For a long time, we only talked about four tastes. But in Japan, a scientist discovered a fifth one that makes food taste "meaty" or "delicious." It took nearly 100 years for the rest of the world to believe him!
We all know sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. But there is another flavor that makes your mouth water when you eat a steak, a slice of cheese, or a bowl of ramen. In Japan, it's called Umami, which roughly translates to "deliciousness" or "savory."
The story starts with a Japanese chemist named Kikunae Ikeda. One evening, while eating a bowl of dashi (seaweed soup) with his wife, he noticed a taste that didn't fit into the "Big Four."
While people in Asia accepted Umami quickly, Western scientists were skeptical until the early 2000s. There were several reasons for this delay:
Umami is found in foods high in glutamate, such as:
Umami was always there, but it took a Japanese scientist to name it and modern biology to prove it. Today, it is officially recognized as the fifth basic taste, explaining why we find certain foods so incredibly satisfying and "crave-able."
