Monosodium glutamate, or MSG, is a type of sodium salt, a naturally-occurring non-essential amino acid. For years it has been used as a food enhancer, which gives a umami taste that intensifies meaty, savory flavors. For years it was commonly used in restaurants, but most stopped after the salt reports that large doses can cause headaches and other types of discomfort – though in controlled studies scientists haven’t been able to find a link. Because of these rumors, usage has fallen over the years, even in Chinese and Japanese restaurants where it used to be a mainstay in the kitchen.
The problem is that MSG really works. The taste of stews and other savory dishes was enhanced by the flavoring. It has never been banned – the FDA considers it “generally recognized as safe”, and even the picky European Union classifies it as a “food additive permitted in certain foods, subject to quantitative limits”. Many packaged foods contain it. Last April, Sean Morrow with the Munchies website added it to everything he ate for a week, without out adverse health effects. Now, it has become part of a new food trend, bringing it back to restaurant tables in salt shaker form.
Mission Chinese, the San Francisco restaurant that drew raves from New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells, has clearly labeled MSG shakers on every table. Another San Francisco restaurant named SO posted signs saying that they use MSG in their cooking, with the chef also saying he doesn’t believe in organic food, and doesn’t “give a shit about gluten free”.
Of course a few restaurants don’t make a trend, but it will be interesting to see if it makes a comeback. I, for one, would use it on my food.
A Fish says
Back around 1965/1966 after visiting with friends in Queens, NY, my folks, with me in tow to visit with their son, would stop at a favorite Chinese food restaurant in the next town of Douglaston. At some point after many many meals there over the years, I suddenly started developing these very strange headaches, unlike any other that I had had before. And it was always toward the end of a meal in that place or shortly afterward. It’s so long ago that I can hardly recall, but if memory serves me correctly, it was after eating the spare ribs, and when I eventually stayed away from them, delicious as they were, I stopped getting the headaches, at least with such uncomfortable intensity.
My parents pooh-poohed it, said it was all in my head (pun both intentional and not intentional here), and dismissed the complaint. It wasn’t until years later that the first reports of Chinese Food Syndrome came out.
It was quite impossible that a doofy teen would have decided to hop on a non-existent bandwagon. So, yes, there is such a thing, whether there has ever been a legitimate medical link to it or not.
I also recall that my mother eventually apologized for not believing me. My father being the hardcore guy that he was, never would have considered an apology.
This is from the http://www.nlm.nih.gov website:
In 1968, reports of a series of serious reactions to Chinese food were first described. MSG was felt to be the cause of these symptoms. Since then, many studies have failed to show a connection between MSG and the symptoms that some people describe after eating Chinese food.
dan says
I also believe that excessive amounts of MSG give me headaches and make me flushed…could be a mild allergy to some other ingredient though? I notice it most often when I have Thai or Vietnamese food.
James L. Miller says
For those of us with Meniere’s MSG is a major trigger. It sets off Vertigo and Nausea. So, it is not just another salt. It is not worth another ambulance ride to the ER.