umami

You know that rich, savoury flavour that lingers on your tongue, makes your mouth water, and somehow turns even the simplest dish into something crave-worthy? That’s umami – the fifth basic taste, and arguably the most misunderstood.

As another year draws to a close and many of us begin to wind down for Christmas, we look back and recap some of our blog highlights - diverse and informative topics from 2022 …

Food Trends for 2022: Umami goes big

If it’s not sweet, sour, bitter or salty; it’s got to be the fifth taste - umami. Merriam-Webster online lists umami as ‘the taste sensation that is produced by several amino acids and nucleotides (such as glutamate and aspartate) and has a rich or meaty flavour characteristic of cheese, cooked meat, mushrooms, soy, and ripe tomatoes.’

We’re just ending the first quarter of the new year and as we begin to fully settle into another year, we look at a variety of different sources to track the five most popular food trends that are still holding strong for the balance of 2022.

1. Flexitarian Food

If you’re an avid meat lover, but looking for a way to increase your vegetable intake, eat more healthily, and also reduce your environmental footprint, then a flexitarian approach might be what you’re looking for. 

Incorporating meat, but also leaning heavily on supplementing with plant-based protein, this approach is where meat blends become the perfect solution and a fine example of this is Blenditarian and their Blended Burger Project.

The idea is simple – add mushrooms to meat.

Each year McCormick & Company, a Fortune 1000 company that manufactures spices, flavourings and herbs for retail, commercial and industrial markets across the world, release their Flavour Forecast for the coming year – and this year is no different. So, let’s dive straight in to see what will inspire and entice us in 2018.

Handheld Flavour Fusion

It’s the start of a new year and as is normal at this time of the year, publications around the world begin predicting their food trends for the coming 12 months. Part art, part science, and influenced by a number of factors ranging from fashion and pop culture to health trends, we all wait with great anticipation (and sometimes amusement) to see what these ground-breaking new trends may be.