If you’re here, you probably care about food. Like, a lot. Your friends either love food as much as you, or wait patiently while you excitedly tell them about the sous vide pork chop you made last night and how next time you might reverse sear it. Their eyes might glaze a little, but they love you anyway. I’m pretty excited that your eyes won’t glaze over while I tell you about how much I adore umami. It’s nice.
Umami is a taste beloved the world over, though most people don’t know that’s what they are experiencing. It’s satisfying on a visceral level. Umami is known as the 5th taste, alongside sweet, sour, bitter, and salt. It literally means “deliciousness” in Japanese, the language of a culture known for their obsession with pure goodness in food. The taste of umami comes from amino acids called glutamates and from ribonucleotides. These occur naturally in meats, shellfish, potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese. Does your mouth water when you think of bacon? Duh. Bacon is umami-tastic. (Unless you are veggie-oriented. Then just imagine some aged Parmesan or a fresh high-summer tomato. Drooling? Cool. As you were.) This taste is a huge part of the joy we as humans find in food. The whole being-alive-because-sustenance thing is great, too.
It is my firm belief that everyone should enjoy the food they eat. Everyone sometimes has to hoover their food on a commute or while taking care of kiddos. Some people don’t know how or have time to cook, so rely on budget-friendly prepackaged foods that are heavy on salt and light on actual flavor. They eat to survive, not able to savor the combination of a meal that is pleasurable for both the mind and body. A staggering amount of people don’t know how to truly appreciate the food that they eat.
Whether or not you are a fellow food nerd currently, the fact that you’re here means that you want to experience your food. Umaminautic is here to share the exploration of all things of or relating to the experience of taste.
Umaminautic 