Guide Note

Umami is a Japanese term describing a "fifth taste". The four traditional tastes are sour, sweet, salty and bitter. Umami is found in MSG as well as in seaweed, aged wines and aged cheeses. The taste of umami is often described as "salty," "savory," "meaty" or "brothy."¹

Fast Facts

1. Refers to a sense of full flavor¹
2. Discovered by Kikunae Ikeda in 1908²
3. Means "delicious" in Japanese²
4. Monosodium Glutamate is pure umami flavor³

Although umami was discovered more than 100 years ago, scientists only recently unlocked where and how how taste bud receptors perceive the flavor. In 2006, researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York proposed that more than one taste bud receptor was responsible for the umami flavor.⁴