The discovery of MSG first started in 1908 in Tokyo, Japan by Professor Kikunae Ikeda of the University of Tokyo. Ikeda was preforming experiments on a Japanese soup containing Kombu seaweed to divide and identify the flavor compounds in it. He soon uncovered the fifth taste sense and named it, umami. It went along with the five basic tastes that were sweet, bitter, sour, and salty. Glutamic acid is one of the components that is responsible for umami flavor. He wanted to see if umami would make food taste better. He founded a common component also produced flavors that were in meat, seaweed, tomatoes was glutamate. In 1909, MSG was manufactured to the public.