Lankan food, cultural festival attracts many in Sweden

Sri Lanka was among 160 countries which participated in the Food and Cultural Festival held in Sweden. Sri Lanka presented different varieties of its traditional delicious and spicy food and the Kandyan dance at the venue for the World Scout Jamboree.

Sri Lankans served traditional Lankan spicy food to the visitors at the venue. Many of the participants especially from Europe were eager to taste the Sri Lankan spicy food as they have never had such an experience. All participants were served with Lankan food and young and old alike queued up to serve themselves at a special buffet arranged by the organizers.

It was an opportunity for many foreigners not only to enjoy Sri Lankan food but also to know about the country. Lankan organizers also showed the intended visitors to Sri Lanka many descriptive materials about the country and its nature and environment. Wildlife and nature lovers were seen showing keen interest in collecting printed materials on Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka made use of this opportunity to present a true picture of the country and the latest development since President Mahinda Rajapaksa became the President.

It was observed that many youngsters have not been fully convinced about the situation in Sri Lanka.

"On the part of Sri Lanka it was a good opportunity for us to explain the visitors about the latest development and the peace and normalcy restored especially in northern and eastern parts of the country as certain participants who knew about Sri Lanka were seem to be ill informed," Janaprith Fernando the organizer of Lankan food festival said.

All three zones had representatives from all the participating countries as the participants set up separate units in each zone. Sri Lankan participants at this festival numbering 120 have set up three different units in all three zones. The distinguished invitee for the opening of this food and cultural festival Luc Panissad, Secretary General of World Organization of Scout Movement.

Sri Lankan contingent headed by Janaprith Fernando with his deputy Prabath Kularathna had made elaborate arrangement to make this a forum for foreigners to know about Sri Lankan situation with the assistance of SriLankan airlines and the Sri Lanka Tourist Board. The visitors were also served with Lankan tea with the cooperation of Akbar Brothers.

The Sri Lankan participants also staged a traditional Kandyan dance with music.