Famed Peter Kuruwita on National Geographic TV channel:

"My aunty's breadfruit curry, my best dish"

By Manjula Fernando

The award winning Chef, restaurateur and media personality Peter Kuruvita was in Sri Lanka on the invitation of the Australian High Commission to take part in an Australian food and wine promotion event. After establishing himself as a well -known chef in Australia and around the globe, Kuruvita opened Sydney's award winning Flying Fish Restaurant in 2004. He has two more restaurants in Queensland and Fiji and the fourth one is to be opened soon. He is the author of two cook books including 'Serendip - My Sri Lankan Kitchen'

Peter Kuruvita, the Australian celebrity chef of Sri Lankan descent says world had better realise that Sri Lanka is no more a country battered by war or where boat people take to the sea.

His unique show 'My Sri Lanka with Peter Kuruvita' which showcases the culinary diversity and the rich culture of his native country, is currently telecast in over 50 countries via the acclaimed National Geographic channel.

Kuruvita whose father is a Sri Lankan hailing from Dehiwala had migrated to Australia with his family in the early 1970s as a ten- year- old but his love for his country had remained intact, if not has grown. My Sri Lanka which was a huge success in Australia and now world over, bears testimony to that.

"If you ask an aunt or grandmother about a particular vegetable or a fruit, before anything you hear them say the ayurvedic goodness of it. That passion and understanding is much deeper than saying that's a 'ripe tomato'." "If you ask a Sri Lankan how you know that, most people don't know how but this information has passed down through generations. Unfortunately, when you go to supermarkets, there's no one to tell you that and the fear is that this knowledge may fade in time to come." He says this intimation is of concern to him.

Q: You like to call yourself a chef or a TV personality?

A: I'm a cook. I think the media personality came through hardwork of being a chef. But I do enjoy it, I have been cooking for 34 years. That's what I've been doing since I was 16. And that's my job. It's been my luck and good fortune that it has slowly turned this way.

A: Most people might know me as a media personality but I have three restaurants, so I am very much still a chef.

That's my real job. I've been very lucky to have produced three TV shows. I hope there will be more because I enjoy doing them but they all revolve round what I know most which is cooking.

Q: You had a flair for cooking and the biggest credit for identifying this inborn talent should go to your Sri Lankan grandmother?

A:I was four then. I would not say my grandmother identified it. My grandmother nurtured me and part of that nurturing was being in that black kitchen with all the other women in the house.

I loved the conversation, the chatter, the arguments and all the things that happen in those houses and most of all the passion they share in food in general and cooking in particular. If you ask your aunty or grandmother about a particular vegetable or a fruit, before anything you hear them give the ayurvedic goodness of it. That passion and understanding is much deeper than saying that's a 'ripe tomato'. If you ask a Sri Lankan how you know that, most people don't know how, it's been passed down through the generations. Unfortunately, when you go to supermarkets, there's no one to tell you that and the fear is that this knowledge may fade away. That concerns me a lot.

Q: What is your favourite Sri Lankan dish?

A: My aunty's breadfruit curry.

Q: You started off as a professional chef, how did you venture into the world of television?

A: When I first started cooking I realised, what a hard job it is. I set myself some goals. I wanted to be an Executive Chef in a big hotel, I wanted to run my own restaurant, I wanted to travel the world and I wanted to find a way where I could still do what I did but take off the pressure of being in a kitchen 15 hours a day.

Once I became a head chef, I was recognised a bit - someone wanted to take a picture of the food I made and then do an interview with me. And after my first interview someone said you came up alright on TV.

The first big break I had was, many, many years ago, I was invited by the Australian Ambassador in Philadelphia to cook for some of her guests promoting Australian food.

Qantas was the official travel partner and they wanted to film an interview with me to show it in-flight. It was quite a struggle to understand it at first.

I was on board when it finally came on. It was embarrassing and I frequented the washroom throughout the show. Then someone said it looked alright.

It gave me the inspiration and I approached hosts who did TV cookery shows. These efforts got me the chance to perform a couple of times with Geoff Janz, a popular Australian Chef of Sri Lankan descent, in the '80s. It was a slow climb until I got the opportunity to make 'My Sri Lanka'.

Q: When was that?

A: We came up with the idea for 'My Sri Lanka' in 2007, sitting in a tsunami damaged resort in Hambantota lamenting the lack of positive exposure of Sri Lanka to the world. I was there filming the 'Chef and the Tea Maker for Dilmah tea'. After a few stories, we said, "why don't we film a show on Sri Lanka"? So, there sitting in my sarong, I turned to my producer and friend Henry Mottram and said, "let's do it"!

Speaking on camera I explained my love for Sri Lanka, and the frustration that Sri Lanka wasn't recognised as the beautiful place it is. We wrote the actual script in 2008. But it gathered dust till 2010.

The war on terrorism was on at the time and I guess no one wanted to get involved with a show from a war -affected country.

It took two years to convince someone to have a look at it. Once we returned to Australia, we crossed the continent trying to sell the idea, and every time I mentioned Sri Lanka, the reply was 'war' and 'boat people'. Finally SBS TV - an Australian Government owned channel focused on multicultural broadcasting - put its trust in us. When the show aired, the response was astounding.

Q: What is the secret behind the shows' success ?

A:I suppose the secret to its success was the support of the Sri Lankan people during filming, and their pride when their country was shown in a good light.

Q: How did 'My Sri Lanka with Peter Kuruvita' end up as one of the popular shows on NatGeo People?

A: 'My Sri Lanka' was picked up by National Geographic after SBS TV took it to an international television trade fair. National Geographic snapped it up quickly and it was syndicated throughout the world with viewership in over 50 countries. And now there are many millions of people who have an understanding about Sri Lankan food.

Everyone who viewed it couldn't believe what they saw and said "We can't believe this, we never knew this side of Sri Lanka".

This made us very proud. However, showcasing Sri Lanka was not my initial plan.

The plan was to have a lasting memory of my father and also to remember the times when I was in Sri Lanka, in the 1970s. When my father was alive we used to visit Sri Lanka often but when he passed away some years ago, my brothers did not continue the tradition but somehow I kept coming back.

Q: I can understand programs on crime, space and technological innovations but food? How did you grab viewers attention so well?

The presentation. We have taken painstaking efforts to preserve the authentic indigenous cooking traditions in Sri Lanka while it blends well with the country's landscape, culture and history.

Master Chef popularised cooking among the masses and it got into their heads that they could cook restaurant quality with some dedication. I really enjoyed the understanding, but I hate it when I am called a celebrity chef. I am glad that people understand now how hard it is to do what we do.

I did not want to say I was a chef when I visited Sri Lanka those days, I wanted to pretend that I was a doctor or a lawyer. Back in Australia it was not the case. The show has taught people to give more respect to chefs and the situation in Sri Lanka has also changed. Discovery of a new dish is far more important than discovery of a new star, so I think Master Chef in Australia brought that feeling into the living room and we took it a step further.

Q: You will be opening a new restaurant in Fiji in June this year. After that?

I am looking at the options. I am trying to bring my business closer to home because I spend a lot of time away from my family. My wife and I have three beautiful children. But having said that if an opportunity comes up and I think I can achieve it, it would kill me not to go out and do it.

Q: Do you plan opening one of your restaurants in Sri Lanka ?

I hope so. It's a lot more complicated than you think. A lot of things have to be taken into account. Different countries have different rules.

About two to three years ago I nearly moved in here. We were going to open a restaurant in Gregory's Road but at the last minute things did not work out right.

Next to that place near the green Karaoke bar on the Beira Lake (he pointed out from the hotel across the Beira Lake where we did the interview) would make a perfect restaurant. I would prefer a place like this if I ever decide to move in.