Umami is all the rage.
Famous chefs feature it in their menus and have built restaurant concepts around it. But umami is not just a buzzword or a fad; it’s one of our five basic tastes. Umami is a pleasant savory taste. You could even say it’s the oldest newest taste, thanks to recent discoveries.
Umami is a taste attributed to foods containing glutamate, an amino acid that is one of the building blocks of protein. MSG is the purest form of umami; it also is found naturally in many foods.
Think about a plate of steaming pasta with rich tomato sauce and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, or a deep-dish pizza oozing with mozzarella and topped with fresh tomatoes, or a freshly grilled steak with a mouth-watering mushroom sauce, or some stir-fried seafood or chicken with crisp vegetables in a savory soy sauce. So now you know why in Japanese umami literally means deliciousness! Read on…
