I remember the Great MSG panic of '86. It was being removed from stuff, banned in some cases, and all on the basis of nothing. People just suddenly thought it was like cancer in a bottle.
aarondavis
Steve: Monosodium Glutamate, or ‘MSG’
My brain: Metal Sear Golid
tylercoon
The funniest thing is my grandparents swear msg gives them really bad stomach issues but will eat a ton of chips like Cheetos and I remember watching a video that said big chip brands use more msg than most Asian dishes so it makes me laugh saying they won’t eat from Asian restaurants because of the msg
nolanc
I keep my MSG stored in a glass bottle labeled 'Flavor'.
stegosteg
Interestingly, of the 5 tastes, 3 play a role in helping us find certain necessary nutrients (salty, sweet, umami = salt, sugars, protein), 1 plays a role in helping us avoid toxins (bitter), and the final one - sour - is actually pretty complicated. At first it helped detect the presence of high acidity so our evolutionary ancestors could avoid acidic environments/food. But once certain mammals/apes could no longer develop their own vitamin C, sour became an indicator of food rich in vitamin C! Because vitamin C is literally an acid. That’s why we sorta like sour and sorta don’t like sour… Thanks Eons!!
yateswebb
When you overwhelm your glutamate receptors, it will also activate the bitterness receptors.
That's why in fine Japanese cooking, chefs are careful not to extract too much umami when making a stock.
teitake
The MSG used in this video was from "Ajinomoto" (a Japanese food and biotech company), which translates roughly to "Essence of Taste". - which comes close to Steve's last words in this video ('pure essence of savouriness'). I found that funny.
frando
MSG: Make sh!t good
Uncle Rogers wise words
GodlikeIridium
To be pedantic, MSG is the salt of glutamatic acid, one of the 21 amino acid, which are in turn the fundamental building block of proteins. Basically evolution decided on a single amino acid as the proxy for all of them when it comes to taste.
TheDrake
Who knew, pure MSG turns you into Sean Connery!
pectenmaximus
"Mmmm... Pure eshensh ov sheivourinesh"
ItsThePirate
For everyone around 40, when you grew up thinking grandmas cooking was better than moms, it’s because grandma kept using MSG and mom stopped when one idiotic lady caused a panic over nothing. MSG is the GOAT seasoning
forgettablelisa
Free glutamate is found naturally occurring in many foods. May be why parmesan has become so central to Italian food as it has very high levels of naturally occurring glutamate making it an excellent flavour enhancer.
willtheeditor
Funny that you used the word "essence". My Mandarin teacher told me that the phrase for MSG in Chinese, "味精" (wèijīng), translates directly to "essence of flavor". Apparently it's the height of cuisine in China.
handmetheparachute
I came here to share a trick with MSG:
Grind 'em up to a fine powder, mix thoroughly with panko(or breadcrumbs) and use that panko to deepfry food of your choice (meat, fish, tofu, ...)
It'll be the burst of flavor that I pretty sure people would notice, but can't tell the difference.
Xenochetemist
“I’m about to try crack cocaine, you see it’s a really interesting thing because-“
Aviothic-Acid
Half an hour later, he suddenly craved another spoonful of msg.
chrisso
It tricks my brain into thinking that I’m having a meal… a succulent Chinese meal
eft
MSG simply tastes to me like the best salt you've ever tasted in your life... Yes it's salty, but a thousand times better!
iandeare
I love (not ironically) how the 5 tongue tastes are English, English, English, English, Japanese. I remember reading the news article when Umami was initially declared. It simply stated that Japan was the first country to definitively prove the existence of a fifth human taste, therefore they got to name it. We English speakers don't bother to translate it, but just roll with it. Sweet! I mean, "Umami!"
