Flavorful Home-Cooked Meals

Content

• The Yin-Yang distribution of the 6 flavors

• Where do the six flavors go and which organs do they nourish?

• Following nature: what flavor to eat in the morning, what at night?

I am someone who deeply loves home-cooked meals. Perhaps no matter where I go or what I eat, my favorite thing is still returning home to cook the dishes I love. I have experienced many culinary cultures, but perhaps Vietnamese cuisine is the crystallization and convergence of quintessence. Many people praise Chinese, Japanese, or Korean cuisines, but if we return and delve deeper into Vietnamese cuisine, we might love our country's culture even more.

Have you ever noticed that when we were young, the dishes our parents cooked often contained the entire philosophy of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements? Cooking mustard greens (which are cold/Yin in nature) with a bit of ginger (hot/Yang) is to neutralize. Or duck eggs (inherently cold/Yin) sprinkled with pungent pepper (Yang) perfectly balance it out so we don't get an upset stomach. Or how a traditional meal always gathers all Five Elements: Metal is the pure white rice grain, Wood is the plate of fresh green vegetables, Water is the refreshing bowl of soup, Fire is the clay pot of intensely dark, fiery-red braised fish with pepper, and Earth – is the wholesome sweetness of boiled meat, or the rustic nature of tubers and roasted peanuts at the center of the meal.

There is nothing quite like a home-cooked meal—it is quintessential, delicate, and economical. Today, let's look deeper into that meal to discover how the 6 basic flavors: Sour, Astringent, Bitter, Spicy, Salty, and Sweet operate within our bodies through the lens of Eastern Medicine.

1. The Yin-Yang distribution of the 6 flavors

The knowledge in today's article will be different from my previous posts. It relies not only on Eastern Medicine knowledge but also on the Yin-Yang principles applied in our ancestors' culinary traditions for millennia. There are three pairs of flavors: sour - astringent, bitter - spicy, salty - sweet. They are divided into 2 groups: the Yin group and the Yang group.

• The Yang Group (Astringent, Spicy, Salty): Helps generate heat and energy, promotes blood circulation, and disperses Qi and blood outward.

• The Yin Group (Sour, Bitter, Sweet): Helps cool the body, clears heat, retains water, detoxifies, and directs Qi and blood deep inward.

2. Where do the six flavors go and which organs do they nourish?

When we eat, it is no coincidence that the body craves a certain flavor. It is the calling of the internal organs (Zang-Fu) from within. Flavors are spices, positioners, and navigators that guide nutrients (the 4 groups cells need: protein - sugar - starch - fat) to where they are needed. These 6 flavors act as digestive enzymes in the body. Below, I categorize them by pairs. Observe your body to use the pairs correctly. For example, with the Sour - Astringent pair: if consuming too much sour causes diarrhea, we use the astringent flavor to treat it; if we are constipated, we use the sour flavor to treat it.

• Sour Flavor: Directs energy (food nutrition) to the brain, helping clear the mind, break through blockages, and cleanse the inside of the body. However, an excess of sourness will cause diarrhea, a cold colon, flabby skin and muscles, and can easily lead to hair loss, graying hair, and dry, pigmented skin.

• Astringent Flavor: Directs nutrients down to the legs. Eating astringent flavors 3-4 times a week in the afternoon and evening will help strengthen the legs, prevent varicose veins, strengthen bones, ligaments, and hair, and increase platelets. Excess astringency easily causes constipation, stiff shoulder muscles, headaches, and consuming too much can lower blood pressure in people who already have low blood pressure.

• Bitter Flavor: Directs energy to the skin and internal organ muscles. Eating bitter flavors cools the skin and internal organs, breaks down fat and protein, and supplements chlorophyll for the gallbladder. However, consuming too much bitter flavor harms the marrow (which is why children shouldn't take bitter medicine) and harms the spleen and stomach causing indigestion. The bitter flavor will deplete minerals, leading to weak heart muscles and bone pain.

• Spicy Flavor: Directs nutrients into the marrow, warming the bone marrow. The spiciness of white peppercorns warms the sinus area (treating sinusitis), the spiciness of lemongrass warms the bones, and the spiciness of ginger warms the legs. However, consuming too much spicy food makes the liver hot and causes hot flashes.

• Salty Flavor: Located in the pancreas. The saltiness of sea salt provides minerals, helps body circulation, retains water to help cells metabolize, and enters the kidneys to warm them. You should use sea salt, not refined salt. Consuming too much salt will cause infrequent urination, slow urination, and yellow urine.

• Sweet Flavor: Stored in the liver, directing nutrients to the entire body, cooling and clearing heat. It nourishes the white blood cell system, acts as a digestive enzyme, an antibiotic, a painkiller, and is a crucial component in nourishing the marrow. Sweet is a special flavor that nowadays is often labeled as the cause of diabetes, leading many to restrict sugar. However, you do not need to restrict sugar; instead, use good sugars from pure cane sugar, palm sugar, etc. Consuming too much sweet will cause coldness, frequent urination, and possibly clear nighttime urination. When eating sweets, you need to exercise so the body can burn the calories provided by the sugar.

3. Following Nature: What Flavor to Eat in the Morning, What at Night?

Our body is a microcosm, operating according to the Yin-Yang rhythm of day and night. Choosing food flavors based on the time of day is also a wonderful health-nourishing (Yang Sheng) practice.

• Daytime (The time of Yang Qi): Daytime belongs to the brain, so we should eat flavors that are good for the brain. Since Yang Qi is abundant in the morning, prioritize Yin flavors to neutralize it.

  • Should eat: Dishes with Sweet, Sour, or Bitter flavors. Amaranth soup, light sour soup, bitter melon... help clear heat, nourish Yin, and bring the body into a relaxed state. Additionally, sweet and sour flavors help nourish the brain, keeping it more alert while working. Do not be afraid to use sweet flavors (good sweets from cane sugar, palm sugar, fruits - though limit fruits). Observe your urine: if the first urine of the day and before lunch is clear, limit sweets; but if it is yellow, besides hydrating, you should give your brain a little extra sweetness.

  • Limit: Salty flavors for those who urinate at night, because salt retains water all day, causing the body to discharge it at night.

• Nighttime (The time of Yin Qi): Evening is when Yang Qi recedes inward; the body shifts to a Yin state to rest, recover, and calm the spirit.

  • Should eat: Yang flavors to balance the body's Yin state, such as mild Spicy, Astringent, and Salty. Specifically, the spicy flavor combined with the nutrients the body needs (Protein - Sugar - Starch - Fat) helps the marrow produce blood. Especially for those who frequently urinate at night, adding a little salty sea salt will reduce it. A pot of bone broth, a plate of braised meat, or fatty braised fish will stimulate marrow activity.

  • Limit: The Yin flavors that we consumed during the day.

A home-cooked meal is not just a place to fill the stomach, but also a miraculous health-nourishing remedy if we know how to listen and cook with understanding. Next time you enter the kitchen, try tasting your family meal again to see if it has enough flavors and all the Five Elements!