Sweet and Salty

In a survey of preferential tastes and flavors, participants listed their three favorite flavors. This solicited responses ranging from basic physiological tastes, such as sweet, sour, and bitter, to food items like cheesecake, marinara, and gingersnaps. The data was raw and need to be "cleaned." Cleaning the data lead to the deletion of intangible flavors like justice and retribution, to inappropriate responses such as mothballs and urine. During data cleaning, misspelled and synonymous responses were calculated into their appropriate categories. After cleaning, the number of responses was 368. Responses were categorizing into their appropriate flavor category, by their characteristics. Sourness is the taste that detects acidity; appropriate flavors in this category include citrus fruits. Other data, like food items, were categorically designated by their main or overwhelming flavor. Multiple responses were totaled and added to the weighted value of that particular flavor/food. After the each response was identified as belonging to a particular flavor group, their total values were added up to create the weighted value of that flavor group. To reflect this, each response was tied to its defining group and color coordinated. Calculated percentages were then assigned to reflect results. Ayurveda, or "life-knowledge," provided me with most logical and encompassing way of categorizing the data. Ayurvedic medicine is India's system of traditional medicine. According to Ayurvedic practices, there are six different tastes: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent, Bitter, and Astringent. The six basic tastes are identified by their characteristics: (29%) Sweet – carbohydrates, proteins, fats – Fruits, grains, sugars, milk (18%) Sour – ascorbic acid, citric acid, and acetic acid – Citrus fruits, berries, fermented foods (22%) Salty – mineral salts – Nuts, fats, salts, meat, soy sauce, minerals (10%) Bitter – alkaloids, glycosides – Herbs, spices, dark greens (15%) Pungent – essential oils – Chili peppers, garlic, ginger, herb, spices (6%) Astringent – tannins – Herbs, lentils, apples, grape skins, pomegranate