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Classical Malay literature — including the Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa and the Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) — documents food traditions of the Malay maritime world through references to court feasts, trade goods, and cooking practices. The Malay culinary tradition represents a sophisticated synthesis of Indian (Tamil and Gujarati), Arab, Chinese, and indigenous Southeast Asian cooking traditions, producing a flavour vocabulary unique to the maritime world.

The Serat Centhini (early 19th century Java) is a Javanese encyclopaedic work that documents the culture, religion, and daily life of early 19th-century Java — including its food traditions with extraordinary detail. The culinary sections document techniques, ingredients, and food philosophy of the Javanese court tradition, establishing a sophisticated culinary framework that is the foundation of modern Javanese and Indonesian cooking.

Tamil Sangam literature (approximately 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE) — the earliest body of literature in any Indian language — contains extensive documentation of food culture, cooking techniques, and ingredient combinations in the ancient Tamil kingdoms of South India. The culinary references in Sangam poetry establish the antiquity of certain South Indian cooking techniques and flavour traditions.

The Mānasollāsa (c. 1131 CE), commissioned by the Chalukya king Someshvara III of Karnataka, is among the most important Sanskrit encyclopaedias — its culinary section (annabhoga) documenting the food of the medieval Deccan court with a scientific precision that anticipates modern nutrition and cooking science by nine centuries. The text describes over 130 dishes, documents the medicinal properties of ingredients, and establishes spice combination principles that remain influential in South Indian cooking today.