Have you ever seen a recipe that calls for adding dried shiitake mushrooms, simmering a Parmesan cheese rind, or throwing in a few splashes of soy or Worcestershire sauce? Those are all attempts to add some umami. “Umami is a basic taste (along with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty). Its peculiar characteristic is that it is long-lingering, mouth-filling, and leads to both appetite and satiety,” he says. “It is prominent in fermented food (soy sauce, miso, fish sauce, mature cheeses), cured ham, and a range of marine products (fish, shellfish, cephalopods, certain seaweeds).” Umami was originally “discovered” in 1908 when chemist and food lover Kikunae Ikeda finally put a name to it (even though the flavor had already been part of our palate forever), according to BBC. However, it wasn’t until 1990 that it was officially recognized as the fifth taste. The umami taste mostly comes from an amino acid called glutamate, but two other compounds—inosinate and guanylate—also impart the flavor. Typically, these compounds are found in protein-rich foods (amino acids come from proteins). When you eat foods with umami, these compounds bind with receptors in your mouth and your gastrointestinal tract and send signals to your brain that help you pick up on the flavor. Interestingly, when umami hits these receptors, it also makes your mouth water and triggers your stomach to increase its production of stomach acid, which helps you digest the proteins in the food you’re eating. A year later, after figuring out the molecular formula of the taste that is umami, he was able to mass-produce it, bottle it up, and sell it as Ajinomoto, which means “essence of taste” in Japanese. At the time, it was known as glutamic salt, but now, it’s sold as MSG. To this day, it comes in a bottle and resembles salt that you can easily sprinkle into foods that you’re cooking. But most of the studies that connected MSG to ill health effects used a really large amount—more than you would ever normally consume. And a December 2018 report in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism2 shows that dietary glutamate doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier and, as a result, doesn’t actually increase the glutamate levels in your brain. Nevertheless, it’s hard to ignore the anecdotal stories from people who say they experience anxiety, brain fog, fatigue, and mood swings after consuming MSG. It’s possible that some people are extra sensitive to the effects of MSG and others do OK with small amounts. Whether you use MSG as a quick way to add umami to your foods is a personal decision. That being said, if possible, it’s best to achieve the flavor with whole food and natural ingredients, just in case. The best way to describe it is probably to say that it tastes like richly developed Ramen broth. Not the broth you get from the little packets at the store, but the Ramen that comes from a really authentic Asian restaurant. It’s flavorful, satisfying, and kind of lingers on your taste buds, even after your food is gone. MSG is a commercial form of umami that makes it easy to achieve the flavor in any dish, but with mixed opinions on how it affects your health, it may be best to rely on whole food ingredients, like dried mushrooms, soy sauce, Parmesan cheese, and miso, instead. She has written twelve books and has had more than 2,000 articles published across various websites. Lindsay currently works full time as a freelance health writer. She truly believes that you can transform your life through food, proper mindset and shared experiences. That’s why it’s her goal to educate others, while also being open and vulnerable to create real connections with her clients and readers.
