The six tastes
Sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent: the Ayurvedic frame for a balanced meal.
Also: shad rasa, madhura amla lavana katu tikta kashaya, six rasas
Ayurvedic teaching names six tastes: madhura, sweet; amla, sour; lavana, salty; katu, pungent; tikta, bitter; and kashaya, astringent. A meal that includes all six is said, in the tradition, to be balanced and satisfying, and this shapes the Indian thali and the Kerala sadya. Spices supply most of the last three: pungent chilli, pepper and ginger, bitter fenugreek and turmeric, and astringent clove or pomegranate seed. The order of eating also matters in some traditions, sweet first and astringent last. The scheme is a cultural framework for cooking and is consistent with how many cooks think about balance, though it is not a scientific taste classification.