Special umami lecture to nutrition students
January 2023
The Umami Information Center (UIC) had a special lecture for students of Kyushu Women’s University on January 18. 83 students studying nutrition attended the class, titled “Knowing Umami, Tasting Umami – for Healthy Dietary Life”.
Dr. Kumiko Ninomiya, a UIC consultant, explained basic information on umami which is one of the five basic tastes, including the relationship between umami and protein in foods, and free amino acids.
The latest studies about correlation between tastiness and umami, and contribution of umami to health were also shared.
In addition, she communicated the accurate and useful information on the umami seasonings to the nutrition students, such as production method and convenience of it, as the essential knowledge to know.
After the lecture a practical class was held. Students observed various dashi ingredients including niboshi, a dried sardines, and four types of kombu, and tasted various dashi made from them.
They also had an experiment using enzyme to measure the concentration of glutamate in each dashi.
We received lots of feedbacks from the students.
- Very interesting and enjoyable lecture.
- I will use umami to reduce salt in my daily cooking.
- Until now, I thought I understood umami in theory. Now that I have tasted it, I really understand how umami is perceived on my tongue as an experience.
- Being a nutritionist, I make tasty dishes using umami and five senses.
We hope that experiences and knowledges we provided will be useful for the students in their activities.