A new appreciation for an ancient gathering
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I didn't know what umami was, exactly; I thought of it like a magical elixir, the culinary hero pumping up food's"yum factor." It's savory and salty, like a ramen made of long-simmered bone broth. It can also have tang, like marinara sauce sprinkled with Parmesan, or ranch-flavored tortilla chips. It seemed so central to describing deliciousness itself, it seemed odd that English would have no equivalent word.
This complexity of umami's might also explain why it wasn't isolated and recognized as a taste until relatively recently in Western culture. Soon after its discovery, a Japanese company started marketing a salt-like additive that delivered an umami punch, monosodium glutamate, or the notorious MSG. That notoriety stems from a persistent,"It's a zombie myth that will not die," says John Hayes, a behavioral food scientist at Penn State.
The irony of that persistent myth is that umami can actually make food healthier — and more satisfying. Through its mysterious interactions withSpence says he's been advocating for greater use of MSG in airline food, for example, which is typically oversalted because flight conditions tend to dull other tastes."[Umami] is the one taste that stands up to altitude better than all the others.
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