In general, Southern cuisine tends to be heavy, rich, pungent, intense and very hot and spicy.
While ninety percent of Thailand's population is Buddhist, the population of many of the Southern provinces are predominantly Muslim, whose ancestors immigrated into the area from the Indian subcontinent over the past two thousand years. Therefore, of all the regions, the foods here bear closest similarities to Indian food. turmeric (kamin) permeates a majority of Southern dishes, but in Thailand, the fresh rhizome is used instead of the dried powder. Here, too, one can find bread, in the form of Pan-fried Muslim Bread roti, which sometimes is stuffed with a curried meat and vegetable mixture, or comes with a curry sauce to dip in. A rich and fragrant massaman curry is a delicious accompaniment. Unlike mainstream Thai curries in which herbs and pungent roots are the primary ingredients, many Muslim-influenced Southern curries are characterized by the roasted fragrance of dry spices more familiar in Indian cooking. Roti is also made sweet, sprinkled with sugar and sweetened condensed milk, or stuffed with bananas; these sweet versions are now commonplace street foods all over Thailand, though the savory roti served with curry is really to be enjoyed only in Southern Thailand.