MSG, like aspartame before it, has gotten a bad rap. Everyone’s all, “Oh, no MSG for me, please!” Well, you know what? MSG isn’t bad for you, doesn’t cause any weird malady, and like aspartame, it makes food taste better. Turning down MSG is like refusing sugar or cinnamon or butter. It’s a processed version of something that is already in food! Sure, you can do it, but you’re missing out on a world of deliciousness.

You know what? Let’s just be honest. Everything you eat will kill you one of these days. Heart attack, cancer, soy explosion, choking on tofu… there are a billion ways to die, and a billion more ways to feel bad, and MSG is not one of them. So maybe Chinese food gives you an upset tummy. Did you ever stop to think it wasn’t something in the food, but you shoveling too much into your mouth that gives you belly monsters? Or maybe the fact that there are vegetables and rice in said Chinese food, two things Americans don’t eat enough of?

For most of us, myself included, Chinese food gets a bad rap. If it was eaten more than once every month or two, and if it wasn’t such an impulse food buy, maybe it wouldn’t make people (myself included) have stomach complaints. But that happens to me when I eat pizza, or any other time I vary from my usual eating routine. Eat something too spicy, eat something too sweet, eat something (key word) unusual, and your stomach responds.

That’s why, if you have a pet, you’re not supposed to abruptly change foods on them. It’s good advice for them, and good advice for us two-legs, too. Don’t be afraid of the flavor. Embrace the taste of monosodium glutamate!

Image Credit: Do Not Enter

Tags: msg, monosodium glutamate, Chinese food, cooking, additives, spices, urban legends, food myths

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