Rasa

Every food's unique combination of attributes will influence its taste and the action it causes in the body. The concept of taste (rasa), action (virya) and post-digestive effect (vipak) furthers one's understanding of the basic principles of Ayurvedic cooking and healing.

Ayurveda recognizes six basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. All these tastes are present in the plasma. Every food is made up of some combination of the five basic elements, and these elements are present in the six tastes. The unique union of elements gives food its taste.

The Fire and Air elements are light and tend to move upward, hence the tastes containing these elements also move up and heat the upper parts of the body, producing lightness. Conversely, the Earth and Water elements are heavy and move downward, so the sweet taste cools the lower part, the urinary passage, and can produce heaviness in the body.