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The Ajinomoto Renaissance
Achievement Of Dr. Kikunae Ikeda
The Discoverer of Umami.
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Dr. Ikeda who was born and grew up in Kyoto learned chemistry at Tokyo Imperial University, studied abroad under Professor Ostwald (Nobel Prize in 1909) in Leipzig, Germany and then became a professor at Tokyo Imperial University. Besides contributing to the establishment of basic physical chemistry in Japan, Dr. Ikeda was motivated by Dr. Miyake’s doctrine, ‘good taste stimulates digestion’ and conducted research on umami substances contained in Kombu, discovered glutamate as a key component of umami and furthermore, succeeded in transforming glutamate to an easy to use seasoning like sugar and salt.
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| Dr. Ikeda was motivated to save the Japanese population from malnourishment and to contribute to the health of the nation. The patent ‘The production method of seasoning with glutamate as a key component’ was authorized in 1908, and this seasoning was commercialized and marketed by Saburosuke Suzuki (founder of Ajinomoto Co. Inc) in 1909. Dr. Ikeda was selected as one of Japan’s Patent Office for this discovery and the commercialization has been regarded as an epoch-making case of collaboration between industry and academia in the Meiji era. |
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