About

Umami is a thread shared across regions, cultures, and time — and the first memory of safety we ever learned.

Rooted in this understanding, Kumi Matsushita works across culture, history, and science to raise new questions and proposals about food, health, and what it means to live well today.

She studies how umami emerges through processes such as fermentation, aging, drying, and extraction — and how these practices encode biological signals, cultural memory, and systems of survival. Rather than treating umami as information to be explained, she approaches it as a shared human experience — something to be sensed, remembered, and explored together.

With over 20 years of experience across creative direction, branding, and marketing strategy in Japan, she began researching umami around 2018. This background continues to shape how she designs cultural and sensory experiences today. Since relocating to the Netherlands in 2023, she has been dedicated to offering a new context for umami in Europe.

Umami is already on the table — everywhere in the world. Her work offers a spark of rediscovery, and a new lens through which to understand its value.

Areas of Exploration

• Flavor as Cultural Lens
• Fermentation and Preservation
• Taste, Memory, and Sensory Experience
• Food, Ritual, and Identity
• Japanese and European Food Traditions

Selected Workshops & Speakings

Delft University of Technology ・ Camera Japan Festival ・ Embassy of Japan in Switzerland ・ Japan Markt Berlin ・ Berlin Ramen Festival ・ ORTEC …and more across the Netherlands and Europe since 2023.