Shopping in Pettah
Yesterday, Thilaka, a Sri Lankan friend, took me to Pettah, an area of Colombo that is packed with street commerce. Thilaka was great at helping me get acquainted to this hectic place where it seems every side street has a different product to sell (we visited the fruit, vegetable and clothing alleys) while at the same time she introduced me to a variety of Sri Lankan fruit and vegetables. I can now put a name and cooking/eating method to many of the strange beasts we’ve seen in the produce area of the supermarket.
I will add more photos at another time but for now I hope these capture the essence of the place!
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| One “Shop” setting up just as we arrived… I’m not sure where the boxes get stored overnight |
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| The same shop later in the morning |
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| It’s mangosteen season – sticky, juicy but oh so tastey! |
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| One of the Fruit Areas of Pettah |
I picked up a handful of the best looking beans I’ve seen ever…really! and some beets – while Thilaka popped a sampling of mangosteens, mangoes and rambuttan in my bag as well.
We spent most of the morning browsing, buying and babbling – then finished off with a refreshing woodapple drink…what fun! Thilaka described that the outside of the wood apple is hard like a coconut – you crack it open and then puree the inside fruit – you can either drink it alone or add milk – but our treat had ice cream…mmmmmm – Sorry no pics of the woodapple experience…but I had been curious about them ever since I spied them in the grocery store!
