I, Iyer, myself

Over and above the traditions and customs that are distinct to the Iyer community, one aspect that really stands apart crying for attention is the amount of importance this bunch attaches to food and everything associated with it.

The true Iyer is a foodie above all else. He can be living in a non-descript town in Kumbakonam district or in downtown California. Doesn't really matter.
Give him his daily quota of Paruppu, ghee, vetta kozhambu, potato curry, curd rice and oorgai and he doesn't ask for much more. I myself have grown up on countless kilograms of curd rice-pickle combo packed in 'eversilver' tiffin boxes during my school days. In fact that was my de facto diet for lunch for around 14-15 years, not counting sundays, saturdays (being half days and hence no tiffin) and holidays.

Pages and pages have been written by pen happy Iyers on the joys of relishing fermented curd rice and pickle/thovayal. You just need to visit any Iyer community on any one of the networking sites for you to find numerous threads dedicated to the virtues of this dynamite combo. All written by contented Iyers, no doubt. Easy on the stomach and extremely filling, the curd rice and oorgai will rank right up there on any Iyer's list of most preferred foods.

Giving curd rice intense competition and coming a close second is the vetta kozhambu - roasted potato curry combination. (Excuse me a minute here while I finish drooling). You have the option of adding a liberal dose of ghee or gingely oil to the rice-VK mixture. Mashing the rice along with dollops of VK with your bare hand, you need to hear the swish-swash of the oil jostling with the viscous VK and take in the wafting aroma. Help yourself to a generous helping of the golden brown potato curry and off you go. I leave you to imagine the rest.

I have the sambar-avial combo and morkozhambu-brinjal kootu vying for the third spot. It's like asking who is better - Pele or Maradona.
After intense deliberations, I'll have to pick the sambar-avial combination.

These are just the top three in my laundry list of dyno combos. This in no way reflects adversely on the erisheri-VK combo or the Paruppu Porucha Kozhambu and pulivendasaar combos in any way. Another day, another time, another list.

If you have a combo to which you think justice has not been done, leave a message here and I will take up cudgels for you ;)