I was raised with nourishing meals and a mother that cooked with both tradition and flare.  She knew how to create excitement around food and bring a world of flavours into a single dish.  She understood the ingredients, plants, spices and herbs she used right down to their roots. 

 

Her upbringing in Sri Lanka offered her a lifetime of knowledge.  Her father was an agricultural curator, her mother was a skilled home gardener and cook, and her grandparents practiced Ayurveda.  The serendipity I experienced with every bite of her cooking was that food can at the same time satisfy and heal you, comfort and rejuvenate you, transport you to another place and yet bring you home. 

 

This helped inspire my interest in Sri Lankan cooking, as well as an appreciation for simple spices and plants with super powers (imagine a cardamom pod with a cape).  Spices have been used for thousands of years for their many said healing properties including acting as remedies to common ailments, aiding digestion, as well as beauty aids. 

 

Join me in learning about spices and how to incorporate them into your daily cooking, introduce them to children, and include them in a variety of ways for flavour, health and wellness.