UNSALTED PORRIDGE
‘Where do you suppose they must be serving porridge today?’
Most of their mornings dawn with this question. Waking early, standing in line, pot in hand — that steaming hot unsalted porridge-water with grains of rice barely to be found. Indeed it was precious ambrosia to the helpless.
“Those in the neighboring cottage gave their motorbike for five coconuts, it seems.” A myriad incidents like this.
“If you fill a plastic bottle to overflowing, close it tightly and heat it, then the bottle won’t melt, later we use the hot water for making tea in the morning.”
Unsalted porridge, roasted Mullivaikal sprats, Silver date palm leaf, pittu without scraped coconut, ‘Vaipan’ flour ball…these were things that our people came up with to survive and eat.
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Pittu — Pittu is traditionally eaten for breakfast in Sri Lanka. It is a steamed dish with rice flour and scraped coconut.
Vaipan — The cheapest rural sweet treat made of plain flour and fully ripened banana. ‘Vaipan’ made solely from flour gradually became the main meal for many families during the war
Note: During the last war, people had gone through several displacements and carried limited things while moving to other place. Because food shortage, they took maximum efforts to buy ingredients by exchanging expensive items they have, find alternative ways to cook, utilize available ingredients and wait in long ques to get milk powder and sugar. The above story explains such kind of an experience.
