Searching for that elusive fifth taste
Umami....
For years I've wondered at the way the balance of tastes in food sometimes come together in perfect harmony. I've experienced it most often when I eat at Japanese restaurants, and very rarely have I been able to replicate this perfect taste at home.
Until recently I thought this harmonious balance was a masterful blending of the generally accepted four basic tastes: salty, sweet, sour and bitter. My whole conception of taste changed when I discovered the Japanese idea of umami, a fifth taste.
Describing umami to a western palate not familiar with the concept is difficult. In English, the word has been translated as something that reveals "general deliciousness," with savoury, meaty or pungent qualities. But umami transcends translation because it is often seen as the essence of the perfect quality in taste. The "high" experienced after good sushi has been attributed to it, and such diverse foods as parmesan cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, seaweed and seafood are said to contain naturally occurring umami flavour.
Finding umami in Calgary is as simple as visiting a sushi restaurant, where any Japanese-trained chef will be familiar with the taste. Hiroaki Inoue of Zen 8 describes umami as tasting "really, really good" – a rather vague description, but it's this intangible quality that makes it so intriguing. Umami is an holistic experience that takes into consideration the emotional and spiritual aspects of eating.
In 1908, Kikunae Ikeda first isolated umami as a distinct taste after eating a bowl of seaweed-based broth and pondering its peculiar but delicious flavour. His experiments showed that glutamic acid is the substance responsible for umami – glutamate is found in many foods, but it is only in its free form, created when proteins break down through fermentation, aging, ripening or cooking, that its true nature is revealed. Ikeda's further experimentation resulted in the discovery, and marketing, of monosodium glutamate as a flavour enhancer.
While natural umami taste can be drawn out through well-prepared food, MSG is a popular added ingredient that is slowly recovering from its troublesome image as an allergen and a high sodium additive. These allegations have been disproved, and it is now believed that umami, with the help of MSG, can be an important tool in getting people to eat nutritious food. Like salt or sugar, MSG must be used in appropriate proportions since it can overwhelm a meal as easily as it can enhance it.
Conventional theories define tastes in practical terms by explaining that each has a specific purpose that has helped ensure our survival. Sweetness attracts people to energy-giving carbohydrates, and saltiness lures people to necessary minerals. When humans were scrounging around on the forest floor and living in caves, bitter and sour tastes helped them avoid eating things that were poisonous or rotten. The current theory is that umami draws us towards protein-rich foods, which is an important discovery in making food more attractive to people who may be suffering from nutritional deficiencies.
To get a taste of umami and an idea of how to recreate the elusive taste at home, sign up for Iron Chef Night at Zen 8, which takes place the first Monday of every month. Chefs Hiroaki Inoue, Aki Fujita and Tetsu Mori demonstrate the art of Japanese fusion cuisine through a four-course meal, and participants prepare and sample such dishes as sushi rolls and Nabe – a Japanese hotpot which, according to Inoue, has strong umami flavour. |
