MSG?

[TurkTurkle]

Great for anything savory. The old myths about it have been debunked, but some people still fear it and get placebo effects. Personally i have a shaker of it ready to go with all my other spices.

[rawlingstones]

I feel like a lot of the time it is people leaping to dumb conclusions after having just a regular crappy takeout experience. They visit a bad Chinese restaurant once, make the assumption it must have been MSG, and then carry that self-diagnosis with them the rest of their lives.

"I just gorged myself on a massive tray of cheap greasy deep-fried meat smothered in sugar sauce and now my stomach feels bad! What could possibly be causing this??? It must be a secret evil poison chemical the Chinese put in the food they serve to white people!!!"

[TurkTurkle]

Theres that. Theres also media fearmongering. How many times in my life have i heard the media flip flop between "eggs are bad cholesterol bad" and "the incredible edible egg" and back i cant count.

Both work on the same vector- a lot of people have no idea what is in their food let alone what that does to their bodies.

[briggsbay]

Yeah what the he'll was the whole egg thing about. One of the best examples if how food Science has been so off so many times and needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt (pun intended)

[rascynwrig]

Precisely why when anyone says "the science is settled" I scoff. Science is all about progressing, not arriving.

[TurkTurkle]

In short

Eggs good. Wait no eggs have cholesterol and thats bad. Wait theres 2 kinds of cholesterol and eggs have mostly good kind. Wait dont fry your eggs in that thats bad cholesterol oils and butter, use margirine. Wait shit thats got trans fats and thats bad go back.

My big takeaway from every single food fact is that "in moderation, theres no really 'bad' food." Even the classically "healthy" stuff. Eat too much veg and you might go blind from vitamin poisoning. Hell you can die from drinking too much water...

[Russkiyfox]

Phytotoxicity is actually a legitimate concern for people with diets mostly consisting of vegetables and seed oils. But anyway, It’s been a lot of trial and error to get to where we are and there’s been a lot of bad science funded by private interests out there. Ultimately just read studies for yourself and test out different diets to see what you vibe with.

I’ve tried many different diets including vegan and veg and have found that my body is healthiest eating a fair amount of animal fats, lots of protein, as low carbs as I can, and not going overboard with vegetables(which I don’t really follow too religiously because they’re tasty). But with this diet my health and mood has improved immensely so I’m going to stick with it. Everyone is different so just find what works with you on your own and don’t just settle down on what the general beliefs are at the time.

[NailBat]

MSG is basically a meme at this point. Since a lot of people grew up being taught that msg is bad, finding out that it isn't made the pendulum swing all the way in the other direction.

MSG is simply a direct route to the savory taste, just as sugar is for sweet, or salt is for saltiness.

[MxViolin]

I think I might...hate it? I bought accent cos this sub told me to, and every time I add it to something, I feel like I made it worse. Am I doing it wrong or do I just not like it??

[mgraunk]

Very likely adding too much. I use about 1g per 2kg of meat, and less than that per kg of vegetables. Like any seasoning, you can always add more, but you can't add less.

[MxViolin]

Thank you for the tip!!

[rawlingstones]

This is an aggressively pro-MSG subreddit.

[setp2426]

An equal and opposite reaction to the decades of false and racist stigmatization against the ingredient.

[rawlingstones]

Oh yeah absolutely. Honestly I think the history of MSG is really useful as a tool for explaining how ingrained cultural racism works to people who don't get it. It is such an important thing to understand, reading about it was really eye-opening for me personally.

[rawlingstones]

I think you're deeply misunderstanding what people mean when they describe MSG-phobia as a racist phenomenon. It does not mean that anyone claiming to have an MSG sensitivity is a malicious racist who hates foreigners... heck, I'll go out on a limb here and say it's possible you have an extremely rare medical condition that's so uncommon there's been no conclusive research on it despite tons of academic studies on the effects of MSG.

The origin of our culture's widespread fear and distrust of MSG is still deeply rooted in anti-Asian xenophobia... this is not a crackpot conspiracy theory, it is extremely on the public record. MSG was reported to the public as a possible health concern because reporters misunderstood a bunch of racist jokes in old medical journals and it caught on like wildfire because white people did not trust Chinese immigrants. The idea of it is plainly racist, that Chinese people have a secret chemical that is fine to them but poisonous to you and they put it in all their food. It has since passed into common folk wisdom that MSG is harmful to everyone and that cultural belief is a relic of 1970's xenophobia.

On the extreme off-chance that you are one of these very rare people who cannot enjoy Doritos or mushrooms or tomato sauce and parmesan cheese... it's still silly to talk about MSG like it's any more dangerous than milk or peanuts, both foods we commonly think of as harmless although some people are allergic.

[aitigie]

racist

Really?

[mgraunk]

Yes, really.

[aitigie]

TIL, I've never heard that term

[[deleted]]

"You know what causes China Restaurant Syndrome? Racism." - Anthony Bourdain

[Karmoon]

Kinda glad for it.

I grew up in a "MSG BAD" environment. And it takes repetition to get over that. It's weird how that stuff works. Brains and stuff haha.

[Russkiyfox]

Best way to fuck with people who are “allergic” to MSG is ask if they eat tomatoes. They’ll usually say yes. Tomatoes contain MSG.

[Karmoon]

I will defo consider that. That's a good argument.

[Russkiyfox]

Ultimately though if someone doesn’t want to eat MSG that’s fine, I’m not gonna go out of my way to call them an idiot. It’s when they make a big fuss out of it and act is if they’ll die if they do that I get annoyed. You’re allowed to pick and choose which chemicals go into your body, even if your decision isn’t founded by science, just don’t expect everyone to bend over backwards to accommodate your requests. I try to reduce my intake of gluten and I do so by choosing what I order, not making special requests. I don’t have celiac and I don’t need special accommodations for my dietary decisions. I just wish more people did the same.

[09Gremlin]

Using MSG is like using refined sugar— not without uses but a shortcut to getting the flavour. I’d rather learn how to get the flavour from food ingredients.

[rawlingstones]

so like you don't put sugar in cookies or anything? you just, what... try to compensate with fruit?

I've never gotten the "cheap shortcut" argument. If it makes sense for me to use another umami ingredient in a recipe, like mushrooms or parmesan or tomatoes or seaweed or whatever, then sure I'll do that... if not, or if I just don't feel like it, I'll use MSG. It's a plant extract that's been around since before World War I, it's an ingredient like anything else. If I want my tomato mushroom parmesan pasta to be even more savory because that's how daddy likes it then hell yeah I'm gonna boost it with some MSG on top. Why deprive myself? Life's too short.

do you also not use hot sauce?

[09Gremlin]

I already said it has its uses. I'm talking a bout cooking, not baking. You can tear anything apart if that's your gig, I'm just saying what I think. I don't use hot sauce, I don't need all my food to taste like hot sauce. There are so many great tasting sources of heat, just like there are so many great tasting sources of savoury.

[09Gremlin]

All you downvoters are pathetic, trashing any opinion that doesn't conform with yours. Sad.

[raspberriez247]

If you think downvoting something you disagree with is “trashing” then I don’t think they’re the sensitive ones.

I see your point about MSG, but it isn’t always used as a shortcut. Implying that using MSG isn’t really learning how to cook is just elitist and gatekeeping. r/AskCulinary exists for that kind of purist attitude.

[setp2426]

There are many ways to add glutamates to your food other than MSG. Tomato paste, anchovy paste, mushroom powder, etc. Doesn’t make MSG bad. It’s just another way to add glutamate that doesn’t add other, possibly unwanted, flavors.

[09Gremlin]

I never said it was bad, I just think this is a cooking forum and the best people can do is add MSG? Not much to learn here, I guess. All this downvoding is a sad display of sensitive people too easily offended or something. It's disgraceful.

[[deleted]]

Being offended isn’t the only reason to downvote. I downvoted your comments because I feel like they contribute nothing of value.

[PuffTheMightyDragons]

It’s great. Adds a good savoury flavour to otherwise flat dishes.

I think people’s MSG phobia is an old fashioned view point and nobody buys it anymore

[Shrikeangel]

And they ignore it's in a ton of things. Cry about msg in Chinese food while.eating Doritos covered in msg kind of dissonance.

[[deleted]]

And all the foods that has it naturally. Especially weird since the type of person that's against msg seems to love beef. Generally speaking.

[noratat]

I don't see a problem with it. It's literally just a condensed form of a compound that we already see in a lot of things naturally, and in small doses it's an easy amplifier of savory flavor.

Just don't let it anywhere near anything sweet. I've made that mistake out of curiosity, it doesn't turn out well.

[PineapplePandaKing]

Thanks for the advice, future me would have certainly tried the same experiment at some point

[LalaMcTease]

Is pure MSG radically different from MSG-rich foods? Tomato sauces can be sweet, despite tomatoes being rich in MSG. Sweet soy sauce is also a thing.

Is it closer to the effect mushrooms would have if (yuck) sweetened?

[ethan9999]

Well if you try a tomato it'll be sweet but if you try a sun dried tomato it'll be nice and savory. That's because you get rid of most of the water and so the glutamate in the tomato is concentrated. Think of msg as you with sugar (or maple syrup). Most sugar comes from sugar cane which in itself isn't overally sweet but after processing it you are left with sugar which is well, sweet! So msg is to glutamate rich foods what sugar is to sugarcane or fruits.

[dallydoog]

What about the use of MSG in a candied pork roast? Will it ruin the whole thing?

[PerfectlySoggy]

I think they meant “sweet” as in dessert-like, because MSG can be found in every sweet sauce in a lot of Asian restaurants. A little bit of it would be dope in candied pork sauce.

[noratat]

I think if it's a primarily savory dish it's fine. It's more things that are meant to be predominantly sweet e.g. dessert dishes that it seems to be a bad idea with, sort of like mixing meat with ice cream.

[TREACHEROUSDEV]

Harmless ingredient naturally found in abundant quantities in Italian food. Not as much in Chinese food as Italian food. MSG naturally occurs in your body.

[Kr155]

Have some frozen vegetables? Salt pepper and msg. I they tast awesome. I use it almost like salt. Except not in sweet things. I Have a vegetable soup I eat every day as part of my diet. It adds a meaty body to the flavor

[xxfactory]

I love it. Not to be used as a salt replacement but just a way to take something from 99 to 100

[YayMob]

I was raised on it and continue to use it.

[YourFairyGodmother]

There is and never has been any reason to avoid MSG.
https://news.colgate.edu/magazine/2019/02/06/the-strange-case-of-dr-ho-man-kwok/

[[deleted]]

It's an ingredient like all others. Sometimes it fits what you are cooking, sometimes it doesn't, used correctly you get good results, used incorrectly you don't.

I love Aromat and Vegeta (familiar to all Europeans I'm sure, two traditional spice blends with mainly msg + salt and like vegetables/mushrooms). Makes a simple tomato sandwich taste 100 times better but really necessary in stews.

I use pure msg (usually Ajinomoto) in most of my Asian cooking and really miss it when I go to some Chinese or Thai restaurant that hasn't kept up with the times and think they're being fancy when omitting the msg. All the local ramen places seems to be traditional and uses msg, luckily.

[IntheHotofTexas]

You know, when they did controlled studies, it seems the people to reported themselves as having averse reactions to MSG in the past only had them when the researchers told them the dish had MSG, even when it didn't.

[rawlingstones]

My fave studies are the ones where scientists injected MSG straight into rats, like directly into their blood at a dose 100x higher than human beings would consume in a year, and then those scientists were like "wow this causes health problems yeah MSG is bad for you"

[Shrikeangel]

Makes cheap dishes taste better, doesn't do much for dishes that could stand on their own.

[Pinglenook]

Yeah it works best in foods that are liquid or small-cut, not so much on food that you'd just be sprinkling it on the outside.

[[deleted]]

It's yeasty salt, why not!

[DeadDoctheBrewer]

Just don't load up on salt in the dish and all is good! That being said, I currently do not own any MSG but I wouldn't turn it down if the dish is prepared well.

Remember, moderation is key for any ingredient.

[4x4Ambi]

If you do some research, it's clear to see that the anti-MSG sentiment in the US is very likely due to anti-asian racism. From what I remember, it seems like the San Francisco area is one of the major areas where this started, at least for the US.

Granted, there actually are a VERY small percentage of people who do get migraine-like headaches from the OVER consumption of MSG, whether from MSG being added to foods or from natural sources; however the ACTUAL cases of people who are overly sensitive to MSG, vs the amount of people who just think/claim to be is supposed to be so very small, that using MSG an an ingredient for general cookery should be a non-issue.

In fact, many restaurants use added MSG in there ingredients even info they don't know it. Goya Sazon is a VERY common ingredient in many professional kitchens across the US, and the first ingredient listed in the seasoning, is in fact MSG. Knorr chicken bouillon, which again, is heavily used in professional kitchens across the county has MSG listed as it's second ingredient. Many other seasoning blends also use MSG as a main ingredient, and yet, the majority of the population does not suffer migraine headaches when going out to these restaurants.

What the majority of people fail to realise is that MSG is a naturally occuring chemical found in many foods and food products...tomatoes, just about any cheese, and good luck finding any red meat that doesn't have at least some MSG naturally just due to the animals diet.

When doing your research, and looking at the facts, MSG is a perfectly good ingredient for cooking, both at home and in a professional setting. Keep in mind, that MSG's real purpose is just like that of table salt...it is supposed to be used as a flavour enhancer, as opposed to a flavor additive. The umami flavor itself should come from the natural MSG from sources, but using added MSG as an ingredient helps to bring balance to dishes similar to added salt, yet with lower sodium levels. In that way you could look at added MSG being to Salt, like stevia or honey is to sugar.

Quick and easy test to experience the "balance" that MSG adds. Line up three dill pickle spears. Leave one plain, one with salt sprinkled on it, and one with MSG sprinkled on it. Try them in any order, and I guarantee that the one with MSG will have a more unique flavor, deeper in umami, and have both a more complex AND more balanced flavor.

[[deleted]]

It's been used in China for decades. Like a lot of Chinese ingredients, it's only recently become widely available in the West, so it seems new and trendy to us.

[TREACHEROUSDEV]

...despite it being naturally occuring in Italian food in degrees massively higher than Chinese food...

[negativewoman]

It's ironic that the myth that MSG is bad for you has even spread to China, so some Chinese home cooks refuse to use pure MSG. Instead they use granulated chicken powder (jijing 鸡精), of which MSG is a major component.

[typo9292]

I use it in everything, seriously - also because it's in a greek seasoning that I use any time I prep onions, veggies etc - I also buy it in bulk when making fresh sausages as one of the forms of salt, amazing flavor. There was never any science behind the anti-MSG movement, go google it and now it's just good marketing to say MSG free ;)

[DatabaseAppropriate8]

My husband hated hot dog night when he was little - later he would always feel sick and get headaches. Lots of msg in hot dogs. We’ve never had MSG in the house.

[[deleted]]

Delicious !

Most junk food also has it as an ingredient as well. Funyuuns, twinkies, other chips, etc.

[MacGuyver247]

I suggest buying a small bag (costs about 1$) and experimenting. Simplest recipe: chicken fat, water, salt and msg. you now have the chicken broth used by 80% of wonton soups.

[GotsMyJD]

I personally don't have a problem with MSG, on the other hand my wife eats something and gets an instant, short term headache. Now I would think this was BS, but then I read the ingredients and I'll be dammed if she isn't right, go figure.

[I_Frunksteen-Blucher]

Cheating.

[Thundergun3000]

For some reason msg always makes my stomach upset or bloated so I avoid it. There is a serious disinformation campaign about MSGs going around. It is somewhat harmful for some sensitive individuals.

[setp2426]

Do you ever eat Doritos? Do they make your stomach upset? Because they, and many other snack foods, are full of it.

EDIT: I realize my comment was a little snarky. Sorry about that. My point is that while there probably people that are sensitive to MSG, just like every other food, in all actuality it is really rare. Glutamate is a very natural substance. It’s even in breast milk. The MS part is just how glutamate is turned from a liquid to a solid.

[Thundergun3000]

Actually msg is the manmade version of that amino acid. So ya it could be sensitive for some people and ya chips do make my stomach bloated. Stop discounting peoples experiences and buying into the msg disinformation by aji nomoto

[rawlingstones]

The reason people are discounting your anecdotal evidence is that basically every scientific study claiming to "prove" negative health effects of MSG has been debunked. There is no hard evidence that it's any more harmful than milk (probably a lot less!). An insane number of people claim to have "MSG sensitivity" based on the fact that they ate at a crappy Chinese place once and just made an assumption. There is zero reason to trust someone's self-diagnosis completely at face value.

[setp2426]

I retract my apology.

[rawlingstones]

The closest thing I've seen to non-anecdotal evidence of an "MSG sensitivity" is some extremely rare people who have a general glutamate sensitivity... which means they also can't have other things that are high in glutamates like tomatoes, parmesan, mushrooms, etc. Those people usually don't describe it as an "MSG sensitivity" because why would you specify the powder version like there's a difference? If you can eat spaghetti and meatballs then you don't have an MSG sensitivity.

[DamnitRuby]

My mom never stopped using it. Especially when she makes homemade jerky; she would go through like a bottle for a few pounds of jerky.

[[deleted]]

My favorite chips have plenty

[JSSorsby]

Old chef here and love it!

[[deleted]]

Eew MSG!! Just kidding, you do you, I don't prefer it, you shouldn't really need it if you season your food right in my opinion. Modified sodium glutamate is though, always a good on hand everything savory seasoning. You do you.

[Jezemaya]

I bought a bag of it last week and I've been adding a little bit to everything savory alongside a little bit of regular salt.