Professor Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University discovered the fifth taste which is umami or the savory taste. As a chemist, he tested glutamic acid and found that it is common in foods which are considered savory.
According to Food Insight, advances in the past decades have shown that multiple taste receptors are implicated in the mechanism of umami taste perception. The compound for umami, which is MSG, is common to various types of foods nowadays and is considered an integral part of the present cuisine.