To understand anchovies, you need to understand umami. For most of history, just four tastes were recognized: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. He named the taste umami, after the Japanese word “umai,” which translates — very roughly — as savory taste. Preserved anchovies — whether salted, packed in oil or transformed into fish sauce — have extraordinarily high levels of umami. We know we need to be eating more whole foods, more plants, more good fats, more grains and pulses.

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Persons: Democritus, Kikunae Ikeda, Ikeda, it’s Locations: Japanese, Asia, Rome, haute, York