankan food we have tried in this country. And if there is space in our bag some Sri Lankan tea and a cook book for sure!”