When traveling to your home country (or one your family immigrated from), there’s inevitably a suitcase that’s full of items from your new home on the way there that’s later purposefully packed with goods from your destination on your return. Often, we take things our families and friends have been asking for—lotion, nuts, chocolate—in bulk. And the items we bring back are the ones we miss—those spices, those teas, those snacks, the things that just aren’t quite the same.
Amal Gunawardena is a Sri Lankan native who immigrated to the States in 1990, when, luckily, there were many Asian/Indian grocery stores carrying most of the spices she uses in her (might I say, mind-blowing) cooking. Still, there are items she brings back every time she goes to Sri Lanka, including teas, curry powder, and the freshest of Sri Lankan black peppercorns, grown on the property of her mom’s best friend. As for the Costco-size items she takes to Sri Lanka? She says: “We have big families there, right?”
Here are some items she takes TO Sri Lanka:
- Costco sized nuts such as almonds and walnuts
- Costco sized Lubriderm
- Ferroro Rocher and Lindor chocolates
- Dried fruits such as blueberries, mangoes, prunes
- Ruffles chips
- Variety of cheeses
Here are the items she BRINGS back from Sri Lanka:
- Teas of all kinds for the quality “The quality of the tea, it’s so much better.”
- Kawum “They normally make kawum [a sweet made from rice flour and palm sugar] for Sri Lankan New Year in April, but it’s a special treat. We know a place—this lady makes the best kawum. We let them know we are leaving the country on this day, and they make it fresh for us.”
- Malt “Malt for adding to teas.”
- Crackers “They’re saltier in Sri Lanka!”
- Hand dyed textiles and clothes as such are harder to find in such bright and vibrant colors here in the States.
- Curry powder and mixes
- Fresh black peppercorns
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