For a vegetarian like me, MSG is a god send. Savory oatmeal spiced up with MSG, a dab of miso paste, and other spices has been my daily breakfast for a couple of years. It's surprising that not many people know about MSG or shy away from it because of nonsensical urban myths.
Even for non vegetarians, MSG (monosodium glutamate) is a pretty cool addition to the kitchen toolbox, just order some and start experimenting!
Do some controlled ones, for example split a portion into two, ask a 2nd person to sprinkle some onto one of them and try both of them and guess which one has MSG on it.
I think the jury is still out on how (un)healthy extensive use of MSG is [0].
> In conclusion we would like to state that although MSG has proven its value as an enhancer of flavour, different studies have hinted at possible toxic effects related to this popular food-additive. These toxic effects include CNS disorder, obesity, disruptions in adipose tissue physiology, hepatic damage, CRS and reproductive malfunctions. These threats might have hitherto been underestimated. In the meantime, people keep using ever larger amounts of MSG unaware of the possible consequences. Further studies need to be undertaken in order to assess the connection between MSG and cardiovascular disorders, headache, and hypertension in human models. MSG is a controversial food-additive used in canned food, crackers, meat, salad dressings, frozen dinners and a myriad of other products. It is found in local supermarkets, restaurants and school cafeterias alike. While MSG probably has huge benefits to the food industry, the ubiquitous use of this food-additive could have negative consequences for public health. If more substantive evidence of MSG-toxicity would be provided, a total ban on the use of MSG as a flavour enhancer would not be unwise to consider.
Someone should tell B&G Foods, given it is way past time for them to modernize the Accent brand anyway (people see it in my spice cabinet and wonder what's with the "weird 60s salt shaker").
This seems unrelated to the claims I quoted/linked. Cocaine is "just a plant extract". But this statement doesn't say much about how wise it is to ingest it. [0] You might as well put this on a pack of cigarettes.
My point is that people will hail MSG as the devil and then happily consume sushi wrapped in sea weed and have no ill effect. I have a friend she swears she is allergic to MSG but she eats sushi at least twice a week with no reaction. I don't have the heart to tell her that the very wrapping she is eating is where they get the MSG from.
That being said, there are people that legitimately have a glutamate allergy and they do have reactions when they eat sea weed.
The difference is MSG has been heavily studies and the evidence suggest it does not have long term health effects. There are some people that have an allergy to it but the gap between those that truly do and those that claim they do is wide and a lot of that has to do with belief of misinformation. The difference with arsenic in apple seeds is that most people are not eating the seeds, while sea weed is regularly consumed and everyone has a reaction to arsenic whereas only a minority of people have a reaction to the consumption of sea weed.
> The difference is MSG has been heavily studies and the evidence suggest it does not have long term health effects.
And that's a perfectly good argument.
"It comes from seaweed and you eat seaweed just fine" is not. You've singled out arsenic in your response, but I also mentioned formaldehyde, which is throughout the apple's flesh. Would you drink a bottle of it because of that?
The logic isn't "it comes from seaweed so it's not harmful" it's "you wouldn't really give a second thought as to whether seaweed salt was safe to consume if you saw it on the shelf but are naturally skeptical of MSG because it's a scary chemical name."
It’s as if you’re actively trying to miss my point.
The reports of MSG being called “the devil“ were greatly exaggerated. Your personal interpretation of what I said:
> The jury is still out on how (un)healthy MSG is
Was:
> people will hail MSG as the devil
The fact that it’s a seaweed extract, or that some people eat it and are ok are orthogonal to what I said. I said one should be careful about excessive use of anything that hasn’t been studied to the point where any reasonable shadow of doubt was removed. The fact that multiple published studies came up with these potential links and there’s no definitive one to contradict them at the very least warrants caution. Which is what I suggested. It’s sensible advice to not do anything excessively, even more so if you have any doubt.
Some people excessively drank alcohol, smoked, ate red meat, etc. (all plant based or at least natural) all their life and were just fine. But it’s still not an argument for doing the same.
And the link I gave didn’t come from personal opinion (these are strong on HN), or some random blog but nih.gov. And their advice is just as sensible: we need to study more (yeah, guess they weren’t told on HN that MSG was super extensively tested and we have the definitive results) and advised caution. That’s it.
> there are people that legitimately have a glutamate allergy
Glutamate is an amino aid and a neurotransmitter, your body produces it. Per [1], "It is used by every major excitatory function in the vertebrate brain, accounting in total for well over 90% of the synaptic connections in the human brain." Per [2], "Glutamate itself is ubiquitous in biological life."
I don't legitimately see how someone can have an allergy to it. It seems to be a basic building block of biological life. It's like saying you are allergic to DNA.
Just because the human body produces small quantities of it at a time doesn't mean that you can flood the digestive tract with orders of magnitude more and expect no ill effect.
An amino acid is a building block for proteins. It isn't something you produce small quantities of, it's a basic component of how organic life is made.
I say that to say you make a lot of them. And you eat a lot of them whenever you eat organic matter.
And to your point, even water can be deadly if you drink too much too fast. That doesn't mean you have a water allergy.
Monosodium glutamate is a salt not an amino acid. It does not disassociate perfectly (or instantly) in the gut and uptake through the digestive system is slow [1].
There are several steps before your metabolic system can turn MSG into amino acids and surprise, surprise: until then it behaves like a different chemical.
The first sentence in Section 10.2 (Absorption, Distribution and Excretion): "Glutamate is absorbed from the gut by an active transport system specific for amino acids."
Those same people usually have no problem with dry ramon noodle packets, either. It seems nobody even questions how a dry powder can make broth taste like it has some actual meat in it, when meat isn't even in the ingredients.
It has lots of rebranding. I often see "natural glutamates" on menus at nice restaurants, and I have a bottle of liquid aminos from Whole Foods (ironically[0]) at home that is basically a soy sauce derivative with extra MSG; it's actually really good.
I kind of wish I got to taste 80s era American Chinese food in it's full MSG glory.
The takeaway I got from it was that the opposition to MSG has a racial component ('Chinese Restaurant Syndrome'), may have been started as a prank (letters to that particular publication often were - they didn't have 4chan back then), and studies showing harm used very unrealistic dosages. Allergy or sensitivity may exist but the chances of it being a poison and literally affecting every human body seems very unlikely.
I also have a bag in my kitchen and came to the same conclusion regarding taste that he did. Adding more does not do much to dishes with that component already (meat, mushroom, etc). But it does change dishes that lack it.
> Further studies need to be undertaken in order to assess the connection between MSG and [...]
As I said, jury is still out. I would personally not go overboard with adding it to everything I et until I know more. I'll take less flavor for now over the potential risks until more reliable data is published.
Except glutamic acid is found in nearly everything we eat and our bodies produce lots of it because we need it to function. It's unlikely anyone has an allergic reaction to it, considering it's basically impossible to avoid eating.
Like every other study that purports to show the toxicity of MSG, this one cites wildly unrealistic dosages, dosages that would cause toxicity with salt as well. Just skimming the abstract I see an example with a dosage of 2 mg/g. Scaled up to human terms (assuming a 180 pound human like me), that's a dose of 160 grams, but personally, I'm a heavy MSG user and a 50 gram shaker of MSG lasts me for months. Also consider that my daily intake of sodium should be 3.4 grams. 160 grams of MSG has 19.2 grams of sodium alone! Almost everyone on earth eats less than 1/100th of that studied dose of MSG daily. The dose makes the poison; in my opinion this writeup is intellectually dishonest.
Like most things, I'm sure the dose makes the poison. There are some who are sensitive to MSG and react poorly to even small doses. All this creates a lot of confusion in regards to whether it's healthy or not. if it gives you headaches, don't eat it.
I react poorly to tomatoes, but it doesn't mean tomatoes are bad for everyone.
I can confirm that savory oatmeal is a great vegetarian way to start the day. It's counter-intuitive and surprisingly good. My favorite preparation involves mixing in cashew nut butter with a little tomato sauce.
While I don't think I'll ever get on board with savory oatmeal, I'd be perfectly happy with savory grits or savory polenta. But really — there's no reason not to have roasted veggies and brown rice for a savory breakfast.
I only know one person who dislikes my savory oatmeal, and he says it's because he has lots of unpleasant childhood memories of being force fed savory oatmeal by his mother, back in the holler.
MSG was heavily discussed in Sweden 10-15 years ago, especially the addition to potato chips. The Swedish National Food Agency said that it was safe to eat, but that some people may be hypersensitive.
I read a couple of articles now, and it seems from interviews like the people behind some of the organizations protesting its use was hypersensitive themselves. It makes sense that if they have bad reactions, they assume that the substance itself is bad in general, even if that hasn't been shown in medical trials. The Food Agency also said that since the symptoms were limited in time and severity, even if hypersensitive (blurred vision, headache, and so on) it wasn't necessary to warn the general public to stop consumption.
I read an article saying that MSG is not allowed in baby food and is cautioned against for pregnant women. The baby food claim may be true, but the Food Agency says that small children process MSG as efficiently as adults, that there's no difference of glutamate blood concentration between fetus and mother when pregnant, and that MSG is not considered a risk for the fetus. They also say that it's not probable that it's transferred to the baby in breast milk, if consumption is kept at recommended daily intake.
When I was in elementary school in the 80s and 90s, people would eat knäckebröd [1] with butter covered with Aromat [2]. We didn't know it then, but it contained MSG which was probably why it tasted so good.
Aromat contains lactose, and a vegan alternative is Vegeta [3]. I don't sprinkle it directly onto food, even if I could, but use it more like powdered broth and add it to sauces and soups. It's pretty salty, so I use it instead of salt.
Another vegan product I'd like to mention for its umami flavor is Engevita [4] nutritional yeast flakes. I sprinkle that on top of food which gives it a more deep, nutty, or cheesy flavor. Instead of monosodium glutamate, where a sodium atom is bound to the glutamate amino acid, the glutamate is bound (according to an article I read that was light on details) to other amino acids, but still performs its umami duties. This is natural occurring glutamate in the yeast, and not an additive.
Thank you! I am going to try that this morning. I don’t think we have MSG powder, but if I add some seaweed (at home we say ‘sea vegetables’) like Arame, Wakame, and Kombu, I think that will have the same effect. Miso paste sounds like a good addition also.
I learned MSG was purchasable from a friend who swore by their MSG Shaker. You don't need a lot and it adds a different flavour than just straight up salt. I liked it, i've never actually used it myself in cooking though. I kind of just forgot about it until your comment.
Go to a Chinese shop, and buy a bag of white powder called "MSG" or mono sodium glutamate. MSG is to umami as sugar is to sweet, salt to salty, citric acid to sour.
MSG isn't the best example because it's a combination of salty+umami. For a pure umami taste, try some theanine (non-proteinogenic amino acid found in tea, sold as a dietary supplement) dissolved in water.
It is not really a taste per say (technically it is). If you taste MSG you will say it taste salty but it will taste like the best salt that has ever been in your mouth, like you could not add another ingredient to it and make it any better. The best way I have heard it described is "Fullness of flavor" and that is what it is it makes the dish taste complete, like it does not need one more thing to be the best taste ever.
This is why it does not scale like sweet or salty does, it's more binary like it has umami or it does not.
I agree with the other child post that MSG is a good way to isolate the experience, but if you are hesitant about MSG try truffles (real, not the oil) without any other ingredients or dried shiitake they will be the closest to just isolating umami.
The food I most associate with umami is mushrooms sauteed with butter and worstershire. The mushrooms cut the salty enough that you can identify the umami part.
These foods have comparatively high levels of MSG: tomatoes, seaweed, parmesan cheese. Think of what makes them taste different compared to other food. MSG by itself has quite unpleasant taste IMO, but it tends to enhance other tastes, making bland-tasting food have a more pronounced palette.
it tastes savory and good but without a well-defined flavor. Umami comes in many forms, it's just not glutamate- some very DNA-like molecules also have umami.
About the simplest thing you could do is take dried seaweed, rinse off the salt, then soak it in hot water and drink the water.
I cook with MSG a lot so I know the taste. Chick-fil-a uses a ton of MSG. Parmesan cheese has a very strong MSG taste. If you sprinkle msg on mozzarella it will taste like Parmesan cheese.
I think much of the fear surrounding monosodium glutamate (MSG) simply comes down to its common name being a chemical. Imagine saying "pass the sodium chloride" at the dinner table.
Meanwhile, in Japan, MSG is commonly referred to by the brand name "Aji-no-moto", which means "essence of taste." It can be found in most households.
There's a similar fear of "E-Numbers" on European products, because some genius decided to encode colorants, flavorants and preservatives into unrecognizable numbers. But then I guess E106 is less scary to some than riboflavin-5-sodium phosphate, E120 less gross than "bits of squashed bugs".
> Should I be concerned about Dihydrogen Monoxide?
> Yes, you should be concerned about DHMO! Although the U.S. Government and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) do not classify Dihydrogen Monoxide as a toxic or carcinogenic substance (as it does with better known chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and benzene), DHMO is a constituent of many known toxic substances, diseases and disease-causing agents, environmental hazards and can even be lethal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.
Back in the 80s (maybe early 90s), there was a big anti-MSG movement/campaign in the US. I was too young to know/care what it was, but it was definitely centered around Asian cuisine. My family did not eat much Asian food at all when I was a kid, so it didn't really affect me. I just remember it being in the news, and other adults around me talking about it.
To the contrary I think much of the fear surrounding MSG is still based on a racist campaign against it in the 70s-80s. The rhetoric remains after the sources are mostly forgotten.
In fact specifically labeling it by its chemical name rather than any brand/whatever names was I think an intentional technique.
That was a great read. I just shared it with everyone I know who loves to cook.
I usually make Ramen soup about three nights a week. My wife and I never get tired of it because I have several different savory ingredients combinations that I use, but I almost always use a lot of seaweed of various types, dried shiitake mushrooms, and bonita flakes. I also have a few different types of noodles that I use, for variety.
My ramen differs from most recipes because I use about three times the amount of vegetables as cooked Ramen noodles.
Even the broth of Ramen Soup is especially savory, a treat after the noodles and vegetables are all eaten.
Ha -- I do the same (but not 3x/wk)! Imho, standard Japanese-style ramen is just a starting point, a set of suggestions, but ramen soups can be made very flexibly in terms of ingredients and flavor profiles. My entire family prefer homemade to restaurant ramen because it's so easy to customize based on taste-of-the-day.
I have not read the whole article so apologies if this is touched on but is "discovered" really the right word here? The foods and molecules that have this flavor were already being consumed long before the term was coined.
I think that it's an acceptable use of the term. Even if people consumed it before that, if they weren't aware of it then its existence could still be discovered.
It's along the same line as "Isaac Newton discovered gravity."
:) Alexander, The Great, came to India in 356 BC. I get surprised when some one says "discovered India".
What was discovered is a "sea route" from Europe to India by Vasco Da Gama. Columbus failed.
This was the scientist that not only hypothesized that umami was a "basic taste" with receptors directly on the tongue, alongside the west's 4 well studied ones (sweet, salty, salty, bitter), but went on to prove it.
(His work actually puts the other four "basic tastes" to shame because where those four are mostly "well studied" in the social sciences [psychology tests of where on the tongue most responded to each of the 4], he actually narrowed down the specific taste receptors for glutamate, and how they operate.)
In Korean cooking, there is a flavor known as "cool". Think thin, really heated broth, spicy with green pepper spiciness, the more nasal type (as opposed to red spiciness, more tongue prominent)
In Chinese cooking, there is the "numbing" flavor, red sichuan pepper, white pepper, cloves, et al.
Flavor is simply more complex than the headline that there are only four, and _______.
I am guessing that the poster is referring to 시원하다, for which I would use the "refreshing" definition instead of the "cool" definition in the example of a hot broth. It is also used in similar way for the refreshing feeling of a sauna.
You can get massive amounts of szechuan peppercorns very cheaply on Amazon. I recommend it! Also recommended: authentic Szechuan cuisine (at least if you like spicy food).
If you're ever in a restaurant and see Szechuan dry fried string beans or mapo tofu on the menu, check it out. I live near a couple Asian markets that stock the sichuan peppercorns and various other numbingly spicy things (oils, bean pastes, etc.) in stock.
You can buy Sichuan pepper off the supermarket spice rack in the UK, it's not obscure at all. Pop one in your mouth and chew it and you will immediately notice the distinctive sensation. Are you sure you were looking for the right thing?
But I wouldn't classify those as basic flavors, they're more of a generic physical sensation rather than signals unique to the taste buds on a tongue.
For example the capsaicin burn of a pepper can be be felt somewhere else on my body but now matter how much vinegar or sugar I rub on, I would not know if it was sour or sweet.
as usual, popular science reporting is based in fact, but misstates it. there are many flavors, but only five basic tastes. the spicy sensations you refer to are touch senses: it is well known that capsaicin spiciness can be felt on most skin, not just in the mouth. therefore, it is better classified as a pain or thermal sensation, not a taste.
86 comments
[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 143 ms ] threadDo some controlled ones, for example split a portion into two, ask a 2nd person to sprinkle some onto one of them and try both of them and guess which one has MSG on it.
> In conclusion we would like to state that although MSG has proven its value as an enhancer of flavour, different studies have hinted at possible toxic effects related to this popular food-additive. These toxic effects include CNS disorder, obesity, disruptions in adipose tissue physiology, hepatic damage, CRS and reproductive malfunctions. These threats might have hitherto been underestimated. In the meantime, people keep using ever larger amounts of MSG unaware of the possible consequences. Further studies need to be undertaken in order to assess the connection between MSG and cardiovascular disorders, headache, and hypertension in human models. MSG is a controversial food-additive used in canned food, crackers, meat, salad dressings, frozen dinners and a myriad of other products. It is found in local supermarkets, restaurants and school cafeterias alike. While MSG probably has huge benefits to the food industry, the ubiquitous use of this food-additive could have negative consequences for public health. If more substantive evidence of MSG-toxicity would be provided, a total ban on the use of MSG as a flavour enhancer would not be unwise to consider.
[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5938543/
Here is a good article on how MSG got a bad wrap:
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-msg-got-a-bad-rap-f...
https://www.accentflavor.com/product/flavor-enhancer
This seems unrelated to the claims I quoted/linked. Cocaine is "just a plant extract". But this statement doesn't say much about how wise it is to ingest it. [0] You might as well put this on a pack of cigarettes.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poisonous_plants#Other...
That being said, there are people that legitimately have a glutamate allergy and they do have reactions when they eat sea weed.
You can extract formaldehyde and arsenic out of an apple, but that doesn’t make chugging the extract as safe as eating an apple.
And that's a perfectly good argument.
"It comes from seaweed and you eat seaweed just fine" is not. You've singled out arsenic in your response, but I also mentioned formaldehyde, which is throughout the apple's flesh. Would you drink a bottle of it because of that?
The reports of MSG being called “the devil“ were greatly exaggerated. Your personal interpretation of what I said:
> The jury is still out on how (un)healthy MSG is
Was:
> people will hail MSG as the devil
The fact that it’s a seaweed extract, or that some people eat it and are ok are orthogonal to what I said. I said one should be careful about excessive use of anything that hasn’t been studied to the point where any reasonable shadow of doubt was removed. The fact that multiple published studies came up with these potential links and there’s no definitive one to contradict them at the very least warrants caution. Which is what I suggested. It’s sensible advice to not do anything excessively, even more so if you have any doubt.
Some people excessively drank alcohol, smoked, ate red meat, etc. (all plant based or at least natural) all their life and were just fine. But it’s still not an argument for doing the same.
And the link I gave didn’t come from personal opinion (these are strong on HN), or some random blog but nih.gov. And their advice is just as sensible: we need to study more (yeah, guess they weren’t told on HN that MSG was super extensively tested and we have the definitive results) and advised caution. That’s it.
Glutamate is an amino aid and a neurotransmitter, your body produces it. Per [1], "It is used by every major excitatory function in the vertebrate brain, accounting in total for well over 90% of the synaptic connections in the human brain." Per [2], "Glutamate itself is ubiquitous in biological life."
I don't legitimately see how someone can have an allergy to it. It seems to be a basic building block of biological life. It's like saying you are allergic to DNA.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamic_acid [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamate_(neurotransmitter) [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glutamate_flavoring#Natural_oc...
I say that to say you make a lot of them. And you eat a lot of them whenever you eat organic matter.
And to your point, even water can be deadly if you drink too much too fast. That doesn't mean you have a water allergy.
There are several steps before your metabolic system can turn MSG into amino acids and surprise, surprise: until then it behaves like a different chemical.
[1] https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Monosodium-glutama...
I'm not convinced you read what you just cited.
I kind of wish I got to taste 80s era American Chinese food in it's full MSG glory.
[0] https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/myths-and-...
> The short answer is that MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is an unacceptable ingredient at Whole Foods Market, thus not allowed in any of our products.
The takeaway I got from it was that the opposition to MSG has a racial component ('Chinese Restaurant Syndrome'), may have been started as a prank (letters to that particular publication often were - they didn't have 4chan back then), and studies showing harm used very unrealistic dosages. Allergy or sensitivity may exist but the chances of it being a poison and literally affecting every human body seems very unlikely.
I also have a bag in my kitchen and came to the same conclusion regarding taste that he did. Adding more does not do much to dishes with that component already (meat, mushroom, etc). But it does change dishes that lack it.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6952072/
edit: also a single amino acid salt being harmful really requires some solid evidence, which seems to be not there.
As I said, jury is still out. I would personally not go overboard with adding it to everything I et until I know more. I'll take less flavor for now over the potential risks until more reliable data is published.
I react poorly to tomatoes, but it doesn't mean tomatoes are bad for everyone.
I read a couple of articles now, and it seems from interviews like the people behind some of the organizations protesting its use was hypersensitive themselves. It makes sense that if they have bad reactions, they assume that the substance itself is bad in general, even if that hasn't been shown in medical trials. The Food Agency also said that since the symptoms were limited in time and severity, even if hypersensitive (blurred vision, headache, and so on) it wasn't necessary to warn the general public to stop consumption.
I read an article saying that MSG is not allowed in baby food and is cautioned against for pregnant women. The baby food claim may be true, but the Food Agency says that small children process MSG as efficiently as adults, that there's no difference of glutamate blood concentration between fetus and mother when pregnant, and that MSG is not considered a risk for the fetus. They also say that it's not probable that it's transferred to the baby in breast milk, if consumption is kept at recommended daily intake.
When I was in elementary school in the 80s and 90s, people would eat knäckebröd [1] with butter covered with Aromat [2]. We didn't know it then, but it contained MSG which was probably why it tasted so good.
Aromat contains lactose, and a vegan alternative is Vegeta [3]. I don't sprinkle it directly onto food, even if I could, but use it more like powdered broth and add it to sauces and soups. It's pretty salty, so I use it instead of salt.
Another vegan product I'd like to mention for its umami flavor is Engevita [4] nutritional yeast flakes. I sprinkle that on top of food which gives it a more deep, nutty, or cheesy flavor. Instead of monosodium glutamate, where a sodium atom is bound to the glutamate amino acid, the glutamate is bound (according to an article I read that was light on details) to other amino acids, but still performs its umami duties. This is natural occurring glutamate in the yeast, and not an additive.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispbread
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromat
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podravka#Consumer_brands
[4] http://marigoldhealthfoods.co.uk/products/engevita/engevita-...
I shy away from it because it gives me migraine headaches. Not everyone is like you, and that doesnt mean those others are being nonsensical.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Accent-Flavor-Enhancer-Shaker-4-5...
This is why it does not scale like sweet or salty does, it's more binary like it has umami or it does not.
I agree with the other child post that MSG is a good way to isolate the experience, but if you are hesitant about MSG try truffles (real, not the oil) without any other ingredients or dried shiitake they will be the closest to just isolating umami.
And the best thing is, it's not only in animal products, but also in mushroom, seaweed, and tomatoes
About the simplest thing you could do is take dried seaweed, rinse off the salt, then soak it in hot water and drink the water.
A friend had MSG in water for a paid taste experiment. Said it was a bit like chicken stock.
Editing to say I know it's in vegetables too, but that's the first association a lot of people will make.
Meanwhile, in Japan, MSG is commonly referred to by the brand name "Aji-no-moto", which means "essence of taste." It can be found in most households.
> Should I be concerned about Dihydrogen Monoxide?
> Yes, you should be concerned about DHMO! Although the U.S. Government and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) do not classify Dihydrogen Monoxide as a toxic or carcinogenic substance (as it does with better known chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and benzene), DHMO is a constituent of many known toxic substances, diseases and disease-causing agents, environmental hazards and can even be lethal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.
In fact specifically labeling it by its chemical name rather than any brand/whatever names was I think an intentional technique.
I usually make Ramen soup about three nights a week. My wife and I never get tired of it because I have several different savory ingredients combinations that I use, but I almost always use a lot of seaweed of various types, dried shiitake mushrooms, and bonita flakes. I also have a few different types of noodles that I use, for variety.
My ramen differs from most recipes because I use about three times the amount of vegetables as cooked Ramen noodles.
Even the broth of Ramen Soup is especially savory, a treat after the noodles and vegetables are all eaten.
They call him papi.
It's along the same line as "Isaac Newton discovered gravity."
Sort of like India was discovered by Columbus, of course people were living in India before.
Maybe you mean "West Indies"?
(His work actually puts the other four "basic tastes" to shame because where those four are mostly "well studied" in the social sciences [psychology tests of where on the tongue most responded to each of the 4], he actually narrowed down the specific taste receptors for glutamate, and how they operate.)
In Chinese cooking, there is the "numbing" flavor, red sichuan pepper, white pepper, cloves, et al.
Flavor is simply more complex than the headline that there are only four, and _______.
Pop literature: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-szechuan-p...
Research that article is based on: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2013.168...
Same thing has happened with curry leaves on multiple occasions too.
For example the capsaicin burn of a pepper can be be felt somewhere else on my body but now matter how much vinegar or sugar I rub on, I would not know if it was sour or sweet.