MSG. People will swear it gives them all manner of ailments
I love the taste of msg, unfortunately over the past few years it seems to have become a trigger for my migraines. I miss eating noodles with msg.
Had a gnarly migraine yesterday after having msg. Hope its not msg causing it, so tasty 😩
There’s glutamate, although not MSG, in breast milk. Also sugar in the form of lactose. That’s because that’s what gets babies to keep sucking.
I bought a big pack of msg from the Asian supermarket and use it instead of normal salt for many things. My partner and I call it wonder salt.
(Of course, msg like normal salt or anything should be used in moderation lol)
I bought a big pack of msg from the Asian supermarket and use it instead of normal salt for many things. My partner and I call it wonder salt.
I hear the voices of my ancestors cry in confusion.
But seriously speaking, I’ve never encountered MSG being used in place of salt. We use it here to give food more of that nondescript meaty taste (aka umami).
Personally, if I need both salty and umami tastes I’d reach for soy or fish sauce first (depending on what’s being cooked). I’d only add MSG and/or salt if I really have to—usually to make minute adjustments.
I’m sorry for offending your ancestors. I hope they can find it in their hearts to forgive me lol
Tbh, I’m not very good at cooking and I rarely add salt to my food. If I want saltiness, I usually get it through ingredients like soy sauce, for example. I guess I don’t mean that I use the msg instead of salt, but I do use in foods where you might add salt, and I just happen to not since I added something else that serves a similar purpose. Does that make sense? But then, like I said, I’m not good at cooking and I just try to make things and experiment a bunch (a lot of experiments have failed horribly)
Also - maybe it also makes a difference that I eat vegan/vegetarian and I don’t always know how to fill in the “meaty” gap that I feel like can be missing.
I heard a lot about how msg can make stuff taste great, so I bought some a while back and I try it every now and then, but I can’t really tell the difference. If I use too much I do notice that it makes the taste worse. I don’t know if I’m doing it wrong.
Yeah, using too much is going to make your food taste gross, just like adding too much salt would too. I also think it might not be suitable for every dish, so I think there’s some experimentation required. For me, I like to add it to things that have a lot of tomato in them (like a sauce) or when I feel like there’s something “missing”. I find it rounds out the taste.
Maybe while you’re cooking, taste your food before and then immediately after adding some msg, taste it again. It won’t be like a huge, in your face difference - it’s pretty subtle imo. Then again everyone’s tastes and taste buds are different and it might just actually not be for you!
I remember when I was looking up diet videos years ago everyone was VEHEMETLY advocating against MSG and how bad it was for you, especially for diabetics. I’m still not entirely sure what to believe, but I know MSG isn’t as bad as everyone thought it was.
It’s basically just salt. Salt can be bad for you if you eat too much of it. Don’t over salt your food and you’re fine.
That was the conclusion i came to, it’s just another seasoning like paprika or salt. The opposition to it is what keeps me skeptical, if it’s just a seasoning why are people so randomly against it? I think it’s because it’s used in lots of fast food.
I remember reading something from Chef John being against MSG (he was commenting within one of his YouTube videos). But not for health reasons. He just felt the flavor punch it gave lead to addictive overeating.
I’m like bitch, that delicious food you showcase does the same thing, you don’t hear me bitching about it.
It’s almost like a cheat code to make almost anything taste better!
But I also I don’t understand people who think that it literally is cheating and shouldn’t be used because of that. If msg is cheating, salt is also cheating.
For me, msg has become almost as important “tool” in the kitchen as salt.
My understanding of “cheating” when it comes to cooking is that you’re becoming reliant on something that might be/become difficult to get ahold of. Pure salt is ubiquitous in western cuisine, so most would feel comfortable relying on it. That’s not the case with MSG.
I also love msg, but 2.4kg would probably last a decade in my pantry. I use it sparingly. How much do you use?
That’s actually a misconception within a misconception.
It’s not that MSG allergies don’t exist, it is that they are often downplayed for the same reason that Celiac’s disease is downplayed. When a few people fake or overexaggerate their symptoms, credibility is taken from the rest of us who actually suffer from it. Now people are always quick to invalidate those who are symptomatic.
Yes, it’s true that some of the rumors around MSG are racially motivated, and that some people who claim to be affected are lying. But that doesn’t mean that MSG related symptoms aren’t real for the rest of us. Speaking as someone who is from Hong Kong, grew up with MSG, and absolutely loves the taste of it, but developed health conditions that were comorbid with MSG intolerance.
As a chronic pain and migraine sufferer, large quantities of MSG is a common trigger for migraines (or headaches when I’m lucky). I’ve been blind tested before with someone else’s help using the same quantities of salt vs MSG in a cellulose capsule. Each time, I would happen to be fine after taking the salt capsule with a glass of water. But after taking the MSG capsule with a glass of water, I would have have a headache or a painfully tense sensation around my head. This was done multiple times across separate days to rule out confounding factors.
It’s likely true that for the vast majority of people MSG doesn’t trigger a reaction. However, a few of us have an intolerance and we are frequently dismissed and medically gaslit. Please believe us. I’m so tired of people telling me that what I’m experiencing isn’t real. I wish it didn’t have to be real so I could go back to eating whatever I want and not worry about migraines.
