Umami is one of our core 5 basic tastes along with sweet, sour, bitter and salty. It is one of the basic tastes that is universally liked from infancy onwards. In the kitchen, umami plays a critical role in crafting delicious, memorable food. Chefs have employed umami in their dishes for centuries without necessarily identifying what precisely made their dishes taste so good. In 1908, that changed when Ajinomoto’s founder discovered the fifth taste, explained what it was, and named it umami.

Despite the importance and prevalence of umami in our daily foods, umami is still frequently misunderstood—what it is, what it tastes like, where to find it, and how to harness its power in the kitchen. Ajinomoto and the Umami Information Center are global experts in umami and work closely to educate the food industry and chefs on the importance of umami. To help equip culinary educators, they have teamed up to provide the following educational resources:

• Umami Information Center’s YouTube channel: This new resource brings together a wealth of umami educational videos from across the globe featuring well-known chefs and food scientists. These videos are great for use in class and as homework assignments.
• A handout on umami and kokumi* summarizing the facts and culinary application in a concise way.
• Umami poster for your classroom/kitchen.

Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and after filling out the necessary information, you will receive the handout on umami and kokumi digitally and the poster sent via the mail.

CAFE Talks Podcast Episode 6—Bob Eckert

Bob Eckert is the CEO of New and Improved – a company dedicated to helping others work together, reinvigorate their creative energy, and in the process innovate towards new and improved ways of solving problems and creating those opportunities.

Launch date: August 26. Moderator: Chef Paul Sorgule, Harvest America

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

• Subscribe to CAFE Talks so that you don’t miss any of these amazing peeks into how our culinary world has been shaped. Subscribe here.
• Look at the menu of speakers (a new one every two weeks) and have your students react as they relate to subjects ranging from history to ingredients!
• Share the information about these FREE podcasts with your staff as well as your social media contacts.

Thank you to American Technical Publishers for their title support of the CAFE Talks Podcasts!