Not so long ago, had you asked any great chef or food scientist, you would have been told that there were only four basic tastes: salt, sweet, sour and bitter.
And then some clever, and no doubt greedy, Japanese scientists discovered 'umami' - you might call it savoury. The thing about umami foods is that they are all particularly more-ish. You know you've got one if you have a little bite and you start to salivate.
In the next of our series on taste, Anna McNamee met cookery writer Sybil Kapoor and Randolph Hodgson, owner of Neals Yard Dairy where the two were united in the pursuit of tasting umami.
Taste: A New Way to Eat
By Sybil Kapoor
Published by Mitchell Beazley (2003)
ISBN 1 84000 610 2
