The Recipe for Perfect Gravy
As part of their Year of Food programme, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has announced that the secret of perfect gravy is added glutamate, from soy sauce. Recent research on the umami taste receptor has shown that ribonucleotides in the meat work synergistically with the glutamate to enhance umami taste perception.
To read more about the RSC's gravy recipe:
prospect.rsc.org
2008 marks the 100 year anniversary of Dr. Ikeda's discovery of umami in Kombu. Below is a list of
events that were held to commemorate the discovery of umami.
Star chefs highlight the benefits of glutamate-rich cuisine
London - March 2009: Four chefs, from Japan's finest Kaiseki
restaurants, visited London in March, to share the secrets of umami, and how dashi can be used to create delicious, healthy
dishes that are low in fat.
More...
100th Anniversary of Umami Discovery Open Symposium
A symposium focusing on the science and research surrounding umami.
Society for the Study of Ingestive Behaviour
This event was a luncheon seminar, which looked at the biological
significance of the glutamate signaling system during and after a protein meal.
International Symposium on Olfaction and Taste
The symposium was designed to provide an integrative approach for modern
research in the field. The meeting included oral presentations and thematic
collections of volunteer papers, as well as extensive poster sessions.
Umami Summit in the USA
The New Frontiers of Taste umami symposium, was held in San Francisco. The
symposium began with a panel discussion - food scientists, food journalists and
chefs - where people discussed the hot new topics in umami. This was followed by
a luncheon presented by Kunio Tokuoka, Thomas Keller and Hiro Sone.
The second event, Umami: A Modern Japanese Cuisine Dégustation was held in
New York, where fifty food enthusiasts were able to taste and experience umami
for themselves.
International Congress of Dietetics
This is an international congress held once every four years. The congress
featured a symposium on glutamate, "Eat well, Be well and Live better." The
symposium included new physiological and nutritional information on glutamate,
in relation to digestion and absorption of protein.
International Glutamate Technical Committee
100th Anniversary Symposium of Umami Discovery. This symposium was organised
to celebrate the discovery of umami by Prof. Ikeda in 1908 and to analyse the
subsequent extensive research on glutamate.