🚀 go-pugleaf

I'm not an expert on chemicals, but here is my limited un-scientific
understanding of MSG.

MSG = monosodium glutamate

It has a distinct flavor.  It's the main ingredient in Dash and
Aji-no-moto (Japanese).  In fact I think aji-no-moto is all MSG.
Chicken and beef bouillon (such as Knorr's) contain a lot of MSG.
Japanese used to take shaved fish (dried bonita) and dried little
fish (jyako) and perhaps some seaweed and boil them together
to obtain a "dashi" flavoring.  When MSG was discovered
(or invented) it made attaining this flavor much easier.  Use of
MSG quickly became widespread in Japan, China and Korea.  Soon,
however, it was learned that MSG was carcinogenic (I think).  Also,
many people would get a buzz if they consumed too much MSG.

The health craze of the '80s led many restaurants to advertise 
"no MSG".  What most stores mean by "no MSG" is that they don't
add any MSG in its pure form to its food.  It's very difficult to
prepare some Chinese dishes completely free of MSG, because,
I believe, oyster sauce contains some MSG.  I have also heard
that some soy sauces contain MSG.

Most Chinese and Japanese dishes taste better with that MSG-like
taste added to it.  If you go to a regular restaurant (non-no-MSG, or
yes-MSG) and ask that dishes be prepared without MSG, the food may
taste somewhat bland.  It depends if the restaurant compensates the
lack of MSG with some kind of fish flavoring (or "dashi" in the 
case of Japanese restaurants.)  Places that advertise that they don't
use MSG on any of their dishes, probably do a better job of
compensating for the lack of MSG.  MSG doesn't bother me too much, but
my wife gets light-headed and sometimes nauseous by it.  Before MSG,
Japanese ramen shops (noodles) would pride on making the best soup
by experimenting with different "dashi"s.  (For more, check out a 
Japanese film called "Tampopo".  It's not that good a movie, but you
will get a better understanding of Japaneses' fickleness/obsession
with the ultimate ramen.)  Today, most ramen shops use MSG for
convenience.

It's hard to describe the taste of MSG in words.  When I was a child,
before its ill effects were known, I used to pour some on the table 
and lick it using my finger.  I haven't developed cancer yet though.

I can not always tell whether a particular flavoring in a dish was
obtained via MSG or via "dashi".

-- 
Yokichi (Yoke) Tanaka      Togai InfraLogic, Inc.    "fuzzy"
tanaka@til.com             Irvine, California, USA
uunet!til!tanaka           714-975-8522
"The more you drive, the less intelligent you are."