Two to Tango

In 1908, the Japanese professor Kikunae Ikeda studied kombu and dashi, and discovered that glutamate is the key source of the rich taste of dashi, in the same way that table salt is the key source of saltiness and household sugar is a key source of sweetness. He concluded that this taste was unique and deserved its own name: umami. Moreover, he boldly suggested that umami should join the exclusive rank of basic tastes as a “fifth taste,” along with the four then-accepted tastes: salty, sweet, bitter, and sour. However, it would take almost a hundred years before umami became generally accepted as a basic taste.