What is Umami?

When you eat something and it feels and tastes rich and luscious and you sort of want to swirl your tongue along the roof of your mouth to get the full intensity of the flavor, that’s umami. Umami is the fifth taste, it’s less obvious and more difficult to capture than the other four. Foods rich in umami have a satisfying, almost addictive quality, foods lacking it taste watery, thin. When you are cooking something and you find that something is missing, but you can’t quite put your finger on what, likely you’re missing some umami. A bit of parmesan, some ground up anchovies, some tomato paste or a dash of soy sauce - depending on which cuisine you’re dealing with - will usually do the trick.

More than just a reference to a chemical compound, to me, it describes the enjoyment of food on a carnal and sensual level where you are delving deeply into the flavor, allowing yourself to properly enjoy it, for it’s own sake. It means to distill the essence of your main ingredient and capture it’s core. It means cooking out of love, for people you care about. It means eating what you like, and discovering new things that surprise you and tickle your palate.

Read this: Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter… and Umami - I couldn’t really explain it any better than that.

Also check out: Proust Was a Neuroscientist