Rice, the major staple food of most of the Tamil people. Lunch or Dinner is usually a Meal of steamed rice, served with accompanying items, which typically include sambar, dry curry, rasam, kootu and thayir (curd) or moru (buttermilk).

Tiffin or Light meals, which is often served for breakfast or as an evening snack, usually include one or more dishes like Idli's,Pongal, Dosai, Chapati, Sevai, Vada which is of 2 kinds - (methuvadai and paruppuvadai) Vadai . Tiffin or light meals is served for breakfast or as a snack. These are usually one or more dishes like Idli, Dosai, Idiyappam, Pongal and Vadai along with coconut Chutney, Sambar and Milagai podi. Tiffin is usually accompanied by hot filter coffee, the signature beverage of the city.

• Chettinad dishes like appam, uthappam.
• Parota made with maida or all-purpose flour, perhaps similar to the north Indian wheat flour-based paratha.
• Upma, made from wheat (rava), onion, green chillies.

Sevai or idiyappam, Rice noodles made out of steamed rice cakes.

The South Indian Breakfast and meals served on a banana leaf.
Dosai, crepes made from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal (gram), and is accompanied by Sambar; also see Masala dosai

• Idli, steamed rice-cakes, prepared from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal (gram), and side-dishes are usually different kinds of chutney or sambhar
• Upma/Uppittu, prepared from semolina (rava), onion, green chillies, and certain spices
• Puliyodarai, Puli=Tamarind, thorai/thoran=fry, is an exotic Tamil dish and widely specialised among Iyengars and famous throughout Karnataka as Pulihora, it is a mixture of fried tamarind paste and cooked rice, the tamarind paste fried with sesame oil, asofoetida & fenugreek powder, dried chilly, groundnuts, urad dal, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, turmeric powder and seasoned with light jaggery and salt.
• Sambar, a thick stew of lentils with vegetables and seasoned with exotic spices
• Rasam, lentil soup with pepper, coriander and cumin seeds
• Thayir sadam, steamed rice with curd
• Sevai or Idiyappam, Rice noodles made out of steamed rice cakes.
• Appam
• kottu