‘Short eats’: One country’s unique, tasty culture of snack foods

The dish: Short eats, Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan vadai, a savoury snack packed with flavour.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

Plate up

You have to admire a culture that has its own specific form of eating. In Spain (and much of the Spanish-speaking world) there’s merienda, a sweet snack taken in the early evening to get you through to dinner. In Sri Lanka, meanwhile, there’s the concept of “short eats”, savoury snacking that can be done any time of the day, designed to get you through to whichever meal is next. Clearly, this is a nation that loves to eat.

And what choices they have. Short eats come from a range of deep-fried or grilled delicacies: vadais (above), small cakes made of ground lentils; fish cutlets, which are deep-fried balls of heavily spiced, minced fish; pan rolls, spring-roll shaped and deep-fried, filled with mutton, vegetables or fish; mithivedis, stuffed with potatoes and boiled egg; and roti bread wrapped around spiced filling and grilled on a hotplate. No matter what you order, every bite will be packed with flavour, giddy with spice, and sensationally tasty.

First serve

Each delicious treat in the pantheon of short eats has its own history in Sri Lanka, and is often an adaptation of a foreign idea, which speaks of Sri Lanka’s history of migration and colonisation. Pan rolls, similar to spring rolls, are a take on the traditional Chinese snack introduced by migrants. Cutlets have their history in British cuisine. Vadais came with Tamil migrants from southern India. Mithivedis, meanwhile, were devised in Jaffna during Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war – their namesake is a type of landmine.

Order there

Though you will find short eats served throughout Sri Lanka, often at very low prices, one of the first places many visitors go to try them is the night market at Galle Face Green in Colombo.

Order here

In Sydney, make your way to Toongabbie to try the short eats from XDream (xdream.com.au) and Mathura Takeaway (mathuratakeaway.com.au). In Melbourne, head to SS Rotti Palace in Keilor Downs (ssrottipalace.online). In Perth, try Yaal Cafe in Maddington.

One more thing

There’s no bad time for short eats in Sri Lanka. These tasty treats are served any time of day from cheap street-side stands, and are also supplied at any gathering, from work retreats to weddings, sporting matches to train journeys.