PT AJINOMOTO INDONESIA (Ajinomoto) celebrates its 54th Anniversary in July 2023. Present since 1969 in Indonesia, Ajinomoto is part of the global company Ajinomoto Co. Inc. (AJICO) headquartered in Tokyo Japan. As a global company, AJICO has 2 big goals towards 2030, namely first to extend the healthy life expectancy of 1 billion people worldwide and secondly to reduce the environmental impact of the company's business activities by up to 50%. These two big goals will be achieved jointly by all affiliates of AJICO around the world, including Ajinomoto Indonesia.
To achieve these 2 big goals, Ajinomoto transformed all of its employees into Health Providers. These Ajinomoto Health Providers will then be actively involved in Indonesian society, one of which is the Smart Salt initiative. Through the Smart Salt educational activity which has been consistently carried out by its Health Providers since 2021, Ajinomoto contributes to reducing the prevalence of hypertension or high blood pressure by reducing salt intake but still maintaining food delicacy.
This time, as well as to celebrate its 54th Anniversary, Ajinomoto is holding the "Umami Festival" 2023 event, in collaboration with ABC Cooking Studio, an international cooking class network that has members of the Jabodetabek urban community who are cooking enthusiasts. The event was held on 2 occasions, namely July 20 and 26, at 2 ABC Cooking Studio locations, PIK Avenue in North Jakarta and Senayan City in South Jakarta. Ajinomoto invite Executive Chef Fukoro Dining Jakarta, Hideki Fujiwara who shared directly how to create Tori Jiru menu, an authentic Japanese menu that uses food sources of umami flavors such as kombu dashi, chicken, mushrooms, miso, and AJI-NO-MOTO® MSG.
"Through this event, we want to provide hands-on experience on how to cook with the Smart Salt concept to the members of ABC Cooking Studio. Unlike the educational activities we usually do, we hope that this hands-on practical experience can help busy urbanites maintain their health through delicious balanced nutrition, while reducing their salt intake by cooking practical menus. We hope that what Ajinomoto Health Provider shared today can be useful for the participants who attended and they can then also share it with people around them so that more and more Indonesian people can avoid the risk of hypertension," said Grant Senjaya, Head of Corporate Communications Dept, PT AJINOMOTO INDONESIA.
Present as a guest speaker, Sakinah – Nutrition & Education, Corporate Communications Dept. of PT AJINOMOTO INDONESIA, shared sensory test sessions and the Smart Salt concept. "Friends, so far there are four basic tastes that we are more familiar with, namely sweet, salty, bitter, sour. Now the last one was found the fifth basic taste which is umami or savory, discovered by a scientist from Japan namely Dr. Kikunae Ikeda. In this sensory test session, friends can feel the umami that appears dominant at the end (after taste) when tasting cherry tomatoes, and the umami that appears at the beginning (instant taste) through cheese," said Sakinah.
"We are also currently carrying out the Smart Salt campaign, which is also closely related to the source of umami taste. Salt if consumed in excess can lead to various degenerative diseases such as hypertension, stroke, heart failure, diabetes, and others. According to WHO, the recommended daily safe consumption of salt is less than 5 grams per person. So, Ajinomoto's Smart Salt campaign invites Indonesian families to live healthier by reducing their intake or use of salt in preparing food, but can still get a high taste, by adding a little MSG as a source of umami taste," she continued.
“Umami has a very important role in cooking, because it can add a savory taste that makes food have a rich flavor. Utilizing umami, the concept of Smart Salt from Ajinomoto is very good for maintaining health also,” said Chef Hideki when met for an interview.
“There are many benefits that all cooking enthusiasts who attended these 2 events will get. Apart from getting information on useful balanced nutritional intake, we also introduce cooking enthusiast friends to the Dapur Umami. By logging in and becoming a member at https://www.dapurumami.com/, consumers will get various benefits through the available features. Present since 2011, the Digital Umami platform aims to make it easier for consumers to find various things related to health inspiration, namely menu references, cooking tips, and nutritional value information. The Dapur Umami itself is also one of the methods in which Ajinomoto Health Provider can contribute to the wider Indonesian community through the digital channel." close Grant at the end of the event.