Cuisine of Kerala has been influenced by Christians and Arabs. Coconut is one of the major ingredients of most of the dishes. Grated coconut and coconut milk are widely used in dishes and curries. As Kerala is a coastal state many sea- and river-food based dishes have also been a part of its cuisine. Rice is also the staple food of the Keralites. Tapioca along with fish curry is a major delicacy of the state. Many spices are grown in Kerala and they have an important role in the cuisine of the state too.

Breakfast Items
The breakfast dishes include Puttu and kadala, idli, sambar, dosa and chutney, Idiyappam, Paal-Appam. Idiyapam and Paalappam are had with vegetable stew or with chicken or mutton or beef curry. Other items include Upmav, chapati and so on.

Lunch and Dinner Items
Rice is had during the lunch. Parboiled rice is preferred by the Keralites. Kanji a kind of rice porridge is also well-liked. Rice is accompanied with one or more curries. It includes sauteed vegetables or uperi, rasam, buttermilk or simply curd, Kalan, sambhar or parippu curry. Vegetarian dishes include sambar, aviyal, thoran, pulisherry, olan, erisherry, puliinji, payaru, pacchadi and so on.

Non-vegetarian dishes include stew made of chicken, beef, lamb, fish or duck. Chicken curry, chicken fry, fish curry, fish fry, lobster fry, Spicy Beef Fry, Spicy Steamed Fish. Biriyani is a common dish especially in Northern Kerala. It is cooked in various styles.

Sadya is a typical lunch which is had during occasions. A Sadya is served on a banana leaf in a clockwise manner. It is complemented by payasam, a sweet dessert. Payasam is the most popular dessert. Popular snacks include Unniappam, pazham-pori and kozhakkatta, muruku, pakavda,acchappam, banana chips, halwa and many more to be mentioned.

In North Kerala podi-patthiri, a flat thin rice chapatti made from a boiled mash of rice baked on a thava and dipped in coconut milk is very common. The ari-pattahri is a thicker version made from parboiled rice and flattened out on a cloth or banana leaf to prevent it from sticking. A distinctive and unusual sweet is mutta-mala (egg garlands), chain like strings of egg yolk cooked in sugar syrup but later removed from it, and frequently served with a snow like pudding called pinnanthappam made from the separated egg whites which have been whisked up with the remaining sugar syrup, steamed and cut into diamond shapes.