In search of umami: product rebranding and the global circulation of the fifth taste

ABSTRACT

This article examines how a Japanese food corporation used its vast resources to rehabilitate one of its products. In doing so, it helped promote the so-called fifth basic taste of umami as a natural taste rather than one that is extracted in its factories. In Japan, umami now operates on many levels: as a criterion of deliciousness, a scientific “fact,” and an element of cultural nationalism. Its appeal, however, spread beyond the borders of Japan to become a globally recognized taste. Outside of Japan, chefs and food entrepreneurs combine umami research with existing cultural concepts of deliciousness to build a new taste category that is removed from its original context. As umami crosses national and cultural boundaries, it has become more than a rebranding strategy. For the initiated, it has grown into a shared point of reference that can be discussed, cultivated, and experienced. Ultimately, umami’s public recognition in Japan and around the world forces us to rethink monolithic definitions of taste categories.

KEYWORDS:

• Umami
• fifth basic taste
• the social construction of taste
• corporate rebranding
• Japanese cuisine

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Other fish cake artisans also explained that dashi seeps out of kamaboko when cooked in broth, something I was skeptical of at first as the plain fish cakes do not taste of umami. After cooking extensively with fish cakes, I realized I was wrong as broth cooked with kamaboko tastes of dashi and umami.

2. Aspergillus glaucus is a mold strain found in Arctic marine environments that is essential in the process of making dried bonito tuna.

3. Italicized ajinomoto refers to the Japanese seasoning product rather than the corporate group.

4. The company would from then on emphasize that the product was masshiro (pure white), which would both appeal to the hygienic quality and the Shinto concepts of purity.

5. Oleogustus is the proposed name for the taste of fatty acids present in olive oil.

6. Although ajinomoto was readily adopted throughout the Japanese empire as a symbol of modernity, it also became a symbol of Japanese imperialism that emerging independence movements could reject.

7. Ajinomoto does not typically italicize the word umami in its documentation. This choice helps mark an important distinction between umami as a Japanese linguistic and cultural concept and umami as a universal scientific fact.

8. The authors argue that in the case of New England clambake, seafood is steamed over seaweed to release glutamate. In the case of garum, roman fermented fish sauce, glutamic acid is released during the process of fermentation (Mouritsen and Styrbæk 2014).

9. In her book, Marion Nestle (unrelated to the food corporation) introduces the reader to how corporations deploy dubious nomenclatures like the term “Superfood” that are the product of marketing rather than science.

10. Nestlé rebranded some of its Maggi seasoning line, which is rich in MSG, as umami seasoning, while Kikkoman promotes the sale of its soy sauce as “instant umami.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher Laurent

Christopher Laurent is a cultural anthropologist who researches the social construction of taste in rural Japan. He received his MA from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his PhD from the University of Montreal. He is currently a lecturer in anthropology at the University of San Francisco. You can follow his research on his blog: www.christopherlaurent.com