And umami was coined by a Japanese guy and for the Japanese they describe it as 'yummy deliciousness' [Helen laughs]. Now let's... let's go back to the four basic tastes that everyone knows about. There's um... well, there's bitterness...
listen
Jackie: For this week's podcastsinenglish.com I'm talking to Helen. Hi, Helen.
Helen: Hello, Jackie.
Jackie: And we're talking about taste. Do you know what umami is?
Helen: I have heard of it and it's something to do with your taste buds, I think.
Jackie: Have you known about it for a long time?
Helen: I watch a lot of cookery programmes so I've heard them talking about this. Taste of Thailand is coming to mind.
Jackie: Right. Well, that's interesting I think that you've said that because Thailand is, of course, an Asian country...
Helen: Right
Jackie: ...and umami was coined by a Japanese guy and for the Japanese they describe it as 'yummy deliciousness' [Helen laughs]. Now let's... let's go back to the four basic tastes that everyone knows about. There's um... well, there's bitterness...
Helen: Yes
Jackie: Um... sourness.
Helen: Sweet
Jackie: Sweetness and um... salty, saltiness.
Helen: Okay
Jackie: Right, okay. Now this is more difficult to describe apparently because it's... it's... when you're cooking meat and you get that..
Helen: That's it, it's the... the smell of the meat browning, isn't it? The... the [?] the smell of... yes, okay, yes.
Jackie: It makes your... it's makes you salivate...
Helen: Mouth water, it makes your mouth water.
Jackie: Exactly
Helen: Okay right
Jackie: And apparently a lot of food that's cooked um... for a slow time, like stews and things, will have more umami in it.
Helen: Okay
Jackie: But the interesting thing is it's not... if you... if you take like um... bitter food, bitter...
Helen: Like a lemon or something.
Jackie: That would...
Helen: Would that be..?
Jackie: That's interesting, lemons are sour.
Helen: Oh, okay.
Jackie: Bitter: olives...
Helen: Okay
Jackie: Black coffee
Helen: Okay
Jackie: So those kinds of things it's very... you can kind of define which food have them. Asparagus...
Helen: Is... is bitter?
Jackie: No, sorry, that's the umami.
Helen: Oh, that's umami, okay.
Jackie: So cooked meat er... asparagus, some mushrooms, tomatoes and parmesan cheese.
Helen: But I would describe parmesan cheese as salty.
Jackie: Yes, I would as well. And very different from tomatoes. Which is why, I think, it's quite a complicated taste....
Helen: Yes, okay, yes.
Jackie: ...sensation to describe. And I think it's more difficult for Westerners to grasp than... than Asian people.
Helen: Because in Asian cooking they... cos when you watch them cook Chinese food particularly they have the soya sauce, and then they add the... the rice wine and then they always add honey or sugar or something to balance out the...
Jackie: ...all the different tastes, a different style of cooking. And also I thought you were going to say as well that often in Asian cooking they add MSG and apparently, you see, MSG is umami.
Helen: Oh, really?
Jackie: Yeah. It's a little bit complicated. We'll just finish with the fact that, you know obviously MacDonald's are very popular...
Helen: Yes
Jackie: And one of the... one of the things that people really like is er... a Big Mac with a big bit of meat um... some tomatoes and a big load of... well, a cheeseburger...
Helen: A cheeseburger.
Jackie: ...with cheese on top. And one of the reasons why this is such a popular thing to eat is it is full of umami.
Helen: Makes you crave it [both laugh].
Jackie: I'm going to have to find out a bit more about this.
Helen: Me too.
Jackie: Thanks, Helen.
Look up dictionary