The Market is Open: Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is here! Pools are open and so is the ALFN market !

My family and I lived in Mozambique for close to nine years. During our adjustment phase, we would wallow in nostalgia for home American culture. For me, certain smells would trigger this nostalgia. The weird olfactory mixes of gasoline and cut grass, or seared meat on a grill are smells I associated with my upbringing in America. Both of these smells are rooted in Memorial Day weekend—the beginning of summer for American culture. Of course, taste is intricately linked to smell, and it is no accident human culture is rooted to these two senses. Why? The short answer: food. The tart taste of lemonade in the heat of summer connects the body to place and tradition. The redolent smells of grilling meat are reminiscent of festival and ceremony. According to food scientists, we have five distinct tastes; however, scientists can only provide concrete evolutionary reasons for four of the tastes. Too much bitter can be a sign of poison; overly sour food can suggest rottenness; just the right amount of saltiness is necessary for health; and sweet provides packets of energy. Can you guess the mysterious fifth taste?

A relatively new taste, umami is a Japanese word meaning pleasantly savory. The taste is hard to nail down, but there are concrete receptors for this taste in our brains. The taste can be found in seared meats, broths, aged cheeses, and cooked tomatoes. Of course, industrial food systems have tried to capitalize on this naturally occurring taste through the addition of MSG into many processed foods.

The mystery of umami is that often the taste is synergistic. Food scientist can’t simply isolate and replicate the taste…it surfaces when foods combine on our plates. This is one of the reasons why scientists have a hard time hypothesizing the evolutionary reason for our umami cravings. Umami seems to emerge out of our culinary traditions: fermenting, grilling, and combining. To me, this suggests umami is a taste that emerged with the culture of cooking. Yes, we eat to survive. But, we also eat to mark passing time, remember old time, and toast to new time. We cook and share food in ways that can best be described as rituals of communion with our fellow tribe. What emerges from these rituals are savory tastes on the palate and the heart.

Welcome to summer! Strike up the fires and order up a plate of umami from the ALFN market!

Sincerely

Kyle Holton
Program & Market Manager

P.S. For a fun look at umami, check out chapter three of Jonah Lehrer’s book, Proust Was a Neuroscientist.