It starts with the invitation to the meal, usually morning breakfast, by the host and hostess - who bustle around in a crowd of relatives - to the dining hall. Shiny clean banana leaves are spread in neat rows and guests sit on the floor on mats on rectangular boards, (though tables and chairs are common these days) wiping off their leaves and rolling up their sleeves in preparation to eat.

Morning tiffin For breakfast, pongal (a spiced and nut-dotted dal-rice melange similar to khichri) is a hot favourite, eaten with a spicy eggplant gotsu or coconut chutney or tamarind sauce. Idli is also served with coconut and onion chutneys, sambhar and gunpowder. Making the start of the day sweeter is kesari (a semolina, ghee and sugar cooked pudding).

Breakfast Pongal (spiced and nut-dotted dal-rice) Coconut chutney Gotsu (spicy eggplant preparation) Vadai Idli, sambhar, chutney and gunpowder Kesari or sweet Pongal Hot kaapi (coffee

Lunch Sweets Payasam (kheer made of rice) Laddu or mysorepak Jangri (South Indian jalebi)

Lunch begins with the pudding. Lunch begins with the pudding. Lunch is a ballet in precision and placement. Each element of the menu has its special place on the leaf, and its positioning seems to follow a complex architectural blueprint. It begins with a small smidgen of payasam, or kheer, usually made with rice, which is put on the right top corner of the lower half of the leaf and stays there a scant few seconds before it is gathered up by hungry guests. An equal helping of dal keeps it transient company; ready to be mixed in with the hot rice when it comes.

An array of accompaniments The top right side corner of the top half of the leaf becomes home to a dab of thair pachadi (raita) most often made with shredded cucumber and coriander leaves, maybe a small piece of chilli thrown in for spice. Atleast 2 vegetables combined with coconut shreds is a standard fare. Another favourite is the popular avial (a curd based stew composed of over ten to twelve vegetables). Condiments like pickle and salt dot the left corner of the top half of the leaf joined quickly by a sweet salad and its savoury counterpart, both lentil-based. The left corner is also where the vadai, or fried lentil dumpling, and the fried appalam (large papad) are served, along with the solid sweet, such as laddu or mysorepak. On some rare occasions, jangri (the bright orange flower-like South Indian version of the jalebi) may be part of the dessert selection.

Accompaniments Thair pachadi (raita) Pickle and salt Lentil salad Sweet Salad Vadai Appalam (papad) Moru (Lassi)

Lunch Sweets Payasam (kheer made of rice) Laddu or mysorepak Jangri (South Indian jalebi)

The Rice factor The main actor in this culinary drama, rice is heaped, steaming and white, on the centre of the banana leaf, with a small puddle of hot ghee dripped into its middle. The dal is mixed in, rapidly followed by the tamarind-water rich sambhar, studded with onions, potatoes, drumsticks or carrots. The next round could be with morkuzhambu (the southern kadhi) made traditionally from yoghurt, coconut and a few watery vegetables like cucumber or pumpkin. More rice is eaten with the liquid rasam, and diners have to slurp very fast to avoid losing it to the inexorable flow down the midrib of the leaf. Second helpings of payasam are offered; however, it is hard to down any more after steadily savouring each sumptuous round of food! Moru, or buttermilk, or thair, or yoghurt is mixed in with rice as the last course. But this is only the standard celebratory lunch. In weddings with a high budget, there may be many varieties of rice as part of the meal: thenga shadam, rice mixed in with roasted coconut and spices or lemon rice, with its tang of lemon juice and crunch of nuts and chillies add interest and colour.

Evening tiffin and dinner Wedding feeding can also encompass evening tiffin, which mandates salty and spicy snacks made with various thicknesses of sev, or chickpea flour fried crunchies, nuts, raisins, coconut and dried peas. Sweets often served include almond cake; the whole washed down with steaming hot kaapi, or coffee, for which the South is so famous. If dinner is the meal at the reception, special dishes like badam kheer, or almond payasam, bisibele bath (sambhar rice with nuts and vegetables) and dahi bath are favourites. These days, however, things are changing. The traditional meals may have the same basic menu, but guests are often limited to close friends of the family and relatives. Which doesn't mean that there is less food!

Evening tiffin Aloo bonda or mysorebonda Bajji (Pakora) Sev mixture Coconut chutney Maida barfi or almond barfi Hot kaapi (coffee) Dinner (at evening reception) Bisibele bath (sambhar rice) Chips Dahi bath (curd rice) Lemon Rice or coconut rice Pachadi (Raita) Puri and potato vegetable Thair vadai (dahi vada) Badam kheer, ice cream or both