Savory, or umami in Japanese, has gained acceptance by food scientists as a fifth taste that can be detected by our taste buds, separate from the well-understood tastes of sweet, sour (acid), salty and bitter.

Umami was identified by the Japanese researcher Kikunae Ikeda in 1908 as a taste in a type of seaweed called Komba, commonly used as a component of soup stocks in Japanese cuisine. He discovered that umami is associated with the glutamate protein (monosodium L-glutamic acid), found in many foods. Later, ribonucleotides were found to have umami taste and also to have a synergistic effect with glutamates that greatly enhances the perception of the umami taste.

Umami is more prevalent and often found in higher concentrations in Asian cuisines. Western palates do not as easily recognize umami because we have never been taught to identify it, not helped by the fact that it is often hidden behind stronger tastes like saltiness. Umami in food tends to bring out bitter and often metallic tastes in a wine, although its effect can be negated by saltiness