Every cuisine video worth watching in Kerala — in one place

Kerala cuisine separates from the rest of India on two axes creators consistently flag: coconut milk replaces dairy as the sauce base, and souring agents like tamarind and kokum balance the chilli heat rather than yogurt or cream [via Every Indian Food]. The set-piece meal is the sadya — a vegetarian feast served on a banana leaf, eaten right-to-left, covering sambar, rice, thoran (raw banana and beans), kalan (pumpkin in yogurt gravy), avial, rasam, papadam and payasam made from jaggery, coconut milk and rice [via 10 BEST Places]. Onam is the canonical occasion, but restaurants like Beth Saroovaram in Kochi serve it year-round. The Christian-Portuguese coastline adds a parallel non-vegetarian register: appam with squid pepper roast, prawns and pumpkin in coconut milk, and fish marinated in ginger-palm-sugar sauce and steamed in banana leaf [via My favourite city]. Snack culture matters here — the Five Star banana-chip operation runs Peri Peri, black pepper, jackfruit and tapioca variants, and Sri Krishna Cafe in Mattancherry has been serving masala dosa, puri-sabzi and dahi vada for 75 years [via 10 BEST Places].

The “10 BEST Places to Visit in KERALA” video is the most thorough single reference — it walks through the sadya order, the Kalady context near Kochi, and the banana-chip factory in one sequence. Pair it with “My favourite city in India - Kochi food & travel guide” for the Syrian Christian and Indo-Portuguese end of the menu the vegetarian-focused videos skip, including Oceanos and Farmers Cafe as named anchors. Watch the first for the canonical thali, the second for the fish course.