Commonly, we acknowledge five flavours: bitterness, saltiness, sourness, sweetness, and savouriness. When I grew up there were only four but we have finally caught up with the Japanese by acknowledging their umami.
Umami, as we all know by now, is the meaty, brothy taste found in good stocks, mushrooms, seafood and indeed cheese and tomatoes. The reaction on the tongue that fires up the umami flavour receptors is triggered by salts of glutamic acid in the food. So, to give some food a bit more of this tasty flavour you just need to find a pure source of these glutamates and sprinkle it on.
This is exactly the same as happens with the salty flavour: the saltiness receptors on the tongue are triggered by sodium ions so we find the purest source of these ions — sodium chloride — and sprinkle it on our chips. Yum!
And indeed with the sweet flavour: add sucrose.
The pure source of glutamates that provide the savoury flavour is monosodium glutamate — MSG. This is a white crystalline powder first isolated by a professor of chemistry in Japan in 1908. Today it is produced by the bacterial fermentation of sugar beet or cane sugar (yoghurt, just so we're on the same page, is produced by the bacterial fermentation of milk).
This compound is under deep suspicion: restaurants advertise that they don't use MSG; everybody checks the labels of things they pick up in the supermarket and if it has “flavour enhancer 621” we put it back on the shelf; when I was in Shanghai we went to restaurants that had little bowls of powdered MSG on the table as a condiment, I certainly didn't go near them.
This suspicion started in the late sixties when reports started coming in of some people suffering a collection of symptoms like headaches, numbness in the arms, facial pressure or flushing suffered in the hours after eating at Chinese restaurants. These symptoms would fade after a short time with no other effects. MSG was used generously in these restaurants and was then named as the culprit.
In the forty-odd years since, MSG has been one of the most studied food additives and yet researchers have been unable to demonstrate a link between MSG and these symptoms.
“Although the prevalence of CRS [Chinese Restaurant Syndrome] has been estimated to be 1–2% of the general population it is not clear what proportion of the reactions, if any, can be attributed to MSG. The vast majority of reports of CRS are anecdotal, and are not linked to the actual glutamate content of the food consumed. Furthermore, when individuals with a suspected sensitivity to MSG are tested in double-blind challenges the majority do not react to MSG under the conditions of the study […]. Many individuals may therefore incorrectly be ascribing various symptoms to MSG, when in fact some other food component may be the cause.”
— FSANZ. Monosodium glutamate — a safety assessment, June 2003
So between one in every fifty and one in every hundred people sometimes suffer somewhat uncomfortable sensations after eating Chinese food when it has MSG in it and then they get better. And sometimes they don't suffer them. Particularly when they're taking part in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. And the cause of these symptoms may not be MSG. These symptoms would certainly be unpleasant and, if they prefer, then these people should certainly avoid food with MSG added if they believe it's responsible but I didn't know that this was what all the fuss was about.
There is a world-view in this country that MSG must be avoided at all costs. It is a dangerous additive in any dose. It is a world-view that appears to me now to be hysteria far beyond what the dangers involve. Salt has been shown to have a long-term effect on blood pressure and people are aware of this danger and in general wouldn't put huge doses of salt on a dish as a result but there is no horror at the very name of it, no restaurants saying they don't cook with salt. MSG has never been shown to have a long-term effect on anything. The dangers of MSG so far have been shown to be that it may or may not cause 1–2% of the population to feel a little uncomfortable.
So, then, why all the fear? The common belief in Australia, as far as I know, is that “MSG is bad for you” but why is that what everybody believes? Memes get national acceptance when they are easy to believe and there are two things about MSG that make it frightening: first that it is used by Chinese people and Chinese people are foreign and foreign things are unfamiliar and therefore frightening; second is the name. It doesn't have a familiar, homey name like “salt” or “sugar” but goes only by the name of the chemical compound and that sounds artificial and therefore dangerous.
While it is easy to say “Oh yes, Harpo. I know that the names of things is not the thing itself. I know that the map is not the territory” but the truth is that, despite how evolved you think you are, you are still influenced in your attitude to a thing by what it is called. You can't help yourself. You are aware that the “surge” in Iraq was the same as an “escalation” but your reaction was, nevertheless, affected. The names of things matter more than you are willing to admit to yourself.
If sodium chloride (a substance that is precisely as much a chemical compound as monosodium glutamate) can hide behind the friendly, familiar word “salt” then monosodium glutamate ought to have its own street name. If the Japanese can coin their Japanese-sounding “umami” for the name of the flavour and have us all use it then I am going to coin the Australian-sounding “mate” for the name of the compound and will use it to refer to MSG in the future.
Food tastes delicious with a good veal stock but if you haven't time to make one then a sprinkle of mate gets you well on your way to a scrumptious dinner. If the fears of Australians — particularly the 98% of them who suffer no symptoms whatsoever — make it hard to find then I will just have to look harder for it.
- Journal of Nutrition
- British Journal of Medicine
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand
- World Health Organisation
