The last great food frontier to be explored was in the early 1900s. By 1908, a fifth taste identification had been added to the list: umami. Sweet, salty, sour, and bitter have long been accepted as tastes in various foods. Umami was labeled by a Japanese scientist who recognized a distinct flavor separate from the other four known tastes. He described it as a meaty taste, and since then, umami has been accepted by every food scientist worldwide. A new frontier is also breaking; research suggests we might have a specific taste receptor for calcium, but you might be wondering what that has to do with the history of New York City Restaurants.

If you follow the discovery of flavors, you will learn a good deal about the largest US city and its food evolution. Consider this: each flavor has a historical economic equivalent. Salty is the flavor of the working class. Salt is the preservative used by those without access to refrigeration. Sour is the flavor of the middle class and poor, found in citrus fruits, which have an expiration date. Perishable foods were not popular with poorer people, but worked well for those with some level of expendable income. Sour flavor is also found in fermented food; fermentation was commonly used by working class people as another preservation method for foods.

The sweet taste was typically for the upper and middle classes. Sweets like sugar, though long-lasting, were rare and hard to come by, grow and reproduce. Bitter tastes, as found in coffee, could be afforded by all, but were mostly enjoyed in varying cuisine by the rich. Lastly, a taste without a descriptive name: umami was a mostly upper class taste. Umami is common to tomatoes, and other fresh vegetables, cheeses and the like also possess umami. Only the wealthy could afford such foods that spoiled and took work to produce. Again, you might wonder how this plays into the history of food in New York.

Lower class families were the most common group to use open public dining spots. For this reason, the first New York City restaurants featured foods that were high in salty, bitter and sour flavors. Ethnic traditions also featured much sour taste, and some catered to upper class clientele with umami dishes. Appreciating New York’s long tradition of street vendors means enjoying the craft of developing such a style: ingredients high in salt and sour, the perfect hot dog combination. Add umami and you have pizza, the New York specialty.

Modern technology, of course, made many foods accessible to every class, but when the city first became a hub for food of every kind, its history was determined by the availability of tastes to varying classes. The next time you sit down, enjoy umami, and appreciate that by taking a bite of a tomato, you are identifying with the upper class of the early 1900s. Eat with respect for the past, and watch out for calcium to make its official debut on the taste chart. Maybe it will be the new flavor of the upper class: think ice cream.