As one of the five basic tastes, umami makes an important contribution to food taste and quality, and has received widespread attention in recent years. This article introduces readers to the umami substances in foods, including free amino acids, nucleotides, and umami peptides, summaries several evaluation methods of umami taste, including chemical analysis, artificial sensory evaluation and intelligent sensory evaluation, and outlines the physical and biological methods of obtaining umami. Furthermore, this review points out that food raw materials and processing methods can have a significant effect on umami, and proposes future directions for umami research. We expect this review to provide a reference for the research on umami substances in foods.