Philosophy of indian food

Indian food is as varied as it's culture and people. In every region, food changes its flavours and techniques of cooking. As Indian food is influenced by its religions, customs, and traditions, it is not easy to group it like the food of the western world. There cannot be mother gravies like mother sauces and it's derivatives. Each curry has its own gravy.

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Researches show that people who are depressed, eat more and many disease emerge from the fact that people keep the emotions bottled up inside them. This leads to coronary problems and hypertension. Ayurveda talks about foods that regulate the health and even emotions of human beings. For example, the usage of oil and ghee-- oil is believed to heat the body whereas ghee is supposed to provide a cooling effect. Another speciality of ghee is that it assimilates all the nutritional properties of food that it is mixed in, without losing any of its own. The usage of oil in winter and ghee in summers is still widely followed in many Indian homes. Ayurveda revolves around the concept that our body is made up of three elements---fire, air, and water, commonly referred in Sanskrit as vatta, pitta, and kappa. Ayurveda believes that rise of aliments and diseases is due to the imbalance in these elements.even today, when doctors diagnose us with any aliments, we are advised to refrain from some kind of foods.

Ayurveda classifies Indian food into the following six tastes.

Sweet:

This is of taste gives strength to tissue elements and harmonizes the mind. Probably that is the reason why people always share sweets when they are celebrating. Ayurveda does not classify only sweet products into sweet taste; but also foods such as rice, ghee, and fruits from this category.

Salty:

Salt stimulates digestion; it clears the obstructions in the nervous system of the body, thereby cleansing the body by the function of sweating. Excessive salt in the food tends to give rise to wrinkles and greying of hair.

Pungent:

The pungent taste helps in digestion. Foods such as onions, garlic, pepper, etc.. form this category. These types of food also help improve the metabolism in our body.

Bitter:

These kinds of food help purify the blood and are easy to digest. Bitter gourd and some spices have this taste.

Astringent:

These kind of food help treat ulcers in the body and also helps in healing wounds. Green vegetables, apples, potatoes, etc.. are grouped into category.

Sour:

The sour taste aids in digestion and it is believed that it also helps the heart to function well.

Ayurveda believes that any deviation of these six tastes in food will bring about the imbalance in the elements of body and each elements is responsible for certain disease.

This is where concept of thali evolved. It became imperative to serve foods to balance all the elements in our body.

A healthy Indian meal would consist of rice, salad, lentils, vegetables, proteins in forms of panner or meat, yougurt, pickles, and sweet.