“Most people here aren’t familiar with Sri Lankan food, and I want to change that. What people really want from a culinary point of view is a common ground. So if I can relate my food to where I grew up, it’s easier for people to accept. You have to give them a gateway.”
Meet Sam Fore
Sam Fore is a Sri Lankan-American chef and recipe developer based in Lexington, Kentucky. Her pop up, Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites, crisscrosses the country to bring her Sri Lanka meets the South dishes to diners far and wide. She started the pop up in 2016, after traditional Sri Lankan brunches in her home outgrew her dining room. Fore’s cooking is a reflection of her Sri Lankan upbringing in the American South; her dishes include her spin on Southern classics as well as new riffs on her family's time-tested recipes. Her recipes can be found in multiple national publications and across the web — her take on tomato pie graced the cover of Food & Wine in 2019. She was named one of Plate Magazine’s Chefs to Watch (2018), was one of Southern Living’s inaugural Cooks of the Year (2020) and was named one of Taste of the South’s Taste50 (2022). In 2021 she joined the cast of Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, which airs nationally on PBS stations. In 2023, Fore was honored by the James Beard Foundation Awards as a Finalist for Best Chef: Southeast. Fore plans to open the Tuk Tuk Snack Shop in Lexington, Kentucky by Fall 2023.
Articles
Southern Living 2020 Cooks of the Year
Like many Southern chefs, Samantha Fore has devoted fans who adore her fried chicken and shrimp and grits. But for Fore, those familiar dishes are gateways to expand people’s palates and minds. At Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites™, her traveling pop-up based in Lexington, Kentucky, the chicken is brined in a buttermilk-curry mixture and the shrimp is flavored with lemongrass, ginger, and lime and served over coconut rice grits. (read more)
Chefs to Watch 2018: Samantha Fore, Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites, Lexington, Ky.
“These are the flavors I grew up with at home, and food from home is what resonates with people. Southern and Sri Lankan food are not the same animal, but they have a common thread of hospitality.” (read more)
Samantha Fore’s Roving Pop-Up Is Hooking Americans on Sri Lankan Food
Fore has since cooked everywhere from the Atlanta Food & Wine Festival to a takeover event at Chinese-American restaurant Mei Mei in Boston. She can now count everyone from food writer and editor John T. Edge to Padma Lakshmi as fans. Fore is also a regular fixture at the aforementioned popular Brown in the South dinners, which she says is integral to her success. [link]
Video
Made by hand: sri lankan spice blends - Chefsfeed
Those who have come to understand and wield the volatile power of spices describe them in terms closer to art or architectural criticism than recipe speak.
This is exactly how Chef Samantha Fore talks about spices.
Cumin, Fore explains, is dimension, a thread held and repeated between the cultures of the world. Cinnamon is familiarity, a totemic curl of bark to return to again and again. Coriander is winsome and approachable, a warm flexible teacher, and cardamom, which floated in teeth-cracking whole pods in the curries of her childhood, is versatility.
Chef Samantha Fore: "To tell our stories, we have to be unapologetic."
Lexington - based Chef Samantha Fore discusses the imperative for females in the culinary space to present themselves boldly. From Kentucky To The World's Spring 2020 program, The Future of Food Is Female.
snack hard with sam fore
Tamarind and grilled cheese? People might not think this is a pair that goes together, but in the wise words of chef and #FriendofMilkStreet Sam Fore: “they are wrong.”
Podcasts
Sri Lanka, Meet Kentucky!: Sam Fore Mixes It Up - milk street radio
Sam Fore, the chef behind the pop-up Tuk Tuk Sri Lankan Bites, tells us about the similarities between Sri Lankan and Southern cuisine. Watch her on Vivian Howard's PBS show, "Somewhere South," and look out for her in several national culinary publications.
Chef Samantha Fore Joins This Week's Episode of Biscuits & Jam- southern living
On today's program, Samantha shares her personal journey, why Lexington is one of the South's culinary hotspots, and which country music superstar will always eat at Tuk Tuk for free.
Communal Table Podcast with kat kinsman: Sam Fore
When it comes to calling out cruddy behavior, chef Sam Fore has never been afraid to speak her mind. Growing up as a first-generation Sri Lankan American in North Carolina, she had a supportive community (and a mom who always warned her about how her mouth would get her in trouble—not that she listened) but outside of it, she began to question why the rules and standards were different for her than for her white peers. Fore's sense of justice and fearlessness has only strengthened over the years, and she joined Communal Table for a lively and frank discussion about growing up brown in the South, why it's important to question your preconceived notions, accidentally becoming a chef, and standing up for vulnerable people.
Tuk Tuk Chicken Wings
Dust thawed party wings with the fried chicken spice and allow to sit for an hour. Halfway through, add a splash of buttermilk and massage it into the party wings with the spice. Pat dry 30 minutes later, and fry at 325 degrees for 7-8 minutes. Sprinkle curry leaf salt (coming soon!) or kosher salt to season, and add a squeeze of lime juice for a fun zip.
Tuk Tuk Fried chicken bites
Cut boneless, skinless chicken thighs into bite sized pieces. Mix 2 tsp seasoning to 1 cup buttermilk or yogurt, coat the pieces and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Dredge and fry until crisp and golden - serve with a lime wedge
Spice Roasted chicken
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine 1 stick softened, unsalted butter with 1.5 tbsp seasoning. Rub under and on whole chicken skin — season lightly with kosher salt and black pepper. Place chicken into a roasting pan and place in oven - a 4 lb chicken should be done in about 90 minutes. Cook until internal temp reaches 165 degrees or when juices run clear. Allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
Get in touch
Please use this form for all inquiries. Event schedules and pop ups are announced on social media.
Catering is not offered.
There are plans for a brick and mortar in Lexington, Kentucky, mid to late 2023.