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It�s time for vegetarians (and pescatarians) to enjoy the deep, soul-satisfying fifth taste of umami. Discovered in Japan in 1908 and accepted as a verified taste in the West in 1985, umami is the savory dimension that makes food truly delicious. And though it�s most naturally found in animal proteins�hello, bacon�it turns out there are umami-rich, non-meat ingredients that have the power to transform the ordinary into the amazing. Ingeniously built around the use of eight flavor bomb ingredients�hard cheese, tomatoes, miso, mushrooms, soy sauce, caramelized onions, nutritional yeast (don�t know it? you�re in for a treat) and smoke�from Raquel Pelzel, these 75 recipes are so surprisingly rich and tasty you�ll do a double-take. Here�s how to turn mushrooms into �lardons� for an authentically Southern-tasting dish of black-eyed peas and greens. Caramelize onions to use in the best grilled cheese ever. Add a secret spoon of soy sauce to the batter of your next chocolate cake�the soy taste disappears, but leaves behind an unexpected depth of flavor. Author Raquel Pelzel brilliantly combines umami flavors and techniques, doubling and sometimes tripling the umami bomb effect�adding miso to cacio e pepe sauce results in a vegetarian pasta on steroids. And she brings umami into a surprising direction�grilling the fruit first for an otherworldly Banana Split. Where�s the beef? Not here, and definitely not needed.