It is a new, exciting street fiesta, one like you have never seen before. Welcome to the hype of “Taste of Colombo 2011”. Lanka Event Management (Pvt) Ltd., the event planning arm of Lanka Hotels and Travels proudly presents a festival that has everything from food, culture, tradition to just plain old fun. As the title suggests the event strives to encompass the essence of Colombo. It is a chance to taste a way of life, the Sri Lankan way of life.
The concept behind this street festival is the promotion of Sri Lanka tourism. It is a chance to give a new perspective to the phrase “a festival of Sri Lanka”. The traditional festivals focusing on the Esala and Poson perahara [pageants] focus only on the culture and heritage of the country. The food festivals and beach festivals held in Sri Lanka seem to lose the initial hype they started off with.
Sandun Fernando and Germaine Perera, members of the organizing committee say “We want to turn a new leaf in terms of tourism and are trying to get international travel agents and overseas tour operators involved in the event, because we believe it can be a festival that can attract crowds. Taste of Colombo should not just promote one aspect of Sri Lanka but create a vibrant, almost electrifying feel of Colombo. It is an amalgamation of food, culture, heritage, arts and crafts and it should be able to just speak for our identity.”
One of the main attractions of the ‘Taste of Colombo 2011’ is the food. The food of Colombo is an interesting mix of both traditional cuisine and the fusion dishes. “The exciting thing is the cooking is done our way, the Sri Lankan way of doing it” says Sandun. “We have a wide spectrum of cuisine starting from those of the star class hotels to the street food at the Galle Face Green. We should capitalize on the variety and versatility of it. So we have stalls from the star class hotels to those from the typical street food vendors”
The final day of the festival will be held on the day of the Finals of the Cricket World Cup 2011 [the 2nd of April]. “The next best thing in Sri Lanka after tea is Cricket” says a smiling Sandun. “On this day we will give you the ultimate street party along with a giant screen displaying the game, a Papare and a DJ. The amazing thing about this is you get the cricket crazy atmosphere of watching the game live, but for free. People are welcome to just walk in fee and enjoy the whole thing.” A cricket crazy nation, this is a part of being Sri Lankan and that is what ‘Taste of Colombo 2011” is all about.
The organizers say that this is just the beginning and that they plan to expand this street fiesta to other major cities and hold “a Taste of Kandy and maybe even a Taste of Jaffna” The event will be held at Green Path, Colombo on March 31 and April 1- 2 from 5.00pm onwards. Please visit www.tasteofcolombo.com for further details. |
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