The Six Tastes Of Ayurveda

Last month we were incredibly fortunate to have had Janesh Vaidya, visit us and share his extensive knowledge & wisdom about all things Ayurveda.

Ayurveda, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, is a whole-body (holistic) system of medicine that began in India more than 3,000 years ago and in a nutshell means the study of life. Ayurveda and Yoga are deeply connected as complementary systems for holistic well-being, with Ayurveda focusing on the physical and mental aspects through diet and lifestyle, and Yoga emphasizing the unification of mind, body, and soul through practices like asanas (poses) and meditation. 

During his time here I attended two of Janesh's lectures, Power of Ayurveda and Food Is My Medicine. In his first talk, he explained the five fundamental elements in Ayurveda: earth, water, fire, ether and air which control the energies in the body-mind system. In the terminology of Ayurveda these five elements’ influence in our body-mind system is categorised into three forces of nature: Kapha (earth-water), Pitta (fire-water) and Vata (air-ether).

Food Is My Medicine is the talk that Janesh gave while at KHY, and needless to say it gave many of us, including myself, food for thought. Below is an extract from this talk that looks at the six tastes of Ayurveda and the impact they have on the forces in our mind-body system. 

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Food is a language that is communicated through the taste glands on our tongue.  According to Ayurveda, food is generally categorized into six tastes – sweet, sour, salt, pungent, bitter and astringent. By choosing the right food and making a food discipline in our daily life, we can prevent and heal many disorders in our body systems. 

Our body is constituted with the combination of three forces – Vata (air, ether), Pitta (fire, water) and Kapha (earth, water). Even though everybody has the influence of these three forces, one force can be higher by birth, which is known as the birth dominant force.

When it comes to food, you have to eat correctly for your PDE (Presently Dominating Elements), which can either be your birth dominant elements or for an imbalance/disease, so  you eat the food that is decreasing your dominant element / or decreasing the imbalanced element.

The below chart explains the tastes, which aggravate or reduce different forces in our body. 

Vata dominated bodies are dry, cold and light in their natural properties. They shouldn’t eat food that is bitter in taste and it is better for their health to reduce pungent (spicy), and astringent food and drinks.  The sweet taste in rice and bulgur is good to balance Vata as is sweet fruit.

Pitta dominated bodies are hot and oily in its properties. Pitta dominants shouldn’t eat the food that tastes sour and pungent (spicy), such as strong chilies. They should also reduce the use of salt in their food. Sweet fruit and the bitter taste in food like broccoli and ruccola are good to balance pitta element.  

Bitter taste is good for Kapha together with pungent (spicy). Kapha dominating bodies are oily, cold and heavy in their natural properties. They shouldn’t eat the food that is sweet and salty. Dairy products, sweet potatoes etc are not good for their health. They should also reduce sour food and drinks. 

For more info about the list of food for each type you can get info from the book – Boost Your Immune Power with Ayurveda (US edition: https://janeshvaidya.com/books/) or in the website www.janeshvaidya.com.

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Thanks again to Janesh and team for squeezing us in on this tour, and keep a look out for our April Blog, where Anj and a few of the others talk about their 21 Day Ayurveda Journey.