Umami selects and imports for you, directly from the artisans, high quality Japanese products, healthy, tasty and inherited from a traditional know-how. You will find at Umami the great classics of Japanese cuisine (soy sauce, dashi, miso, vinegar, yuzu, seaweed, teas, etc.) as well as new and rare products.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE BEST OF JAPANESE GASTRONOMY AND TERROIR LIVE FROM THE ARTISANS
Umami is an import company of high quality Japanese food products.
We select for you, directly from the craftsmen, healthy, tasty products inherited from traditional know-how.
We wish, through our company, to make you discover the multiple Japanese flavors little known to Europeans.
THE TEAM
Jean Béguin, founder of Umami, has always been passionate about Japan. 5 years of experience as a sales manager in the import of gourmet products and a trip to Japan in 2013 convinced him to embark on the Umami adventure.
Laure Béguin, passionate about gastronomy, was interested in his project from the start and chose to partner with him. She brings her skills in the fields of graphic design, marketing and the web to create the universe of the brand and carry out its communication strategy.
Yoko Kambe, a Japanese living in France, and Raphaël Berrhoun, a Frenchman who speaks fluent Japanese, decide to join the project, convinced by the potential of Umami. Both bring their knowledge of the Japanese market and their skills in international trade.
Today, thanks to the diversity of everyone, Umami forms a strong and complementary team.
WHY UMAMI
Umami is the fifth flavor after sweet, salty, sour and bitter. In Japanese, umami means “tasty taste”.
Umami enhances the flavor of a wide variety of foods and acts as a flavor enhancer. It has a long and tasty aftertaste. It wraps the palate and the top of the tongue in a veil of softness and roundness.
We find this flavor in ripe tomatoes, parmesan, soy, fish, shellfish, matcha, seaweed, mushrooms, but especially in broths and in particular what is called dashi, one of the bases of Japanese cuisine.
We have chosen to call our company Umami, because this term is evocative of quality and good taste. We want to democratize this notion of the 5th flavor in European palates. We are convinced that umami allows healthy and tasty cuisine based on quality and not on quantity.
OUR DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS
Our products are present on the tables of the greatest chefs, in bistronomic restaurants, and on the internet for individuals.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
- Make you discover that Japanese products adapt perfectly and easily to French cuisine.
- Bringing you new flavors in your everyday cooking.
- Introduce you to the essential basics of Japanese cuisine.
OUR APPROACH TO DISCOVERING JAPANESE PRODUCTS
We believe that knowledge of umami helps to achieve very tasty cuisine. The Japanese products that we offer make it possible to achieve a healthy and balanced cuisine.
For this, we want to fill the lack of pedagogy around Japanese products, by giving as much information as possible, by organizing tastings, cooking classes.
