ikeda tohka

"u can be a boss.  ur smile.  ur outgoing nature.  people like u.  after a few years.  come out and start your own business"

the past few days have been spent with a mister tohka owner of ikeda tohka industries.  blt prime. carnegie deli. la birreria.  fanny pack.  little plastic itinerary and ID card holder around his neck.  back pack.  mini camera.  mini cell phone camera.  5th avenue shopping.  broadway shows.  typical stuff.  and he makes caramel color.  and other food preservatives.  that's cool enough as it is.  then after spending the next day reading on umami, is his grandfather the guy that actually discovered the glutamate/umami science?  amazing.

Umami was not properly identified until 1908 by the scientist Kikunae Ikeda,^[16] a Professor of the Tokyo Imperial University. He found that glutamate was responsible for the palatability of the broth from kombu seaweed. He noticed that the taste of kombu dashi was distinct from sweet, sour, bitter and salty and named it umami. Ikeda subsequently patented a process for the industrial production of the monosodium glutamate salt (MSG), which led to the foundation of theAjinomoto company, who commercialized and popularized MSG.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umami

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/jul/10/foodanddrink.features3