Process and Cold Fish: A Talk with Jacob Grant About the Upcoming Book Umami!

When one thinks of the term “umami” what comes to mind? Savoriness? Yes. Penguins? No. And yet here we are today, talking with author/illustrator Jacob Grant about his upcoming October 29th release, Umami. In a world of cold fish, Umami is a little different. Here’s the plot description from the publisher:

Umami is tired of eating cold fish.

But fish is what the penguins eat. Fish for every meal and birthdays too. To find new exciting foods, Umami adventures across the sea and discovers flavors and spices that are inspiring! She has to share them.

But will the other penguins share her love for these different foods?

Folks, it is my very great pleasure to introduce Jacob Grant himself!

Betsy Bird: Jacob! Such a delight to talk to you today and such a delight UMAMI is! You know I love a good origin story, so lay it on me. Where did this book come from? Penguins and food choices are always of interest to me.

Jacob Grant: Always a pleasure, Betsy! This is a story that draws inspiration from several influences in my life: my brother, who was a chef in Chicago for a number of years, my wife, who has been introducing me to new foods since our days in art school, my kids, whose taste can be both picky and surprising, and my belly, which is usually hungry. All of this went into the pot, and out came a determined little penguin who is hungry for more.

Why a penguin? The isolation! The limited diet! The simple shape! I knew this was going to be a story about new experiences, and I needed a character who’s never even seen a hot dog. I had originally named the penguin Umami simply because it was a catchy food-inspired name, but later it would inform the structure of the story, and lead to introducing the five basic tastes.

BB: Now part of what was so interesting about the book is that Umami doesn’t enter the world of culinary variation and encounter the standard Americanized hamburgers and hot dogs (though they are options). He’s picking up ramen and foods with spice and whatever it is that goat is eating. As a parent of two kids, I know all too well how hard it can be to break small children out of their comfort zones. How did you decide what foods Umami would eat?

Jacob: Mostly, I wanted to draw my favorite foods, BUT it was also important to me that the book introduce a wide variety of cuisine. Some kids will see foods that are familiar, and some will see things they’ve never found on a plate, and that feels very true to their everyday experience. For kids, every new dish can look bizarre and possibly life-threatening.

My son has enjoyed spicy foods since he was a toddler, but both of my children can be particularly picky eaters. Introducing anything new is a struggle, and my daughter is quick to call any food “SPICY”, which simply means a food is sour, or salty, or has any flavor at all. This is part of the reason Umami experiences what it means for something to taste sour, salty, bitter, sweet, or even umami – so at the very least my kids will be able to tell me specifically what’s wrong with our dinner.

BB: Tell us a little bit about your artistic process. The book says you use oil pastel monoprints and colored pencils. What are the advantages of this particular medium for a book like UMAMI?

Jacob: This is the first book that I’ve made using traditional media, avoiding the computer as much as possible, and it was so refreshing that I don’t imagine I’ll ever look back. There is a quality to handmade art that I’ve never been able to replicate digitally – the flaws, the unpredictable textures from a print, the surprising ways the media might blend. The art feels human, and there’s a warmth to that. I think the best foods we eat have a similar quality, and so it felt natural that the book had to be illustrated this way.

The art for Umami even brought me to Italy, as one of the winners of the 2024 Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustration Exhibition. My culinary penguin is currently on a museum tour across Japan, Korea and China, so the new approach seems to be working!

For more on my adventures in Bologna, see my stories on Instagram: @jacobgrantbooks

BB: When you’re pitching a book to publishers that you’ve both written and illustrated, how much of the book do you send? Is it all sketches or do you have any final art you include as well?

Jacob: Every time I have a new book idea to pitch, I sketch everything out loosely, and then finalize four spreads of art to share how I envision the book. Usually this art won’t make it to the final as things will inevitably change over rounds of revisions.

For Umami, I had a similar approach, but because I was making art that was so different from my previous books, I did many studies with oil pastels before I ever considered moving to final art. In the end, I had seven or so spreads completed when I took the idea to Meriam Metoui at Viking Childrens, and I still feel extremely lucky that Meriam believed in this adventurous penguin.

BB: A serious, hard hitting question now, to show that I’m a serious journalist. Were you a picky eater yourself as a kid? Or were you like Umami, the kind of person who got adventurous?

Jacob: Up until I was a teen, I was so VERY picky. I did not like food with spice or flavor, and I was mistrustful of anything new. For example, one of my favorite meals as a child was a “burrito” that consisted of a tortilla with refried beans and ketchup. This is true. At that age, even Olive Garden struck me as being too exotic, and the only thing I would tolerate were the bread sticks.

As a teenager, I found my appetite foraging through our fridge and discovering all manner of interesting takeout that blew my young mind. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) Cold lamb saag and bharta still takes me back.

BB: Mm. Reminds me never to conduct an interview on an empty stomach. Finally, what do you have coming out next?

Jacob: My current daily task is illustrating many pages of sea turtles for my newest book, Turtle Slept In. This is the story of one turtle who hatches late to discover her brothers and sisters have already left for the sea, and it’s up to her to navigate the many hazards of a busy beach to reunite with her family. Similar to Umami, I’m making the art for this book using oil pastel monoprints and color pencil, which adds just the right texture for the many sandy scenes. If there’s a close second that’s as comforting as thinking about food, it’s thinking about a day at the beach. Turtle’s adventure begins in spring 2026.

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Great gobs of thanks to Jacob for all the delightful process pieces in this talk today. As I mentioned before, if you’re intrigued by this delightful penguin, you’ll have to wait until October 29th to get your hands on him. But don’t worry! It’ll be here before you know it!

Filed under: Interviews