Growing up Sri Lankan, food was everything — pol sambol, dhal curry, kottu roti, hoppers at 7am. Flavour, spice, colour on every plate. Then I started training seriously. And suddenly I was told to eat chicken and broccoli. Every day.

I refused. Instead I spent years figuring out how to make the food I love actually work for my macros. High-protein dal. Low-fat kottu. Shakshuka under 300 calories. Ethiopian lentils with 22g of protein per bowl.

Then I went wider. Japanese, Peruvian, Korean, Moroccan — every cuisine has nutritionally incredible foundations that the fitness world completely ignores. Spicy Gains is the library I wish I'd had from the start.