The Five Tastes and The Five Ways

You know how when you finish a meal and you’re still craving something, especially sweet?  This could be the answer. 

In the Japanese culture the 5 tastes and 5 methods of cooking are often thought of while preparing a meal. The tastes are salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umami (savoury) and the methods of cooking are raw, simmered, fried, steamed and roasted or grilled.

I have been experimenting with it and have found that when I've had a meal with most of the above variances I feel satisfied. Thinking back, I remember my Mom used to put sweet pears or peaches on our dinner plates and I thought it was odd but we never craved or had dessert in our house. 

Similarly, always avoiding fried foods may be worse (resulting in eating a tub of fries) than satisfying that craving with just a little tempura vegetable. 

So although it’s never perfect, I do now think of the five tastes and the five ways whenever putting together a meal or filling the fridge with dishes for the week. 

For more information http://savoryjapan.com/learn/culture/power.of.five.html

Sweet raw melon, salty fried chips, simmered umami french lentil salad

Bitter green olive/kale a bit of a sour in the tomatoes. Pickles are super for sour.