Founder of Hop and Roll, Rosheana Olivelle explains her quest to show Brits how to make hoppers at home
Words: Tina Edward Gunawardhana
Photographs: Tara Rudd
Brit Sri Lankan Rosheana Olivelle delicately balances life as a part time lawyer and an entrepreneur. She founded her business Hop & Roll in 2019 as she had always wanted to start a business with a Sri Lankan flavour. Brought up eating authentic Sri Lankan cuisine, Rosheana could never comprehend why Sri Lankan food wasn’t popular in the UK. She set herself a task to learn how to make hoppers and curries using family recipes and started selling hoppers with various curries and sambals at London’s many food markets. With its crispy edges perfect for dipping into thick curries, the business took off and now Rosheana has embarked on a journey to teach the Brits how to make hoppers at home through her hopper making kits.
In which markets do you run your stalls?
I trade as a pop-up mainly, for Venn Street Market, Clapham Common and I also run supper clubs and restaurant pop-us at a south London venue. I also have a series of in-person cooking lessons which have sold out! I’ve also catered a number of private and corporate events, our latest being at Pinewood Studios catering for the film crew! I am also a member of Kerbfood. I was selected pretty much immediately by Kerbfood for their InKERBator scheme, which accelerated me massively.
Why do you think people are so enamoured with the hopper?
Well, hoppers are notoriously hard to make. In Sri Lanka people hardly make them at home and have chefs to come round and cater for them, or they buy hoppers, so I think that’s why Sri Lankans seem to be in awe of anyone that can cook them quickly to a high standard, especially in the UK. Also I think people who have visited Sri Lanka on holiday have a special love of hoppers as they are so iconic to Sri Lanka and is such a memorable, unique dish. Many of my guests have eaten my food and said that it transports them back to their time in Sri Lanka, which is exactly what I want to achieve.
