The Five Elements & 'Fire' of Digestion in Ayurvedic Food, Nutrition & Cooking

Like Ayurvedic medicine, the foundation of Ayurvedic cooking and nutrition is comprised of the five elements:
Earth
Water
Fire
Air
Space
While the concept of the five elements may seem strange to us, the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda is also mirrored in modern physiology and nutrition.
For example, in Ayurveda, the fire of digestion is known as 'agni.'
Similar to the enzymes that are required for biochemical digestion, agni is essential for proper digestion of the nutrients present in our food.
In fact, many of the famous Indian pickles and chutneys are formulated to stimulate the flow of digestive juices, which include digestive enzymes: - in Ayurveda, this is called - "increasing agni."
Because the fire energy of agni is associated with the warmth of the sun, the best health practice is to eat our main meals during the day when the power of agni is strongest.
In Ayurvedic meal planning, lunch is typically the largest and heaviest meal of the day.
While some foods are seemingly dominated by one element, bear in mind that each food has all five elements and each food often has more than one taste as well.
According to Ayurveda, all matter is made up of these five elements.
But, these are not elements such as those in the Periodic Table of modern chemistry; rather, they are more akin to the states of matter.
Water is the liquid stage of matter
Earth represents the solid state
Air is the gaseous state
Fire is the power to transform states of matter
Space, or Ether, as it is sometimes called, is the most rarified of all, and represents the space in which all matter exists.