General Umami -- The Next Giant Food Trend and Why Bacon Tastes Good

[The Helper]

You know about the four basic tastes: sweetness, sourness, bitterness and saltiness. Even if that list doesn't roll off of your tongue, you can certainly imagine how each of these tastes flavors your mouth.

Well, it turns out there is fifth taste, called Umami. Umami was first isolated by Japanese chemists Kikunae Ikeda in 1908, yet only recently has the concept of umami made it out of Asia.

The chances are that you are already a big fan of umami but just don't know it yet. That's what happened to Carolyn Cope, who now runs a blog called Umami Girl.

"I'd always known that I liked foods that were a little funky -- certain aged cheeses, cured meats, mushrooms, anchovies," Cope told Asylum. "Shortly after college I got really into sushi. Like, really into it. Just when I was starting to seriously wonder whether my favorite sushi rolls were laced with some illicit, addictive substance, I learned about umami, the taste that literally stimulates the brain's pleasure centers."

Whole story here.

 

[Slapshot136]

I always thought of the 5th taste as spicy.. o well

 

[DarkRevenant]

Spiciness is from pain when they touch your mucous glands (iirc).

 

[ElderKingpin]

wow. way to add a completely random taste into the mix.

Umami?

Hmm, dish could use some more bitterness, maybe some sweetness, how about some UMAMI

And UMAMI GIRL? is it some kind of adjective to describe girls too? you sick monsters.

 

[AnthraxXx]

Damn, the whole article is blocked at my school, I'll read it later...

 

[perkeyone]

the person who wrote that article is kinda behind the times.
i heard about that years ago.
another name for the 5 taste is "savory", or so i read.

 

[Whitesock]

Spiciness is from pain when they touch your mucous glands (iirc).

I would suggest reading this because I believe you are wrong.

Actually it is an ion channel activated by capsaicine. In the presnce of that substance the channel opens and Na+ and Ca2+ ions rush into the cells, giving you that special feeling. This is an interesting phenomenon since usually ion channels only work for one ion, not 2

It's actually the capsaicine that causes the spiciness in food such as chillies.

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I think they made umami to explain how our taste buds "taste" proteins, since we have specific tastes for all other nutrients such as salt, vitamins (bitter), and sweet (sugar aka carbs). As perkeyone stated umami is our "savory" taste, or our protein taste.

 

[13lade619]

umami is like 10 years ago... (in asia at least).

and on an unrelated note: (from Whitesock's link)

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lol.

 

[Matemeo]

Umami has been known in Asian cultures for awhile, and it is indeed referred to as savory in the United States at least.

MMMM UMAMI