IDENTIFICATION OF TRADITIONAL FOOD RECIPES OF SRI LANKA

Traditional food items are, made from locally available resources and culturally accepted' A study was conducted to identifu tra'ditional food recipes and their characteristics. Two hundred dffirent traditional food recipes were identified by using a questionnaire. I39 dffirent plant species and 7 animal species were used to prepare these recipes. Leau.es (45%o) andfruits (26%")'rryere the commonly


INTRODUCTION
All humans and animal live on food.People have used large number of different foods and recipes since ancient times.lt was clear that 32 traditional dishes of foods were used in alms giving for tooth relic in temple of tooth in Kandy.
Traditional fooditems (TFIs) canbe defined asthe food fromaparticularculture madefromlocallyavailable resources and culturally aceepted.It includes socio-cultural means, acquisitlon/processing techniques use composition and nutritional consequences forpeople using the food (Harrietet a1,2006)"[hose traditional food crops are easily found in forest, home gardens, marshy lands and seasonal tank bed arcas as natural resource.
At present, Sri Lanka as well as many other countries has been faced food security problem.Real food security relies on the diversity of food crops.Out of 80000 edible plants explored by man since the begiruring ofcivilization only about I 50 species have so far been explored considerably.To day less than 30 plants species meet about 90o/o of theworld food requirement (Mal, 1994).In Sri Lanka, Ministry ofAgriculture has identified2l vegetablevarieties and 12 fiuitvarieties availabilityfor loodtluoughouttheyear (ttajapaksha   199g).In2004,Sri Lanka had recorded 4.2 million undernourished peoplc (FAO, 2004).The malnutrition is resulted from food insecuri[y at household level.TFIs rich in vitamins, minerals and hber.There are important foods items which the villagers prepare with plants and leaves as part ofthe rituals of daily life.
These include the taking of herbal gruel in the moming and herbal tea betwccn meals.This traditional habit is said to have ensured the health of Sri Lankan in ancient timcs (Pilapitiya, 1995)'   Traditional food varieties can be effectivcly used as low cost food soulces lor low income groups of under developedcountriessuchasSr-iLanka.AboutT)ohofsriLankanstilllivcsurruualareas.TFIsplayavery significant role of the livelihood of rural pcople in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. (Bandarathilaka, 1995).
Traditional food varieties adapt well to unlavorable cnvironmcnt conditions and some ofthem can even be grown in marginal lands which have resist to pest and diseases.'lhey can be used as plant genetic material to be used in future crop improvement programme.
There is valuable indigenous knowledge associated with cultivation, prepafation, nutrition and storage of traditional food varieties.This knowledgc has been passed gcneration to gcneration since ancient times.
But tc:Jay our TFIs faced in danger due to various reasons.Our traditionafsurbsistence agricultr-ue, farming systems, food systems and food culture wcrc challenged for the lirst time tluring the British era, in the 19'r' centenary.As a result ofpromotion ofplantation agriculture, tt'adilional agriculturc sullcred' The green rJvolution launched in the 1 960s had as its motto thc increase in productivity using high yielding varieties and high inputs.As a result of cultivation of selectecl varieties of a few cash or market oriented crops, thousand of food crops grown in farmers' fields have been seriously threatened-In 1900 Sri Lanka have11yocover offorest land.But inyear2001 we have 22.4%offorest covir (Anon,2001).Deforestation has also a serious impact on plant genetic erosion and food security of the local people.
Therefore, this study was undertaken to collect information about TFIs and their recipes of Sri Lanka' As well as identification of conservation methods and sustainable managemen! of this natural resouree will be discussed and analyzed via lhis study.This workout the cost comparison oftraditional meal and modem meal which fulfill the recommended dietary allowances.Conservation of TFIs and their recipes are also discussed to uplift the food security of Sri Lanka.

MATERIALSAND METHODS
A study was conducted to identifii traditional food recipes and their characteristics.Two hundred different traditional food recipes were identihed by using a questionnaire from Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Kurunagala, Polonnaruwa, Monaragala, Gampaha and Ratnapura district.Purposive sampling method was used to identiff relevant respondents.Meanwhile in depth discussions and some observations of preparing traditional food rccipes were carried out with respondents.Current market prices were used to estimate costs ofthe typical traditional and modem meal.All cost calculations and charts were prepared by using MS-Excel.Secondary data such as nutritional values of both meals and recommended dietary allowances were obtained frombooks, journals andvia intemet.
RESULTSAND DISCUSSION a) Characteristics of traditional food recipes 1. Different plant parts used for traditional food recipes 'Ihe study revealed that I 3 9 plant species used for preparing traditional food recipes.Highest percentage (45%) oftraditional food recipes were prepared by using green leaves.Being a tropical country Sri Lanka has large diversity of evergreen plants.People can halest edible leaves from those plants throughout the year.As well as this plant part that leaff vegetables provide protective function in supplementary a variety of essential nutrients (Oomen and Grubben,l977).Large numbers of leaf' vegetables were collected to prepare salads, curries andmallum to add taste to rice dishes that eaten as main meals (Pathirana, 2004).
Nahrally grown edible leaves were harvested from home gardens, chena, stream banks, shrub jungles and fallot paddy fields.Figurc 1: Different plants uscd for prcparing traditional food rccipes 2. Methods of obtaining traditional knowledge Knowledge of preparation and their medicinal value of traditional food recipes were transferred from ancestors (87%).The knowledge which gained through books was 2o/o.Thelmowledge was being transmitted from elder people to younger people in the community.None of their experience has been based on scientific experience, but strengthened through trial and enor (Wickramasinghe, 1 993).This was enhanced the conservation ofthis valuable human capital for future generation.i 3. Food storing time 0f traditional food recipes Highestpercentage (56%) oftraditional foodrecipes were consumed onthe same day.20YoandI}Yoof recipes were stored I day and2 day respectively.Being majority of tradilional food items were harvested from surrowrding areas people did not want to store recipes.But some seasonal traditional food items were preserved and stored for futurc consumption.The closer vegetables and fruits are grown to the consumer, the more likely that local produce will be fiesh and have higher nulrient conlcnt.During storage and transport, the level ofVitamin C is reduced (Anon, 2000 a).

Identified different types of traditional food recipes
Out of 200 traditional food recipes 76 (38%) and 56 (28%) recipes belong to curries and"mallunt" respectively, Both qpe of traditional food recipes were consurned in main meals i. e. breakfast, lunch and dinner."Roti","PittLt","Thalapa" and"Dhohi" were considered as whole food and consumed in breakfast and dinner.A same study carried out in Uva province of Sri Lanka, out of 1 92 traditional food recipes, I 07 (56%) recipes were belong to curries and"mallunt" (Aththanayaka, 2006).Herbal gruel is a kind of ponidge made of cereals mainly raw rice, and coconut milk as tlie liquid, rvilh leafy vegetables.It is not generally prescribed as a hcaling medicine, but it is consideled an important part of the morning meal (Femando, 1999).Wild meat, fish, some fruits and flour were preseled for future consumption.Cost comparison of a traditional meal and modcrn meal 'fhc study was worked out cost of energy and nutricrrts with rospect to recornrncnded dictary allowances for a traditional meal and modem rneal.'I his l"ypical traditional meal was included traditional food ttems slch as rice (raw) Sesbenia leaves, irrunature jak h'uit (Polos'), green glirm curry jak seed (Kalupol maluwa) and one banana (Amban).lypicalmodeln meal was consistecl ivith rice (white), bean curry carrot curry, potato curry chicken and a glass of milk.Recommendcd dietary allowances for energy, protein, calcium andphosphorous were 2530 kcal,57 g,750rng and 500rngpel day respecttvely (Anon,2000: Anon,2002: Wickramanayakc, 2002).Collective energy and nutrients values that givenby each ingredient ofthe typical traditional meal and modem meal were showed in table 1 .Calculated current market price for the typical traditional meal and the typical modem meal were Rs.49.64 and Rs.80.71 per person, respectively' The cost of modem meal was higher than traditional meal to fulfill recommended dietary allowances for energy, protein and p (Table 2).To accomplish calcium requirement, cost of traditional meal was higher than modem meal by 7 .23%.Glass of milk component in the typical r'odem meal was provided higher Ca amount.

Nutrient per unit cost
The traditional meal was provided higher energy, protein and phosperous per rupee than modern meal (Table l).Themodemmealwas supplied 7.2 3YomorcCaperrupee thanthetraditionalmeal' Thetraditional meal was provided recommended dietary allowanccs with low cost with cornpared to modem meal' At present 58.7%ofSri Lankan house hold income is spent for foods and bcverages (Anon, 2007)' The ingedients oftraditional mcal were collected from the natural cnvironmcnt without any cost by the rural people.Therefore traditional meals can be reduced the household expenditure for foods' This enhances the reduction of malnutoition in household level of low income groups of undeldevelopment countries such as Sri Lanka (Rajapaksha, 1998).

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Food storing time of traditional food recipes Wild meat, fish, different kind of seeds and floru were stored more than one month.Most common methods of food presenration were sun drying, smoking and dehydrati on.

Table l .
Nutrient composition, Nutrients per unit cost and market prices of typical traditional