By Scott Mechura EBS FOOD COLUMNIST
If you’ve read anything I’ve written over the years, you’ve
come to learn here, if not anywhere else, that food is perhaps the most
universal connector of cultures and generations. Food knows no ethnicity,
wealth or politics. It simply warms our hearts.
But we also have disagreements on such benign issues as Coke
or Pepsi, to the Eastern world’s disdain for blue cheese, and our likewise
feelings about fermented tofu.
But one ingredient has topped them all.
A Chinese man by the name of Robert Ho Man Kwok sent a
letter to the New England Journal of Medicine in 1968, in which he described
symptoms of headache, heart palpitations and numbness in the back of his neck
which would eventually move to his arms and back. He said these symptoms would
come on 20 minutes after eating what he described as “northern Chinese food.”
With little to no research, the journal arbitrarily
associated his symptoms with MSG and one editor called it “Chinese Restaurant
Syndrome.” Finally, other sufferers had a name for what they thought they felt,
and almost overnight MSG became a vilified ingredient.
To this day, it carries such a stigma that I cannot think of
another food or ingredient that divides more people with such myopic
conviction.
A University of Tokyo chemistry professor wanted to know
what made dashi broth so tasty. In 1907 he isolated the ingredients behind it:
monosodium glutamate. He developed a white granular seasoning and started a
company, Ahi-no-moto, which is still the standard commercially sold product
today.
So just what is MSG made from? It is nothing more than the
sodium extracted from glutamic acid. And glutamic acid is one of the most
abundant, naturally occurring amino acids in our body. It is also common in
many cheeses, tomatoes and most mushrooms, particularly shiitakes. One of the
best sources of glutamic acid is human breast milk, which contains 10 times the
amount found in cow or goat’s milk.
Additionally, glutamic acid is required by our brains for
healthy function. And while it has been commonplace for many east Asian
cultures to season food with MSG, which comes in a white granulated form, just
like table salt, it is incorporated into many processed foods millions of
people consume every day. Doritos is a prime example.
But much like other salts or sugar, there is a flavor limit.
Add too much of any of these three, and the flavor is hijacked and becomes
off-putting. The million-dollar question since that fateful letter to the
editor in 1968: Are the allergies real?
The reality is that despite several studies over the
decades, there is no substantial or scientific evidence that humans have any
allergies to MSG. More importantly, it has stood up to every
placebo-controlled, double blinded study.
So for lack of any better location to file it under,
scientists put the MSG allergy into the category of phenomenon. Which means
they recognize that some people can feel differently when they eat it, but it
is most likely due to improper ratio of usage. For example, if you consume a
lot of sugar, it enhances your energy, only to come down later like other
drugs. Or when your body retains water from excessive salt intake.
The takeaway? Feel free to avoid it
next time you are dining in an Asian (primarily Chinese or Japanese)
restaurant, but know this: It is highly likely you have been consuming it on a
regular basis for decades.
Scott Mechura has
spent a life in the hospitality industry. He is a former certified beer judge
and currently the Executive Chef at Buck’s T-4 Lodge in Big Sky.