Vegetarian ethnic foods of South India: review on the influence of traditional knowledge

South Indian cultures are diverse and unique amongst Indian traditions. In spite of many changes in Indian traditions over generations, South Indian states seem to have maintained a great extent of similarity with reference to vegetarian ethnic food habits and the reason behind is not convincingly known. Hindu traditional texts have extensive mention of the ethnic origins of many cultural practices prevailing in India and the present review aims to explore the different vegetarian ethnic foods of South India and also look into the influential role of food related ideologies mentioned in the traditional texts. Ethnographic study data about the prevailing vegetarian foods of the states were generated using multiple tools and presented. It is observed that there is a great extent of similarity amongst the varieties of vegetarian foods being prepared in Hindu communities of South India. Our study also highlights the strong influential role of tradition in evolution of vegetarian foods prevailing even today in South India. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s42779-022-00156-1.