Sri Lanka, Oct. 18 -- My most recent meeting with Sri Lanka's culinary legend and author of many books on the Lankan food heritage, Deshabandu Dr. Pabilis Silva (Tommadura Pubeliyes Sinno) was last Monday. I had made the appointment with him to talk especially of the native potato varieties of Sri Lanka. However, deciding that the country, at a time of another pandemic fear needed to benefit from his vastknowledge of using food for health and immunity, I decided to focus, in addition to yams,on a wide range of leafygreens that we may not have heard much about or view only as herbs.

Presented with an honorary doctorate by the Open International University of Sri Lanka in 2004 and awarded in 2017 by the then President of Sri Lanka, with th...