Ayurveda sees food and spices as medicinal substances and good digestion as one of the main factors to optimal health. This is why it places great emphasis on proper food combining and on the concept of shad rasa, or six tastes. These six tastes ?sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent? should be present in balanced proportions in the diet. The six tastes are:

Sweet

Earth and Water are the elements that make up the sweet taste. The sweet taste is present in foods such as sugar, milk, rice, wheat, dates, maple syrup and licorice. Its qualities are usually oily, cooling and heavy. It increases the vital essence of life. When used in moderation, it is wholesome to the body and anabolic in action. It promotes the growth of plasma, blood, fat, muscles, bones, marrow and reproductive fluids. It can promote strength and longevity and encourage the senses. It improves the complexion, promotes healthy skin and hair and a good voice. It can relieve thirst, burning sensations and be invigorating. It can bring about stability and heal emaciation.

In excess, it can produce many disorders in all doshas. Sweet foods especially aggravate kapha and cause cold, congestion, heaviness, loss of appetite, laziness and obesity. They may also cause abnormal muscle growth, lymphatic congestion, tumors, edema and diabetes.

Sour

Fire and Earth are the elements that make up the sour taste. Sour taste is present in foods like citrus fruit, sour cream, yogurt, vinegar, cheese, lemon, unripe mangoes, green grapes and fermented food. Its qualities are liquid, light, heating and oily, and it has anabolic action. When used in moderation, sour foods are refreshing and delicious to the taste, stimulate the appetite, improve the digestion, energize the body and nourish the heart.

In excess, sour taste can cause sensitive teeth, excessive thirst, reflexive closure of the eyes, hyperacidity, heartburn, acid indigestion, ulcers and perforations. Since it has a fermentation action, it can be toxic to the blood and can cause skin conditions such as acne, dermatitis, eczema, edema, boils and psoriasis. Its hot qualities may lead to acidic pH in the body, burning in the throat, chest, heart, bladder and urethra.

Salty

Water and Fire are the predominant elements of this taste. All salts, seafood and sea vegetables are examples of salty taste. It is heating, heavy, oily and hydrophilous in nature. When used in moderation, it relieves vata and intensifies kapha and pitta. It is laxative and can lessen spasms and pain in the colon. Like the sweet and sour tastes, it is anabolic in action. When taken in moderation, it promotes growth and maintains water electrolyte balance. Salty taste is so strong that it nullifies the effect of all tastes. It stimulates salivation, enhances the flavor of food, and aids digestion, absorption and elimination.

Too much salt in the diet may cause an aggravation of pitta and kapha. It makes the blood viscous and thick, causes hypertension and worsens skin conditions. Heat sensations, fainting, wrinkling and baldness may be due to an excessive use of salt. It may also induce edema and water retention. Patchy hair loss, ulcers, bleeding disorders, skin eruptions, hyperacidity and hypertension may be disorders due to excess salty taste.

Pungent

Fire and Air are the elements that make up the pungent taste. It is present in foods such as hot peppers, black pepper, onions, garlic, ginger and asafetida. Its qualities are light, drying and heating. It suits kapha but excites pitta and vata. When used in moderation, it improves digestion and absorption. It stimulates nasal secretions, aids circulation, breaks up clots, helps with the elimination of waste products and kills parasites and germs.

In excess, it may cause sexual debility, induce vomiting, choking, fainting, and fatigue with heat and thirst. If it leads to a pitta aggravation it can cause diarrhea, heartburn, nausea, peptic ulcers, colitis and skin conditions. If it provokes vata, it can cause giddiness, tremors, insomnia and pain in the leg muscles.

Bitter

Air and Ether are the elements in this taste. Examples of bitter taste are found in bitter melon, turmeric, dandelion, aloe vera, rhubarb and coffee. It is the taste most lacking in the North American diet. Its qualities are dry and light. It increases vata while decreasing pitta and kapha. It promotes the flavor of all tastes, is antitoxic and kills germs. It helps to relieve burning sensations, itching, fainting and obstinate skin disorders. It reduces fever and stimulates firmness of the skin and muscles. In small doses it can relieve intestinal gas and work as a digestive bitter tonic. Because of its drying quality it may cause a reduction in fat, bone marrow, urine and feces.

Excess bitter taste may deplete plasma, blood, muscles, fat, bone marrow and semen, which may result in sexual debility. Extreme dryness and roughness, emaciation and weariness may also be the result of excessive bitter taste. At times it may induce dizziness and unconsciousness.

Astringent

Earth and Air are the elements that make up this taste. Unripe bananas, pomegranate, chickpeas, yellow split peas, okra, turmeric, alfalfa sprouts and alumroot are examples of astringent taste. Its qualities are cooling, drying and heavy. When taken in moderation, it calms pitta and kapha and excites vata. It aids in healing ulcers and stops bleeding by promoting clotting.

In excess, it may cause constipation, distension, heart spasm and stagnation of circulation. It may lead to depletion of sperm, affecting sex drive. It can give rise to emaciation, convulsions, Bell's palsy, stroke paralysis and other neuromuscular vata disorders. It produces a drying sensation in the throat.

Ayurveda encourages the use of herbs and aromatic spices, which are also considered medicinal substances, to create a balanced mix of all tastes. The most common spices found in an Ayurvedic kitchen are: cumin, coriander, ginger, hing (asafoetida), ajwan, turmeric, fenugreek, garam masala, cinnamon, clove and cardamom. Ingesting small quantities of these aromatic, stimulating and carminative spices on a regular basis helps maintain the health of the digestive fire (agni) and the entire GI tract. Toxins that accumulate from improperly digested food can also be greatly reduced by slowly introducing these spices into the diet.

Obviously, there is more to food than just taste. Yet taste, from the perspective of its qualities, is very important for maintaining good health. Ayurvedic cuisine is unique in that it makes sure each dish is cooked and spiced so as to achieve maximum digestibility, avoid the formation of toxins and nourish all tissues.

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