MSG Is Everywhere
We always thought the uproar over MSG was a little overblown. (See also: red wine tannin headaches.) So we were happy to read this New York Times article about how the anti-MSG craze started and how the stuff has slowly inched its way back into tons of supermarket products.
Cooks around the world have remained dedicated to MSG, even though they may not know it by that name. As hydrolyzed soy protein or autolyzed yeast, it adds flavor to the canned chicken broth and to the packs of onion soup mix used by American home cooks, and to the cheese Goldfish crackers and the low-fat yogurts in many lunchboxes.And guess what? Those "No-MSG" signs on Chinese restaurants were probably not telling the whole truth.It is the taste of Marmite in the United Kingdom, of Golden Mountain sauce in Thailand, of Goya Sazón on the Latin islands of the Caribbean, of Salsa Lizano in Costa Rica and of Kewpie mayonnaise in Japan.
“It’s all the same thing: glutamate,” said Dr. Nuripa Chaudhari of the University of Miami, who was part of the first research team to identify human glutamate receptors.
Yes, MSG, the Secret Behind the Savor [New York Times]
Photo: Flickr
