> Umami was first scientifically identified in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda,[27][28] a professor of the Tokyo Imperial University. He found that glutamate was responsible for the palatability of the broth from kombu seaweed. He noticed that the taste of kombu dashi was distinct from sweet, sour, bitter, and salty and named it umami.[16]
> Professor Shintaro Kodama, a disciple of Ikeda, discovered in 1913 that dried bonito flakes (a type of tuna) contained another umami substance.[29] This was the ribonucleotide IMP. In 1957, Akira Kuninaka realized that the ribonucleotide GMP present in shiitake mushrooms also conferred the umami taste.[30] One of Kuninaka's most important discoveries was the synergistic effect between ribonucleotides and glutamate. When foods rich in glutamate are combined with ingredients that have ribonucleotides, the resulting taste intensity is higher than would be expected from merely adding the intensity of the individual ingredients.[14]
no. MSG is isolated, purified, and salt-bound form of glutamate.
umami is more complex- it's usually a combination of several amino acids and nucleosides. MSG on its own, or nucleosides on their own barely taste like much, while umami is ... quite rich.
Since when is umami a new real flavor and not just a marketing term?