Wedding Blog
Why not incorporate culture and food right into the ceremony? Here’s a description of the tasting of the four elements:
In a ritual adapted from a Yoruba tradition, the bride and groom taste four flavors that represent different emotions within a relationship. The four flavors typically used are sour (lemon), bitter (vinegar), hot (cayenne), and sweet (honey). By tasting each of the flavors, the couple symbolically demonstrates that they will be able to get through the hard times in life, and, in the end, enjoy the sweetness of marriage.
I love that this ritual gives us a physical reminder of the various aspects of married life. I can imagine that it must be quite a shock to the palate to taste these elements in succession.
I guess that’s how relationships are in a way: The hot will follow the sweet, which can turn sour at any given moment. When you’re sharing forever together as a couple, I guess it’s good to expect the unexpected.
Will food or any uncommon object or practice be incorporated into your ceremony?
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Share this post: Afrocentric Weddings -Tasting of the Four Elements
This is one of my favorite wedding rituals, and I hope I get to officiate a ceremony where a couple chooses to do it one day!
A colleague of mine did a ceremony recently where the couple shared sushi! The officiant talked about the meaning behind the various elements (rice as nourishment, sesame seeds as symbols of growth, fish as being plentiful, soy sauce as tough times, etc). It was really cool, and VERY much in the vein of their relationship
My fiance and I were considering including a variation or adaption of this into our ceremony, but for a variety of reasons, have decided not to ;(
We’re going to share wine from a glass that we can both drink out of at the same time. 
Oh, what a fantastic ritual. Yes, indeed a physical reminder! As I food lover, I think this would be really amazing to incorporate into the wedding ceremony!!!
What a unique idea! Have you decided what foods you will use if you do this?
We planned on doing this too!
Miss Peep Toe, if you look at the post she says what foods are usually used but you can opt for whatever you want really. I think cabbage patch kids would be better than lemon- maybe we can share that with out guests, a couple fire balls instead of tabasco…..
We’re doing the polish salt-bread tradition, which is kind of the same. We also were going to do the Brautbecher, but decided it would be too much. I love the four flavors though, that would be cool to watch (and photograph!) at a ceremony! I feel like a wedding twin…are you stalking us? 
Just to let you know…this was all part of my research. I won’t be doing this tradition, but I do love it.
This is really interesting, because there’s a Chinese custom with the 4 exact tastes too.
In fact, during the ‘gatecrashing’ games (when the bridemaids make the groom/groomsmen do dares before reaching the bride), the guys are commonly made to eat stuff of the 4 flavors!
This was really interesting. We were looking for Afrocentric and symbolic items to incorporate into the ceremony.
My fiance and I will be adding this to our ceremony! I opted to do this instead of the combining of the sand. I love the symbolism and Afrocentric rootss.
We married in 2004 and did a similiar ritual with the added element of water–an essential element for all life. We had my grandchildren and two neices each carry one of the elements down the aisle then to the family members after we tasted them. It was a beautiful to incorporate all the family into our ceremony.
(We are both very middle aged (55) at that time.) We plan to do it again this year for our 5th anniversary ceremony.
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Mrs. Swan, New York City
Age and Occupation: 31, Legislative Representative
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Finance Guy
Engagement Date: August 9, 2008
Wedding Date: August 2009
Venue: Battery Gardens
About Me: I am an un-crafty but resourceful, Caribbean-born but New York-raised woman who's been known to analyze "Dancing with the Stars" and “So You Think You Can Dance”, buy stinky cheese, and use way too many parentheses. I keep lists for fun, am constantly daydreaming of my next international travel adventure (four continents down, three to go), debating sports (let’s Got Mets/Giants!) and dancing around my apartment to stay sane. I am excited to share our wedding planning journey as I hope to plan a streamlined, personal, and fun wedding with the greatest life partner I could ever imagine, Mr. Swan.
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