Japanese food making news again.
Umami was discovered by a Japanese scientist in the '20s but science thought the book was closed. Four tastes we could sense were defined as sweet, sour, salty, bitter. Umami the fifth taste is now widely accepted to be correctly, a fifth taste. Call it savory. Call it good.
I was reminded of it at my
O-makase sushi dinner in Boston's Leather District last night. An artful chef will draw out every umami-flavor he or she can.
The book,
Proust was a Neuroscientist is the talk of NPR and foodies, and is fascinating for anyone who loved science and loves understanding how disciplines accept new discoveries. With Proust's iconic Madeline on the cover and discussion of Escoffier's discovery of umami-building techniques, it's really a great read. He does make one shocking error referring to
"fond" as
"frond", which for a book so promoted as a thinking foodie's book, this is rather jarring.
Anyway, I thought it was time to let you in on the advanced sushi world. Enjoy.
