WE ARE

Umamamia provides science-based, innovative umami solutions. Our high-quality ingredients help food producers create delicious and satisfying dishes. We focus on clean label and organic solutions for our customers. Our mission is to make umami a cornerstone in the green transition of the global food systems.

“At present we are faced with finding alternative food sources, but it is difficult to get people to eat something they do not like.”

— Ole G. Mouritsen - Gastrophysics & Professor emeritus at the University of Copenhagen

The Product

Umamamias ingredient is packed with umami, certified organic, clean-label and made from Danish legumes, salt and water. It enables food producers to deliver what customers and consumers are asking for in terms of inexpensive, clean and tasty products. We make legumes taste exquisite by understanding and replicating the bioprocesses that occur in nature to develop great tasting flavours using fermentation and biotechnology.

To learn more about the technical data and application of the ingredient, click the link below.

Product Details

Technology

The word umami is Japanese and refers to a taste that is delicious and pleasant. It refers to the actual sensory aspect that something tastes meaty and savoury. We all know four of the five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. But the fifth - Umami - can be difficult to recognize if you do not know what to taste for. It evolved to show that food has protein nutrients. The human brain detects if it is not present, when the brain expects it to be.

Meat-eaters often have umami cravings, when they move to a plant-based diet. Current meat alternatives do not meet their umami needs. They need a more tasty alternative to stay on a plant-based diet. Our ingredients can help fulfil this need. It satisfies cravings and reduces carbon footprint, a winning bonus!

About Umamamia

We are committed foodies and love to experiment in the kitchen. Our love for good food and sustainability has brought us together with the goal of helping food producers make their products tasty and more sustainable. A challenge we love tackling with our diverse knowledge and experience in food technology, biotechnology and innovation.

Meet the Team

Martin Decara

Founder & CEO
Martin possesses strong competencies in innovation processes, product development, and entrepreneurship, and is motivated to develop sustainable products with excellent business results. He enjoys creating value through the development of technological products, combining his practical background and engineering skills. Martin is not afraid to think big, take the lead, take responsibility, and learn from the process.
Martin: +45 26709557 | md@umamamia.com
Charlotte Vinther Schmidt

Co-Founder & CTO
Charlotte has a background as food science engineer and has a Ph.D. within food science and technology, focused on umami taste and food texture. She has experience in new product development, ingredient replacement, research, design of experiments, and outreach. Charlotte is personally motivated to turn life science driven research into practical application and business opportunities that can support the delicious taste of plant-based food and the green transition of our food system.
Charlotte: +45 ‭27213007‬ | cvs@umamamia.com
Julen Ordeñana Manso

R&D & research scientist
Julen has a background in bioprocessing and fermentation. During his PhD in DTU, he worked on processing agricultural byproducts for the production of food ingredients. He is excited about developing new, sustainable methods for the production of tasty ingredients that will help in the global transition towards a more plant-based diet
Jildau Emma Bras

R&D & research scientist
Industrial PhD in Systems biology and Bioinformatics from DTU in collaboration with Chr Hansen, and MSc in Life Science and Technology
jeb@umamamia.com
Anne Malberg Horsager

Chairwoman of the Advisory Board
Anne is the programme Director DTU Board Education. Facilitates agile change and delivers results in business innovation. Anne ensures execution and efficiency while increasing stakeholder value, Customer Experience Management, sales, and organisational development.
Thomas Nagy

Technical & business advisor
Thomas is a seasoned executive with a strong general business acumen and broad experience in industrial biotechnology. And has a passion for start-ups, innovation and sustainability - developing teams, businesses and solutions that can help make a more sustainable world. Thomas has lived in three continents during his career, working with biotech start-ups (incubator environments and companies) as well as large-scale industrial biotech.
Peter Schwensen

Sales advisor & investor
Peter is an experienced global key account manager from the protein industry. He worked with FOSS and Arla Foods Ingredients, focusing on sales management, general management, and business development. He has great insight into global process optimization among leading companies and is working with the Umamamia team on everything related to sales.
Erik Steffensen

Technical & business advisor
Erik is an experienced leader within biotech and pharma. He has 20 years of leadership experience within R&D, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and Quality of biotech products, biopharmaceutical medicines and medical devices from Novo Nordisk and Novozymes.

For us, flavour comes first

Umamamia makes plant-based umami flavouring ingredients from Danish legumes. Our product can be used by all kinds of food producers that want their products to taste exquisite and be full of umami. The flavour profile of our product makes it well suited to be added to plant-based meat alternatives.

Real meat has a lot of umami, which gives a satisfying effect on the human brain in the same way as sugar does. Our umami product makes it easier for meat eaters to feel satisfied with meat alternatives with our product in.

Among the factors influencing food purchase decisions, the international food information council has found taste to be the most important.