Savory is "umami".

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

Wikipedia notwithstanding, they're not really synonyms. Savory is a broader term that is essentially intended to contrast with sweet. If I make an unsweetened herb bread with sage and thyme or whatever, it would be correct to call that a savory bread even though it's definitely not umami (i.e. meaty/brothy).

Fair enough. It's almost certainly more correct to list umami as one of the basic tastes, rather than savory. (I was more commenting on Wikipedia suggesting they're the same thing when they're really not.)

> It's almost certainly more correct to list umami as one of the basic tastes, rather than savory.

I really don't think so: 'savory' is an actual English word while 'umami' is a Japanese one. Writing 'umami' like writing 'arugula' instead of 'rocket' or 'cilantro' instead of 'coriander.'

And 'umami' isn't really any more accurate than 'savory': it's a 100-year-old neologism from the Japanese word for 'delicious.' Given a choice between two words which aren't necessarily perfect fits for the concept, why not stick with the native one?

Because savory has other meanings in cooking and umami is a essentially a pure concept in English. Umami means one and exactly one thing.

Exactly. Essentially English co-opted umami as a stand-in for glutamate-y which, we can probably agree is an aesthetic improvement. It's at least arguably a subset of savory but as I commented earlier there are clearly meanings of savory in cooking/baking that have no relationship to umami as the term is used in English.

It depends on how you list things: bitter, salty, sour, astringent, sweet, pungent (eg chili), and umami is 7.

Starch is another contender, though we are not sure about the receptor for that one.

If you're counting hot=chili=capsaicin as a taste, you should also count cold=mint=menthol. Not sure where https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sichuan_pepper falls in that

Your comment gave me an extra insight into Sichuan pepper, which I love, given one of my favourite dishes is Kung Pao Chicken [0].

It's a difficult taste to describe, but it's almost like chili that's "cold"/"icy" instead of "hot"/"burning".

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Pao_chicken

I had this yesterday for dinner (and far too often here in Singapore in general, it's amazing) without ever knowing the history or proper name.

Thank you for the reference.

As an aside - if you like Szechuan pepper, these[1] are delicious.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Huang-Spicy-Crispy-Peanut-Ounce/dp/B0...

Is starch not astringent? I know I used to confuse the two before I understood what astringent was. “This is like eating a banana peel.”

You haven’t tried astringent until you’ve had an Asian persimmon like Hachiya that’s not quite ready.

Persimmons are what taught me about astringent. I stick to fuyu. They just taste like cardboard if you guess wrong.