Does anyone else think it's ironic that Americans obsess over whether there is MSG in our Chinese food (to the point that Chinese restaurants post signs of "No MSG" as a badge of honor), yet we stuff our faces with snacks (like chips) of various kinds with MSG as an ingredient?
NPR's Science Friday had a show on taste. I found the remarks linking umami and MSG interesting.
Posted by: ez at July 26, 2005 10:22 PMThe reason we care about restaurants and not snacks is this: we can sue Mr. Li for serving such horrible food, but we can't sue ourselves for snacking on junk (and the corporation that makes snacks has pockets that are too deep). The Culture of Irresponsibility strikes again.
Posted by: george at July 27, 2005 02:21 PMThanks for the link, Ezra. True, George, I think that's part of it.
Posted by: shokufeh at July 27, 2005 08:45 PMAlso, some people are VERY allergic to it. I worked in a restaurant (not Chinese) but we had to memorize which of our products/entrees had MSG or peanut products because we didn't want to, you know, kill anyone...I would certainly hope those who are allergic don't eat chips....
Posted by: LG at July 28, 2005 01:49 PM