Human milk is actually very high in glutamate. So the breastfed infant is getting an experience that is very different from that of a formula‐fed infant. The other issue I thought was extremely interesting is the persistence and mouth feel that umami gives, which is quite different from that of the other 4 basic tastes in that there is almost a tactile sense. And writers in the 1950s and 1940s in the U.S. always
honed in on the fact that not only does umami have taste and a chicken‐y sort of flavor, but that it gives body and depth to food.
There is no question that finding the receptors for glutamate on the tongue, beginning around 1999, has clarified the fact that this really is something that is profoundly important, but I still think we dont quite understand all the ramifications of those discoveries.