When I was a young kid I LOVED Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup.
I remember daydreaming about eating it while sitting in classes during grade school. I craved that silky, lingering-on-your-tongue flavor, and I couldn’t wait to get home so I could crank open a can to get my mushroom fix.
And, if there wasn’t any cream of mushroom soup in the cupboard, I would settle for what I considered my second best choice: a homemade English muffin pizza. It was three simple ingredients: English muffin toasted in the toaster oven with Prego pasta sauce, plus a generous helping of grated Parmesan cheese.
OMG! It was delicious.
Today, I know that specific flavor craving is called umami.
It has a neurocognitive effect on the brain and satisfies the body on a deep level.
The umami flavor is found in foods like:
- Cooked tomatoes
- Cooked mushrooms
- Roasted winter squash
- Sea vegetables like kelp, kombu, wakame and nori
- Soy Sauce
- Miso
- Oysters and other shellfish
- Smoked fish
- Cured meats
- Roasted meats
- Aged cheeses
So it makes sense that when I couldn’t get my mushroom fix, the next best choice was cooked tomatoes with cheese: Pizza!
The foods that offer us the greatest umami flavor provide proteins that are broken down by fermenting, aging, toasting, roasting, braising, and stewing.
“When we eat whole proteins, our digestive systems burn a lot of energy breaking them down into amino acids. The amino acids in umami-rich foods are already in a free state, so they are more quickly and easily digested than complete proteins.”[1]
When my clients complain of not feeling satisfied after eating, I recommend they eat something savory with an umami flavor profile.
Eating the umami flavor can actually aid weight loss as it satisfies the body (and mind) on a deeply nutritive level.
We feel well-fed after eating foods with an umami flavor.
If you are not feeling satisfied and you are craving food that has that specific silky flavor, I highly recommend this homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup with Crispy Shiitake Bacon.
It’s sure to satisfy you on many levels… I promise!
[1] https://experiencelife.com/article/umami-the-secret-flavor/
Andrea Beaman is an internationally renowned Holistic Health Coach, Natural Foods Chef, Speaker, Herbalist and best-selling author. Named one of the top 100 Most Influential Health and Fitness Experts, she is also a recipient of the Natural Gourmet Institute’s Award for Excellence in Health-Supportive Education and a Health Leadership award from The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Since 1999, Andrea has been teaching people how to harness the body’s own preventative and healing powers using food, herbal remedies and alternative medicine.
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