Traveling vegan or with dietary restrictions in Sri Lanka - how easy is it?

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Sara Thompson80355 rep2

I'm vegan. How difficult is it to find good food? Any tips for communicating needs or best areas?

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3 Answers from travellers

Accepted Answer

It's very doable now, especially in tourist areas (south coast, Ella, Colombo, Galle). Many restaurants have vegan options or can adapt dishes (ask for 'no egg, no dairy, no fish sauce'). String hoppers, hoppers, vegetable curries, dhal, and many rice & curry places are naturally vegan or can be made so. In more remote areas it's harder - learn basic Sinhala phrases or use Google Translate. Apps like HappyCow help find vegan-friendly places. Most Sri Lankan food is quite adaptable if you communicate clearly.

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Dilki Gunaratne504960 rep1

Rice and curry buffets often have many vegan dishes. Just confirm no 'dried fish' or 'shrimp paste' was used in the sambols. Hotels and nicer restaurants are used to dietary requests now.

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Sunil Jayawardena591690 rep1

HappyCow + learning a few phrases sounds like a good plan. Reassuring.

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Sara Thompson80355 rep2

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