2024: U … A to Z of DNA and Me: Umami Traits

This was a new one to me… Umami sensitivity! My DNA suggests that I’m less sensitive to umami or other savory flavors with both parents influencing it. So, that means, that I don’t taste savory foods. Hubby, both our children, and my mother are all the same as me… less sensitive to umami flavors.

So… What Does Umami Taste Like?

Unami is either a pleasant savory or meaty in taste… and actually one of the five taste categories of bitter, sour, sweet, and salty. So, it seems this meaty in taste comes from more of meat dinner… confused… I am! But I feel I taste a very meaty/savory taste when I’m enjoying a Rib Roast, or a savory stuffing filled with sausage and mushrooms. My mouth is watering… in thinking of it!

Fermented or aged products, like cheese and soy sauce, also have an umami taste. The Japanese chemist, Kikunae Ikeda, was the one who first identified this fifth taste in 1908 and coined the term “Umami” from the Japanese word Umai… meaning “delicious.” About a year later, the additive MSG soon appeared on kitchen shelves, a new spice that was advertised to enhance your foods flavors. While I’ve heard of MSG as a flavoring, especially used in Asian foods, I never bought or used it in my cooking. I’ve always heard people say how you shouldn’t use it… but I really never knew what it actually was other than it being associated in being too salty.

People living in Japan were the first to begin adding umami flavor to their food in the form of MSG… as early as 1909. It wasn’t until the 1930s, before it was added to processed foods, most notably Campbell’s Soup products; people said the addition of it made it saltier. I remember hearing how we should ask if restaurants used MSG in their cooking, as often it affected people with allergies, and later seeing info on it on menus as… “no msg used in cooking.”

Genetics of Umami Sensitivity

I don’t have memories of anything either parent specifically didn’t like in growing up… to me they seemed to eat everything… I was the picky eater. In determining your Umami sensitivity… it seems if your biological parents are more sensitive, then the odds are pretty good that you’ll be the same… so I can only assume they were less sensitive as well.

They say your taste preferences are also heavily influenced by your environment… as well as what your parents ate. Whatever a pregnant woman might eat can also affect her child’s food preferences. Mama craved turnip greens when she was pregnant with me… eating them daily. They’ve always been a favorite of mine and whenever we eat at Cracker Barrel, I always order a dish. But again, mama had many favorites that never became favorites of mine. She especially loved tomatoes… and only much later in my adult life did I begin eating them, even though I loved ketchup on everything as a child. She also would eat a raw onion like an apple… don’t think I ever will do that!

Later in life was the only time I ever noticed that there was no persuading my mother in trying new foods… like pizza. She wasn’t interested in trying new foods… but she always wanted me to try something if she really liked it; the two-way street only ran in her direction.

What Science Says About Umami Sensitivity

Scientists tell us that it’s a cluster of three genes called the TAS1R family, which live on chromosome 1, which are responsible for both our sweet and savory taste perception. Certain variants, or DNA differences, in one of the three genes (TAS1R) is what makes you more or less sensitive to tasting umami… and even though I somewhat understand… I still find this confusing!

Interesting Facts About Umami

Our five basic food tastes serve different purposes… as each taste category serves up a different message. If you taste a sweetness, you know there are carbohydrates that give us energy. The taste of bitterness warns us that it might be toxic… unsafe to eat. The Unami tastes is important in helping us realize the different tastes. Umami sensitivity is at least 1% genetic… while at most 99% environmental.

Did you know?

Umami is almost that “can’t stop eating” feeling you have that makes you want to keep eating. This sounds like most foods in making you want to over-eat… in tasting so good… and so regretting later.

Natural Umami taste can be subtle and sometimes hard to recognize. Some of the foods in which natural umami flavor is found include:

• Mushrooms
• Cooked meats
• Cured meats
• Seaweeds
• Seafood
• Tomatoes
• Cheese
• Fermented foods

Tomatoes. This fruit is high in glutamic acid and one of the best sources of umami flavor. In adding tomatoes to a dish will help draw out the other flavors more. Maybe that’s why bruschetta tastes so exceptional… especially in the summer if you have a really good homegrown tomato. This might be why pizza and pasta are such popular foods, and why ketchup is a favorite condiment… my favorite choice on hot dogs and hamburgers.

Cheese. I enjoy cheese on its own, but along with crackers and fruit on a charcuterie board full of a variety of cheeses is more enjoyable. Aged cheeses are especially high in glutamate… because as cheese ages, the proteins break down, which creates more free glutamate and more umami. 

Meats. Cured meats like pepperoni, salami, and bacon have more glutamate than fresh meats… because the curing process breaks down the proteins and makes free glutamate compounds.

Is Umami a new word to you?

Thanks for Stopping by… as you’ve made it a long way with me… and we are now in the home stretch!

Jeanne

To read more 2024: A to Z of DNA and more, click HERE.

© 2024, copyright Jeanne Bryan Insalaco; all rights reserved

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Previous Years A to Z April Challenges…

2016: A to Z Southern Foods and Memories… they said write what you know… and being a girl born in the South… well this was what I knew.
2017: A to Z Conversations with Mama… it was a somewhat easy one for me to write as I’d journaled our conversations for years… I researched favorite topics to write.
2018: A to Z All About Nancy Drew… this one has been my favorite topic so far, and I don’t know if I’ll ever come up with another one to equal it
2019: A to Z Italian Famiglia Foods and Memories… I felt it was time to finally write the favorites of my husbands family foods.
2020: A to Z Family Stories… writing the stories of my husband’s family.
2021: A to Z of Mama in Photos... blogging on my mother through photos and memories      2022: A to Z Time Travels… Time Traveling through my blog… and more.          2023: A to Z The Best of our Journals… blogging on journals of hubby and I.