Ulpotha - A Kitchen in Paradise

Serendipity: ‘The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way’ The word was coined by Horace Walpole after reading the fairy tale ‘The Three Princes of Serendip. Serendip is the ancient name of Sri Lanka, where Ulpotha, a traditional village, nestles amidst the emerald landscape’s cultural triangle and embodies serendipitous tales.

Ulpotha came about playfully, says Viren Perera, one of its founders. He was born in Sri Lanka, moved to Canada as a young boy, and returned to his homeland in his twenties, where he now continues to live. He chanced across Ulpotha (meaning ‘water spring’) on a road trip in the early 1990s with two friends, Mudiyanse Tennekoon and Manik Sandrasagara. The land and crumbling manor house (Walauwwa) were for sale and on a whim and a chance encounter with an old man’s smile, Viren found himself the new guardian of the land. Viren restored the Walauwwa house but chose to leave it without electricity or modern appliances.

A fridge could not be entertained after Tennekoon dismissively described it as a means “for keeping unfresh food”. He then suggested they start a village that embraced indigenous farming practices. They would grow a variety of crops including heritage red rice, which was becoming harder to find, and use buffalo to work the fields and thresh the crops. The embodiment of their credo was a traditional lifestyle, living with nature and natural laws.’ Carina Cooper