UMAMI EXPLAINED

Umami is one of the five basic flavor profiles. For years in the West, the traditional understanding was that there are four flavor profiles: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. Across the Pacific in Japan, however, people spoke of a fifth one, umami, or “savoriness” in English. Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda discovered the savory taste of the glutamic acid in seaweed soup stock and wrote about it in 1909. But it took almost another century for the rest of the world to accept that umami is a distinct flavor. It’s essential to understanding the deliciousness of Japanese foods, from mushrooms to dashi soup stock to soy sauce. 

Perhaps the best way to experience umami in Japanese cuisine is through dashi, a clear soup base essential to washoku. Dashi is typically made from umami-rich ingredients such as bonito fish flakes, kombu (dried sea kelp), dried shiitake mushrooms, or sardines. Dashi provides the core to Japanese cuisine, used in everything from miso soup to noodle dishes such as udon and ramen.