Umami

In the West, we have identified four basic tastes—sour, sweet, salty, and bitter—that, through skillful combination and technique, create delicious foods. Yet in many parts of East Asia over the past century, a fifth taste—umami—has entered the culinary lexicon. Umami is savory, complex, and wholly distinct. Combining culinary history with research into the chemistry, preparation, nutrition, and culture of food, this book encapsulates what we know to date about the concept of umami which, when harnessed, enables us to become more intimate with the subtleties of human taste and make better food choices for ourselves and our families.
In the West, we have identified four basic tastes—sour, sweet, salty, and bitter—that, through skillful combination and technique, create delicious foods. Yet in many parts of East Asia over the past century, a fifth taste—umami—has entered the culinary lexicon. Umami is savory, complex, and wholly distinct. Combining culinary history with research into the chemistry, preparation, nutrition, and culture of food, this book encapsulates what we know to date about the concept of umami, which when harnessed enables us to become more intimate with the subtleties of human taste and to make better food choices for ourselves and our families. The product of an ongoing collaboration between a chef and a scientist, this book has won the Danish national Mad+Medier–Prisen (Food and Media Award) for academic food communication and the Gourmand World Cookbook Award for Best Translation Cookbook for the United States.

The West identifies four basic tastes—sour, sweet, salty, and bitter. Yet in East Asia, a fifth taste—umami—has entered the culinary lexicon. Umami is savory, complex, and wholly distinct. Combining culinary history with research into the chemistry, preparation, nutrition, and culture of food, this book encapsulates the concept of umami.

Ole G. Mouritsen is a distinguished scientist and professor of biophysics at the University of Southern Denmark. His books include Sushi: Food for the Eye, the Body, and the Soul and Seaweeds: Edible, Available, and Sustainable.

Klavs Styrbæk is a chef who, for more than twenty years, has owned and run the highly regarded Restaurant Kvægtorvet (The Cattle Market) in Odense, Denmark. He is a passionate advocate for the renewal of classical Danish cuisine.

Mariela Johansen has Danish roots, lives in Canada, and holds an MA in humanities.

Jonas Drotner Mouritsen is a graphic designer and owns the design company Chromascope (www.chromascope.com). His movie projects have won several international awards.

Sandra J. Ackerman:
An engaging read... Umami is at once a scientific treatise, cultural history, unique collection of recipes, and handsome coffee-table--or for that matter, kitchen-table--book.

This book, representing the fruits of a longstanding collaboration between the scientist Ole G. Mouritsen and the Danish chef Klavs Styrbaek, is richly illustrated and packed with umami-rich recipes to try at home. It should be required reading for those catering for the airlines, since umami is one of the only tatste that holds up well in the air.

Biophysicist Ole Mouritsen... seamlessly meshes science and gastronomy...

Amy Rowat, founder of Science & Food:
This book will be your go-to umami resource. The content is cleverly layered with molecular-level explanations of how we taste alongside rich cultural perspective and beautiful recipes. With its stunning graphics, this book is eye candy.

Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen:
In his earlier books Sushi and Seaweeds, Ole Mouritsen wove together biological, chemical, and gastronomical perspectives into rich portraits of these intriguing foods. In Umami, writing with the chef Klavs Styrbæk, he does the same for this much celebrated yet enigmatic 'new' taste. Umami is a wide-ranging and welcome progress report on our understanding of taste and deliciousness.

John Prescott, author of Taste Matters: Why We Like the Foods We Do:
A remarkably comprehensive account of umami taste and one in which the science is not only accurate but accessible and interesting.

Yukari Sakamoto, author of Food Sake Tokyo:
Mouritsen and Styrbæk demystify and explain in layman's terms the science of umami, including many Japanese elements that have not been explained in English before in this all-encompassing book. Along with Mouritsen's other publications Sushi and Seaweeds, Umami will be referred to time and time again.

Gordon Shepherd, Yale University, author of Neurogastronomy:
The book is written in a very engaging manner, easily moving between vignettes of the latest science and mouth-watering menus and photographs.