Educating the World about Umami

In addition to spreading understanding of the umami seasoning AJI-NO-MOTO^®, the Ajinomoto Group is helping to communicate the fact that umami is a universal taste, common to food cultures the world over. The group is also involved in disseminating the latest information regarding new discoveries about the nutritional and physiological roles of glutamate, by holding seminars and symposiums in various countries. In addition to educating a diverse audience that includes nutritionists, chefs, intellectuals, business partners, students, and the media, the group provides learning sessions for its employees that enable them to speak about umami with confidence and pride.

Umami seminars

Since October 2007, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., has been holding learning seminars at its Kawasaki Plant for its business partners in the distribution, wholesale, processing, and other industries in Japan. These seminars are opportunities for the company to clearly explain umami as well as the seasoning capabilities, physiological functions, and safety of umami substances such as glutamate, inosinate, and guanylate. Through the active Q&A discussions accompanying the seminars, the company has been able to impart important information, while participants have deepened their understanding of the subject of umami.

Umami symposiums

In various regions, the PR staff of the Ajinomoto Group are taking the lead in holding symposiums to encourage understanding of umami. These symposiums are implemented with the cooperation of local food science and cooking instructors, culinary schools, chefs associations, and culinary experts and professionals in Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brazil, and other locations. These efforts are deepening understanding of umami through the creation of unique stories that shed light on the relationship between umami and the traditional cuisine and fermented condiments of each area.

Employee learning sessions

In their very first employee learning session, participants are taught to recognize umami as it spreads through the mouth when chewing on a piece of tomato. Employees deepen their understanding of umami through lectures on the discovery of umami, the historical background of the birth of the umami seasoning AJI-NO-MOTO^® as well as its safety and characteristics, and the latest research findings about glutamate.

The Japan Dietetic Association's Umami Reader

A keychain gift with the Maternity Mark logo*1 and the supplementary reader The Secret of Deliciousness

In 2007, the Japan Dietetic Association published the Umami Reader. This book provides the latest information on glutamate, foods that contain an abundance of umami, and ways of skillfully using umami seasoning. It also includes an umami chronology showing the historical and geographical background of the formation of Japan's dietary culture up to the discovery of umami. The Ajinomoto Group hopes that this book will further increase the world's appreciation of the value of umami.
In addition, the Mothers' and Children's Health and Welfare Association's dietary education guide to developing babies' sense of taste, The Secret of Deliciousness, is distributed as a supplementary reader to the maternal and child health handbooks given to all pregnant women in Japan. This is part of an effort to get future mothers to correctly understand the importance of the Japanese dietary pattern and the workings of glutamate within the body (including the abundance of umami in breast milk). Both of these books were published with assistance from the Umami Information Center, a nonprofit organization.

*1 Since August 1, 2006, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan has been distributing keychains featuring a specially designed Maternity Mark logo that can be displayed by expecting mothers when they are using public transportation. The aim is to help create a friendly environment and encourage the community's consideration of pregnant women.