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Can you help me understand umami better? When/how did it become a thing?

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Recorded

This event was on February 18, 2025

Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Nolan is ready to answer them all.

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Question

Ellen Kumler

Can you help me understand umami better? When/how did it become a thing?

Answer

So I think that the easiest way to explain umami is to say that, um, you know, it was discovered about 120 years ago in Japan. It's another word for savoriness or savory or delicious. So when you look at the other elements of, uh, of food flavors, uh, and you're thinking of sweet, sour, bitter, and, uh, salty, um, people add umami to that. You'll see it on a lot of cooking shows. Um, it's just another word to describe flavor, that's all. Uh, it, it goes much deeper than that. But, uh, it's the overall flavor and deliciousness of something that you make.

Char Nolan

Chef Instructor

Char Nolan is a serious crusader for plant-based education, armed with a degree in public health from Philadelphia’s Temple University. She teaches nutrition and plant-based cooking throughout Philadelphia, and in many underserved communities. Char holds a certificate in plant-based nutrition from eCornell and completed Rouxbe’s Plant-Based Professional Certification course in 2015. In 2019, Char completed post-graduate course work in social media marketing at the University of the Arts. When she is not cooking or teaching, she manages social media accounts for several plant-based influencers. Char prides herself on learning everything she knows about cooking from growing up in her grandparents’ Italian restaurant. Her favorite vegetables are Brussels sprouts and kale, of course. Char originally hails from Queens, NY, but has lived in Philadelphia most of her adult life. She is a former Peace Corps Volunteer.