The Umami Summit in London was the most recent in a series of successful centenary events held in New York, SanFrancisco, and Kyoto in 2008 to celebrate 100 years since the discovery of umami.

The Umami Information Center (UIC) in collaboration with the main organizer, University Putra Malaysia (UPM) and sponsored by Ajinomoto Co. Inc, Japan and Ajinomoto (Malaysia) Berhad held the event to create an open discussion on the latest scientific findings of umami. The objective of this groundbreaking meeting was to highlight recent advances on umami sensing, physiological benefits of glutamate and health implications.

The delegation of twenty members comprised of ten renowned chefs representing Dutch cuisine and ten members from food suppliers and food media industry visited Japan to attend the World Summit of Gastronomy, Tokyo Taste. Eight out of ten chefs in the group were honored with Michelin stars. One of this select group's interests in Japan was umami which has recently been drawing attention in Europe. In response to the request to the Umami Information Center (UIC) from the tour leader Henk de Bruin who wished to have an opportunity to learn more about umami, this workshop was held with the courtesy of Tsukiji Tamura, one of the top traditional Japanese restaurants.

Over the course of three days between February 9th and 11th, the Tokyo International Forum hosted about 5,000 visitors at Tokyo Taste - The World Summit of Gastronomy 2009. Twenty-one celebrated chefs from eight countries around the globe came to Tokyo to display their gastronomic philosophy by way of their superb cuisine.