Umami is a food and drink website for the curious cook. Our mission is to help people explore the world and expand their taste through delicious recipes and interesting stories.
At Umami, we tell the stories about food that matter. We strive to dig deeper to help people understand why something works, learn helpful cooking techniques they can use every day, and explore where food comes from and what it means to people’s lives. We deeply believe life should be a beautiful adventure and that learning about food and cooking should be a fun experience that brings people together.
At Umami, you’ll have the chance to read stories about places we love, great recipes you can use at home, conversations with people who work with food, the cultural significance of dishes, the ins and outs of food science, and develop a better understanding of the politics and business of food. Our long-term goal is to be an essential publication for people who care about what we eat and how we eat it.
History
Umami was founded in 2014 by Mark Hinds, who wanted to create a publication for people who loved to cook and wanted to know more about the recipes, ingredients, and cuisines they were cooking.
His vision was to build a publication about food and drink that inspired cooks to try new things and to build an online community where they could share their ideas and expertise.
When we were getting ready to launch the website way back in 2014, there was a long list of potential names. What we were looking for was a single word or two that was memorable and captured our desire to be a publication focused on cooks who were curious about what they cooked and ate and who were interested in the history, science, and culture of food.
We’ve always been inspired by Dr. Ikeda’s work on umami, how he was willing to dig deeper to understand the flavor in dashi, and how he took what he found and turned it into a simple way for people to improve the flavor of their food.
We also liked that, as a word, umami encourages people to ask questions, and in the spirit of so many of the great food magazines that came before us, we let our curiosity and inspiration be our guide.
If you’re interested in learning more about umami as a flavor, what it is, how it tastes, and how to incorporate it into your cooking, read Everything You Need to Know About Umami.
Editorial Guidelines & Recipe Development
Whether developing a new recipe or writing an in-depth story, we focus on providing helpful, engaging, and accurate information. The two questions we always ask when choosing a topic to write about or a recipe to develop are “Can we say something fresh or new about this topic?” and “How can we present the topic in an informative and engaging way?”.
Editorial Steps
All of the content we produce goes through this editorial process. We deeply believe in content produced by humans using their expertise and experience for other humans.
Idea
Whether it’s a recipe, a how to article about a cooking method, or an in-depth story about an ingredient, we choose topics where we can bring a fresh perspective to the table.
Research
Before we write a single word, we research the topic. This often includes reading and trying dozens of recipes from across the internet, cookbooks, and magazines. We spend the time to find academic articles and government studies that provide context and background information and talk to people with topical expertise. We recognize that expertise in food can be found in many places and from people with different backgrounds.
Testing
All of our recipes are tested over and over again. We understand that the cooks making our recipes choose us because they want to make something delicious and that they are putting their trust in us. That is why we repeatedly test our recipes and do our best to make the instructions comprehensive and easy to follow.
Storytelling
We love food, we love to eat it, we love to look at it, we love to talk about it, and we love to write about it! When we write a piece, our goal is to make it enjoyable, to let people know what we learned as we developed it, so they can use that knowledge to make it their own. We tell these stories using words, pictures, and video.
Listen & Update
One of the great things about the internet is the ability to update content. At Umami, we regularly update our pieces as we hear feedback from readers and learn and grow as recipe developers, food writers, and as cooks.
Let’s Connect
Why We Love Our Contributors
To tell these stories, Umami is developing a team of talented contributors who bring a diverse set of experiences, skills, and points of view to the table. We use a team approach to create an environment where our contributors use their creativity and passion to tell the stories about food that matter to people’s lives.
Having a small cadre of contributors allows us to invest time and resources into each contributor, helping them develop their voice and a connection with our readers. If you’re interested in becoming a contributor, email us.
Send us your story ideas
Hey, we want your ideas! We want the content here to be interesting, which means listening to our readers. Do you have a question about how to cook something, where an ingredient came from, or whether something is any good? Drop us a line at ideas@umami.site.
Affiliate Links
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