Sri Lanka’s embassy in Rome has won the Best Food award at the Commonwealth Food Fair for a third consecutive year, the mission has reported. The event was held at the Roma Cricket Ground on 26 September, alongside the Commonwealth Club Cricket Cup, Colombo Gazette reported on Friday.
The embassy team also finished third in the cricket tournament and received the Best Team Jersey trophy, according to the mission. It describes the jersey as combining maroon and gold with lion and lotus imagery alongside landmarks of Rome.
The programme was organised by the Commonwealth Club of Rome with UISP Roma, under the patronage of the Italian Cricket Federation.
What was on the stall
The embassy took part with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, pairing food promotion with destination marketing at a cricket fixture.
The Sri Lankan stall was catered by Suresh Food & Drinks Restaurant in Rome, run by Suresh Kekulthotuwage. Its menu ran to kottu, chicken fried rice, pol roti with seeni sambol, vegetable rolls, chicken patties and watalappan, served with Ceylon tea.
The embassy and the tourism bureau also handed out information on Sri Lankan cultural heritage, destinations, beaches and wildlife.
Ambassador Satya Rodrigo spoke about cricket’s role in bringing Sri Lankan communities together in an interview with Gazzetta Diplomatica at the venue.
Five teams, and a three-year record
Five teams played, according to the embassy: the diplomatic missions of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, a United Nations side representing the Rome-based agencies, the Commonwealth Club of Rome, and a combined Rome International–University of Cassino team that included students from India and Pakistan.
The mission’s account of its own record is internally consistent. Sri Lanka first entered in 2024, finishing second in the cricket and winning Best Food; it retained the food title in 2025 while finishing third; and it has now won the food award again in 2026, third in the cricket for a second year. That gives three food wins in three appearances — the “third consecutive year” the embassy claims.
Italy hosts one of the larger Sri Lankan communities in Europe, and the mission’s activity there runs beyond consular work — this desk has previously reported on the conversion of Sri Lankan driving licences in Italy.
Not reported
The event took place on 26 September and was reported thirteen days later; the account does not explain the gap.
Every detail here comes from the embassy’s own statement, which Colombo Gazette reproduces and attributes as such. There is no independent account of the judging: the report does not say who judged the food category, on what criteria, or how many stalls competed for it — the five teams named are cricket sides, not necessarily food entrants.
It does not give the result of the tournament beyond Sri Lanka’s third place, name the winners, or say how many people attended. The mission thanked the tourism bureau and community contributors but the report does not say what the participation cost or who funded the stall.
No other verified newsroom appears to have carried the story. It was picked up by aggregator sites, which do not count as independent corroboration, and this report rests on the Colombo Gazette account alone.
Sources: Sri Lanka reports third consecutive food award in Rome — Colombo Gazette, 9 October.
