Sri Lanka - Spotlight on Asia Month

Welcome to Asia! This month we're shining a light on the continent of Asia and to begin, Quizmaster Sups is exploring the country of Sri Lanka. He has discovered four big facts about the nation, but one of them is a lie. Join hosts Andi and Tanner as they put their knowledge to the test to guess which fact is false! 

Transcript

Tanner 0:01

I have no strong opinion if it's true or

Andi 0:03

false. Yeah, The dish sounds very interesting. I I would be pretty surprised Actually, you know now that I'm thinking I'm like soups could have invented that

Tanner 0:12

dish. Yeah.

Andi 0:14

So I think this one is not going to come down to, can I remember? Because let's be real, we can't. It's going to come down to, do the other ones sound more possible? Well, do you know Canada's national dish? Yeah, see, Hello and welcome to this episode of I Should Have Known, the trivia game show that can't be trusted. Each week one of our quiz masters will present you with four facts about a topic, but one of those facts is a lie. And for this month we are putting the spotlight on Asia. So we'll be doing episodes celebrating the many countries and cultures. Of the world's largest continent, and to start out, our quiz master this week is Supes. And he's going to be presenting you with four facts about Sri Lanka. But remember, one of his facts is a lie, so join me, Andy, and our other host, Tanner, in figuring out which one it is.

Sups 1:04

host,

Andi 1:04

I think Yes.

Tanner 1:05

Hey, what's up? I think it's good that you're inaugurating the Asian one.

Andi 1:07

that's the problem.

Sups 1:09

out Wow, that's a lot of responsibility.

Andi 1:13

Yeah, you are here, you represent your entire continent.

Tanner 1:16

Yes.

Andi 1:17

No, no, no.

Sups 1:18

Okay. So about Sri Lanka. We'll embark on an extraordinary journey. journey, to this Island Nation.

Tanner 1:26

Great.

Sups 1:26

fOur big facts about this country. One of them, I made it up. But before we get going Where is Sri

Tanner 1:32

south of India.

Sups 1:33

south of India. Oh, wow. Well done.

Andi 1:35

It's a little, it's like teardrop shaped island.

Sups 1:39

let's do our pqq pub quiz question of the week

Andi 1:43

It wasn't where is Sri Lanka?

Tanner 1:46

Lanka?

Sups 1:47

What is the capital of Sri Lanka? Yes and no. Colombo is no longer the capital. It was recently changed To Sri Jai Vardhanepurakoti.

Andi 1:59

Great. Oh,

Tanner 2:01

that was my second guess.

Sups 2:02

So they moved all the admin buildings and everything. Colombo is still like, I mean, people still consider it the capital, but it's not the official capital of Sri Lanka.

Tanner 2:12

Wow. what was the name again?

Sups 2:13

Okay,

Tanner 2:15

Okay, All right. Just don't ask me to spell that.

Sups 2:18

ask me so, you ready for the facts? Ready. fact number one. Srimambo Bandaranaike, who served as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, was the world's first female Prime Minister.

Tanner 2:32

All right.

Andi 2:33

I'm

Tanner 2:34

I'm having flashbacks to our discussion of female leaders.

Andi 2:42

About things that there are fewer than a hundred of

Tanner 2:44

yeah, yeah.

Andi 2:45

and female heads of state or government was one of them and I do feel like I remember this

Tanner 2:52

SSRI Lanka was mentioned. Yeah. I have no strong opinion if it's true or

Andi 2:57

false. Yeah,

Sups 2:58

Okay, so. Sri Lanka was ruled by the Portuguese, then the Dutch, and then the British. The country was granted independence from the British on 4th February, 1948. Then it remained as a commonwealth and finally became a republic in 1972. So, Srimavo Bandaranaike's husband, Solomon Bandaranaike, was the fourth prime minister. Of independent Sri Lanka. and he was assassinated in office in 1959. He was shot by a Buddhist monk. And Yes. So, his wife, Shimabo was then chosen as like the chairperson of the party. She had no background in politics. and then she became The fifth prime minister.

Andi 3:41

oh, because the prime minister is not elected by the people directly. the party is elected by the people and then the party picks the prime minister.

Sups 3:50

Right. That's why whoever is the head of the party. Right. In a way becomes the prime

Andi 3:54

Yeah. So that may be as confusing

Sups 3:56

Yeah. I mean, we should do an episode on like different government systems,

Tanner 4:00

that would be fun. Parliamentary

Sups 4:03

elections. Yeah, exactly.

Andi 4:04

Oh, boy.

Tanner 4:05

So I guess the question there is, was there someone before her, right? Because we have these dates and the history of her and her

Andi 4:12

Right. It does seem like, okay, she existed, this whole story, Supes didn't make up. It's the fact, going back to the fact, is that where the lie is, Was there somebody else in some other country?

Tanner 4:24

Yeah,

Andi 4:25

it's also one of those facts where you're like, who should have known

Tanner 4:27

Yeah, this is, this should be a well known

Andi 4:29

thing. Yeah, so it's like, oh no. I'm not sure. It's a very easy, just, there's one other one, facts done. So I think this one is not going to come down to, can I remember? Because let's be real, we can't. It's going to come down to, do the other ones sound more possible? So we're going to have to hear more.

Sups 4:47

All right. Fact number two. The word serendipity is said to have originated from serendip, which is an old name for Sri Lanka.

Tanner 4:57

Oh, This is a fun one.

Andi 4:59

Serendipity

Tanner 5:01

Serendipity is a really weird word.

Sups 5:03

So first, Merriam Webster defines it as the phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. The word was coined by Horace Walpole, who was an English writer and politician.. he was also a man of letters. He wrote some 3000 letters in his lifetime. was inspired by a fairy tale called The Three Princes of Serendip, which is an adaptation of the Persian poem, Serendip was actually an archaic name for Sri Lanka, specifically the Arabs gave them This name. Which actually came from the Sanskrit word Simhaladweepa, which means the dwelling place of Lion's Island, So when the Arabs were trading with Indians, that's how they heard this name..

Andi 5:50

Okay.

Tanner 5:51

A.

Sups 5:51

So, Horace Walpole explained his creation in a letter dated January 28, 1754.. I once read a silly fairy tale called the Three Princes of Serendipity. As their Highnesses travel they were always making discoveries by accidents and sagacity of things, which they were not in Quest of now. do you understand? Serendipity.

Tanner 6:14

spend some hmm.

Andi 6:16

Yeah. I'm obviously instantly skeptical. Mm-Hmm. because. sounds very much like a folk etymology, we had an episode on etymology where we talked about what a folk etymology is because like words are actually pretty boring. So humans like to invent these stories of like, oh, it's from something else So, I'm very skeptical on that but at the same time there are some words that are like this where this story would be real.

Tanner 6:42

One

Andi 6:43

One thing I was thinking is I thought Sri Lanka had a different old timey name. But I can't remember. Yeah,

Sups 6:51

different full name.

Andi 6:52

The British. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Tanner 6:55

It is a very colorful story, like with him writing the letter and the explanation and this fairy tale that they say and the name coming from many different peoples, like. Yeah, that sounds like a good story, like you're

Andi 7:08

Yeah, and the time period tracks. So this would be in the same era as like Jonathan Swift and Voltaire. Like, it sounds very Candide.

Tanner 7:16

They're talking about like, fantasy

Andi 7:18

Yeah, and we know that many words like this, you know, Lilliputian and

Tanner 7:24

and

Andi 7:25

PanAsian, like these words come from those stories, and we know that. Right? So that makes, this could be another one of those. Oh, I'm thrown off a little bit by the ending.

Tanner 7:37

Like how he made it into

Andi 7:38

a IIE because there are lots of idy words into

Tanner 7:40

a noun. Yeah. Serendipity Okay.

Sups 7:44

But this word, serendipity, was obscure for a long time. It was rarely used. It's only became famous in the 20th century.

Tanner 7:55

using it well then how did it get out into the world? You know, like he wrote it to one person. Did he use it that much? Was he talking?

Andi 8:02

Well I think it was in the book he's saying. That was a word he used in the book. And then he explained to his friend how he came up with this word,

Tanner 8:09

huh. So, like, whenever someone says that they made up a word, I'm very skeptical. Cause it's like, well, how does it spread that much, you know? Yeah, that's, that's a very interesting story. I'm... very skeptical of it,

Andi 8:21

Yeah, and it's like also the trick of like, I could believe someone on the internet said

Tanner 8:25

Yeah, I've never heard the fairy tale, never heard this name, so.

Andi 8:30

It's got Gulliver's Travels and Candide vibes. Yeah.

Tanner 8:34

So now I have sort of a frame here. The first one sounds more believable, the second one sounds less, so let's hear the third.

Andi 8:40

Yeah.

Sups 8:41

Okay. Well, whenever we travel to Asia. it can be that we don't talk about food, right? So yeah,

Andi 8:47

that we don't talk about

Sups 8:49

episode have you had Sri Lankan food before? Just before I go on with

Tanner 8:54

go on. I don't think So, No. I

Sups 8:56

I Machher Malai Curry is the national dish of Sri Lanka.

Andi 9:03

Srinagar share the same roots

Sups 9:06

Even though both India and Sri Lanka share the same roots for cuisine, there's some clear distinction between Indian and Sri Lankan curries. First is the generous use of coconut milk.. Second, Sri Lankan curries are more broth like. Indian curries are thicker, more sauce. Yeah.

Tanner 9:26

Yeah.

Sups 9:27

And then the spices that I use are different. In Sri Lanka, they use a lot more blended spice. in India. you use like cumin, coriander separately, Like you put them. Yeah. So they just mix multiple, and then cardamom

Tanner 9:40

Mm-Hmm.

Andi 9:41

uh,

Sups 9:41

cinnamon. is the land of cinnamon. Sri Lanka. Yeah. So, Chingri Macher Malai Malai means clotted cream. Okay, it's a major ingredient for making desserts in the subcontinent. Chingri is used for both prawn and shrimp, but mostly refers to jumbo prawns. This is a rich coconut gravy made from coconut cream and coconut milk. And when you break down the words, malai curry literally means cream curry. This dish is cooked on all celebratory occasion and feasts, especially when the son in law visits his wife's family for the first time for dinner.

Andi 10:21

Mm.

Tanner 10:22

Okay. I like the breakdown of the different words. or the Different parts of the words.'cause then it makes it easier for me to

Andi 10:28

make, so it's basically shrimp cream curry.

Tanner 10:30

Yep. I was very surprised when you said the clotted cream. Yeah.'cause I don't associate that with Asia so

Andi 10:37

Like milk, dairy products, yeah. Especially southern Asia. But it's not, it's coconut

Tanner 10:43

It's coconut milk. which makes so much more sense. yeah.

Sups 10:46

Malai is a generic word for clotted cream. It is also for cow. This

Andi 10:52

but this one is the coconut version. Yeah, that's you can make clotted cream with other milks, I suppose Okay, I mean The dish sounds very interesting. I I would be pretty surprised Actually, you know now that I'm thinking I'm like soups could have invented that

Tanner 11:06

dish. Yeah.

Andi 11:07

You know, I could have just made that dish up. I mean, it's just creamy coconutty shrimp curry but also foods fit the cuisine of the region as far as I know, which is limited but something so like I Don't know now. I'm like thinking like oh man soups is a good cook, you know So like soups could have made that up it sounds like a real dish. I mean, like, I can't imagine that no one ever put shrimp and cream together in a curry before. So, like, that's tricky. And it's the big fact is that it is the national dish. So that's another area where it's like, if we believe the dish is real and invented by Sri Lankans and not soups, there's still the, question of, is it the national dish? And if it isn't, Is the national dish something that Supes thinks we should know? Because it's a That's very tricky. But this

Tanner 11:57

Yikes.

Andi 11:59

is the first one where I'm like, I could see where Supes made something up.

Tanner 12:04

Huh. I would put this one on the skeptical scale I would say this is in between the first two. believing it more than the second one.

Andi 12:12

Yeah. Would you eat that?

Tanner 12:14

Absolutely. I would eat I would order that in a

Andi 12:16

heartbeat. Sounds really good. Yeah. Yeah.

Tanner 12:18

Might have to get some later today.

Andi 12:19

Well, we could ask Supes to make it for us since he invented it.

Tanner 12:22

us yeah. Get that recipe.

Sups 12:24

Okay, okay, alright. Alright,

Andi 12:26

All right. Okay, so getting places now. We're learning a lot of things. Yeah, we have one more

Sups 12:32

alright, so the fact number four. Sri Lanka switched to tea cultivation because their coffee plantations wiped out in less than a decade.

Tanner 12:44

a decade. If this fact

Andi 12:47

If this fact is true, then it doesn't.

Sups 12:50

we all know about Sri Lankan tea, One of the top exporters. of tea worldwide, Just behind China.

Andi 12:57

And the fact that it's so much smaller than China really says a lot, you

Sups 13:01

Yeah. But yes, but Sri Lanka actually started out with coffee. Coffee was introduced to Sri Lanka by the Arabs. And then when the Dutch ruled the country, they sort of looked after the plantations. In the olden days, Sri Lanka exported almost 50, 000 tons of coffee per year.

Tanner 13:20

of coffee per

Sups 13:21

In 1869, Lanka's coffee plantations suffered a new plant disease called coffee rust. As a result, the entire enterprise was destroyed in less than a decade.

Tanner 13:34

less

Sups 13:34

so. the first recorded tea plant in Sri Lanka was from 1824, when, like, the Britishers bought over a few leaves as like, an experiment. It was non commercial. Then they got some leaves bought in from a salmon Calcutta and after the washout of the coffee industry, the country pivoted towards tea. A Scotsman named James Taylor, he was the pioneer, He sent the first shipment of Sri Lankan tea. to the London tea auction in 1875. And by 1965, Sri Lanka became the world's largest tea exporter. And then China took over.

Andi 14:04

So. So. glad we brought up tea and I'm, I also appreciate that you couldn't talk about tea without dropping a little Assam mention in there.

Sups 14:11

without I have

Tanner 14:12

Got to do that.

Andi 14:13

Gotta just drop that in there. I like that. So like it made perfect sense was like there was brought coffee to Sri Lanka because that's exactly where it would grow

Tanner 14:21

well. Right. It's between the tropics. So it can grow coffee.

Andi 14:24

Yeah. But then I was thinking, I was like, yeah, why have I never heard Sri Lankan coffee? I mean, I think now they must have some

Sups 14:33

They do have some, but now it's more like, what is it,

Andi 14:36

what is it, Artisan? Yeah, right,

Sups 14:37

coffee. They're not like a commercial.

Andi 14:39

Yeah, right. They're not a big name in And then, so this story about like that timing like in the 19th century, it's like that's when the British get in there and they're like, tea baby, all the tea. I mean, I don't have any reason to not believe this one.

Tanner 14:54

Right. To me, The fact that it was wiped out in a decade is kind of surprising, but also I know that plants can really get messed up when they're like a monoculture sort of thing. And I would expect they would be if they were brought in from one, species. But, The fact that it was then replaced by tea, I think is... Definitely true.

Andi 15:11

Yeah, that, that tracks like yeah, exactly. We know they do tea. So the story of how do you become such a giant in tea production? Well, if you got nothing else going on Yeah. so it could kind of make sense, but compared to the other facts, there's just to me so much less to question. I mean, literally, did we think soups invented an entire like coffee

Tanner 15:32

Sufjan has an entire, like,

Andi 15:33

and just upon all the coffee and just is like,

Tanner 15:36

yeah, He hates Sri Lankan coffee that much.

Andi 15:39

right. Yeah. He's like, I'm going to make up a fact

Tanner 15:41

trash. It should have been destroyed in the 1800s.

Andi 15:45

Right? Like, so this is a very interesting, unbelievable fact, but in a way that sounds

Tanner 15:52

Yeah. it's one of those nuggets from history that's like, oh wow, no way.

Andi 15:56

Yeah. Like, I think it would be harder to invent this fact than to just say it.

Tanner 16:01

Hmm. I like this one,

Andi 16:03

like the coffee one.

Sups 16:04

Oh,

Andi 16:04

Are

Tanner 16:05

Big surprise

Andi 16:06

at all?

Sups 16:07

That's why I tried to cater to your interest, like linguistics, coffee, food, you know,

Andi 16:12

Okay. Well, wow. This was really informative. Except you've been lying to us about... The wonderful country of Sri Lanka. So could you please repeat your four facts and then we will make our official guesses at which one we think is a lie.

Sups 16:26

Sure. Fact number one, Shrimavo Bandaranaike, who served as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, was the world's first female Prime Minister. Fact number two, the word Serendipity is said to have originated from serendib, which is an old name for Sri Lanka. Fact number three, Chingri is the national dish of Sri Lanka. And fact number four, Sri Lanka switched to tea cultivation because their coffee plantations wiped out in less than a decade.

Andi 17:07

As skeptical as I am about etymologies and folk etymologies, I think that one might actually be real. Like that would be a really super impressive lie So he he nailed that era is like that's exactly when they were like talking about shangri la like made up fantasy places in Asia and Writing these epic journeys unlike you know all these travelers going like to the moon or to all these fantastical places and inventing Weird words, which we actually still use. So it's either it's real or Supes just stole one of those and is making up, and I think that's probably not what happened.

Tanner 17:44

Yeah, I really like that way of thinking. if it's not Serendip was this island then it's like Nepal or Toti bat, like it's some other Exotic place I think that would be the lie.

Andi 17:56

Yeah, that could be. I think that he invented that dish though.

Tanner 18:00

Then you have to say it.

Andi 18:01

What? Yeah.

Tanner 18:01

You have to say the name of the dish now.

Andi 18:03

of it. I hate you so much. Okay. Chingri Macher Malai Curry. I think he invented that because... I know Stoops, he's a good cook, he could invent a curry. And he knows we don't know so

Sups 18:15

invent it for you. And who knows, we don't

Tanner 18:20

I don't know if you're gonna

Andi 18:21

I was also like, okay, the way he just like ripped through that name of that word, like, I'm like, you were sitting and practicing this, cause like, you don't speak Sinhala, I don't think, like, what am I supposed to learn new things about soups? So, feel like maybe that's what happened. I feel like he invented that one.

Tanner 18:39

I think that he knows the name because it's the national dish of the neighboring country to his.

Andi 18:44

Well, do you know Canada's national dish? Yeah, see, what's

Sups 18:47

Putin. Mexico's national

Andi 18:49

Mexico's national dish? You know what I mean? Like, that argument doesn't really

Tanner 18:52

gonna get roasted by Mexicans if I try to

Andi 18:54

water. you know what I'm saying though? I don't know if that's a great argument,

Sups 18:58

Okay. well, time to make your choices.

Tanner 19:01

That's right. Yeah. Okay. You mentioned that curry. Okay. you got the curry. I can go with serendipity.

Sups 19:07

Okay.

Andi 19:07

See how serendipitous this is.

Sups 19:10

Okay so, let's start with the good news, which is that fact one. and four are true, Shimabo, she was the world's first female and then there was coffee plantation, So Fact number three is a lie, And actually, the lie was written all throughout the fact, as I was saying. First of all, this dish exists. I did not make it up. It's one of my favorite dish. Like, I would love to have invented this, but When I was describing curries, I said Indian curries are thicker, Sri Lankan curries are more broth like, And then when I described this, I said this is

Andi 19:46

cream, and it's

Sups 19:46

rich coconut gravy yeah. So, the reason why I could spell this dish so well, even though I don't speak Sinhala.

Andi 19:54

Sinhala.

Sups 19:54

is a Bengali

Tanner 19:55

dish. There we go. There we

Andi 19:57

a

Tanner 19:59

me. Yeah.

Andi 20:00

And the second

Sups 20:05

should have, I should have made it like harder

Tanner 20:06

you. Yeah.

Sups 20:07

to,

Tanner 20:07

Right. And

Andi 20:08

have

Sups 20:09

near Sri Lanka. No, no. Matsher Malai Curry is like a very traditional Bengali dish. The Description and everything. is true And the other part is that, These jumbo prawns, are found in freshwater.

Tanner 20:22

That's how

Sups 20:23

That's nice.

Andi 20:23

I like river shrimp?

Tanner 20:24

shrimp. So

Sups 20:25

Yes.

Tanner 20:25

island

Andi 20:26

So yeah, not in the ocean. Man, if I knew more about shrimp, I have gotten that in a hot sec.

Sups 20:31

yeah.

Tanner 20:31

Do You know how to make it?

Sups 20:32

Yes,

Tanner 20:33

Oh, okay. Well, I know what

Sups 20:34

yeah.

Andi 20:36

Well, first, you have to marry his daughter and

Tanner 20:38

right, right. right. Okay.

Andi 20:40

all right, great. Cool. have known.

Tanner 20:42

should have known.

Andi 20:43

Thanks for listening to this episode of I should have known. We'll be continuing exploring Asia the rest of the month. Until next week. I will be your quiz master and I will be talking about dumplings. So if this episode made you hungry, get ready for that. This was just the Amuse bouche And as always,

Tanner 21:02

Oh No

Andi 21:04

think the second fact for the