Like East, West and North, South is also a very important part of India. This is a very historical and old part of India which is discussed not only in books but also in films. Just as every part of India is distinct from one another, the South is also completely different from the other three regions, be it in their clothing, films, language or food. Just as the clothing, language, and lifestyle of the people of the South are distinct from those of other parts of the world, so too are their food and their culinary preferences. Normally, the food that can be prepared, served or eaten the southern part of India is to be considered as the South Indian cuisine. South Indian cuisine represents the one of the India's most ancient, diverse, and culturally rich culinary traditions. As south India can cover a large part of the India so it is very clear that the south India does not follow a single tradition rather than it is a combination of many different and small villages, districts and states so that it can also contains many different traditions because it is very common that all these states can follow different traditions and different religion and their cuisines are also different basis on their traditions and religions. The south India region is comprising the Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and the various union territories of Pondicherry and Lakshadweep Island. These union territories can offer an extraordinary spectrum of flavours. This type of flavors can basically contain all the types of flavours from tangy and spicy to subtle, coconut-rich and aromatic. The south Indian cuisine is deeply shaped by the region's tropical climate, abundant coastline, rice-dominant agriculture spices grown in the western Charts and the Dravidian cultural heritage. 

Not only for the ingredients and spices south indian cuisine is also very well known for its balance of taste and use of fermentation, rice and lentil-based staple, aromatic spice blends and can focus on the health and digestibility. Most of the south indian dishes and cuisines is purely based on rice. Most South Indian dishes are made with rice and semolina, making them light and digestible. There are lot of spices like black pepper, cardamon, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg that can be grown and cultivated in the western ghats and these types of spices can mostly be used in the south indian cuisines. As the south India can cover the plains and river basins so the cultivation of rice, millets, lentils and vegetables is also very high in that areas and the use of these edibles is also very high in south indian cuisines, or we can say that the south indian cuisines is totally based on these types of rice, millets and lentils. 

Overview of South Indian Diversity: -

As we know that the south Indian food is very famous and popular in the whole world for its unique taste and the unique dishes and more on any other things their food cuisines is very light and easily digestible. So, let's have a look on the various states that come in the southern part of India and can serve the unique cuisines and flavours. 

Tamil Nadu: - Tamil Nadu is one of the very oldest and very state of Southern part of India. The food that can be served and prepared in the Tamil Nadu is to be considered as the Tamil Cuisines. The Tamil cuisines is one of the oldest and most structured cuisine that have been dominated by rice, lentils, vegetables and aromatic dishes. The cuisine that has been made in Tamil Nadu is tamarind rich along with a combination of curry leaves and asafetida because Tamilians prefer heavy use of tamarind, curry leaves and asafetida and a balanced combination of sour, spicy and aromatic flavours. The Tamil Nadu cuisine can prepare a special type of cuisines which is a balanced of various spicy and flavours which includes a sweet, spicy, tangy and less spicy flavors in a single dish. As an instance let consider a Tamil cuisine sambar where sambar is rich in various vegetables, lentils and is a combination of various spices and tanginess and the sambar can be served with dosa and idli which is crunchy and usually very mild in the spiciness and can have very light in all the flavours. That is very helpful to balance the spices and flavours with sambar. 

Kerala: - Kerala is another important part of South India. Kerala also covers a vast area of Southern part of India and the food that have been prepared and served in the Kerala is usually refers to as Kerala cuisines. The cuisine of Kerala is unique and different from the other states of south India because the cuisine that have been made in the Kerala is full of coconut because the Karelians like coconut so much and they use coconut in their dishes in various forms. The Kerala cuisine is very unique for its use of coconut in multiple forms, seafood richness and mild soothing flavors that can enhance the flavours of all the dishes. 

Karnataka: - The Karnataka is another important part of south India and the food that can be prepared and served in the Karnataka is mostly referred to as Karnataka cuisines. The Karnataka cuisines is very similar to the other states of cuisines. Karnataka cuisines range from mild and can have coconut-rich coastal dishes which is very similar to the spicy northern style foods. The Karnataka people like to add jaggery for the sweetness in their dishes.  The cuisines of Karnataka are on the spicy side but to balance the spiciness with the sweetness they added jaggery a type of natural sugar in their cuisines that can also help to give a creamy texture to the dishes. Not only the jaggery they can also use the coconut and poppy seeds in their gravies that is mostly used to thicken the gravy and can also be helpful to give a creamy texture to the gravies and as we already said they can add the jaggery for the sweetness. So, the combination of the jaggery, coconut and poppy seeds can give a unique taste and unique flavor to the Karnataka cuisines.