Ask for no MSG the next time you go out for dinner...

[ghworker2010]

We were in a posh shopping centre in bangas last week (The emporium). We ordered food and asked for no salt to be added as we have a toddler. We were at one of those restaurants that has the open plan kitchen where you can see the chef. After taking our order the waiter came back over and asked us 'do you also not want us to add MSG?'. We obviously answered yes to this.

From now on I'm going to say 'mai sai pong shoe rot' (no MSG) when ordering food. A Thai work colleague mentioned to me that its really common in Thailand and the fruit sellers even put it in that small bag of salty brown crap that is given when buying the sour tasting chopped up mango.

We need to educate the Thai's. Please say no msg when asking for your next meal. Do it for your good health.

cheers

[White Christmas13]

So what is wrong with MSG?

[lopburi3]

Probably the same as normal table salt - we tend to eat too much of it by most accounts.

[White Christmas13]

I do not eat a lot of salt but every time we go to a Chinese restaurant or even Indian

the meat is soft I cook my meat for hours never get it like that so what is wrong whit it ?

[Bung]

If MSG is so bad for you how come you always see 100+ year old Asians scoffing it?

[Lamkyong]

'mai sai pong shoe rot so no cheese either ??

[mallyrd]

I am allergic to MSG but there are many more who have no side effects from MSG. It is a standard ingredient in any Thai food and quite common in real Chinese food. Don't quite see why you think you can change the world. If you have scientific proof of the harm MSG can do people then I might sit up and listen but otherwise you are just wasting your time.

[ukrules]

If MSG is so bad for you how come you always see 100+ year old Asians scoffing it?

A good point, of course there's nothing wrong with MSG.

Some people have something wrong with them and they can't tolerate it for one reason or another.

Normal healthy people can eat MSG, those with something wrong with them can't. It's as simple as that.

I eat peanuts on an occasional basis, that's just fine but I know one guy who would consider them a deadly poison and if he ate them he would die without an emergency injection of epinephrine to prevent anaphylaxis. There's something seriously wrong with this guy, he has a deadly allergy to a common foodstuff. That's not good for him, but to me and most of the rest of the worlds pouplation it makes no difference at all as there's nothing wrong with us.

MSG also appears naturally in small quantities in so many different fresh foods it would take pages to list them all.

[Berkshire]

According to a gazillion scientific studies, nearly everything that we consume is unhealthy. So I don't worry about it anymore, just eat what I like. And exercise.

[GuestHouse]

According to a gazillion scientific studies, nearly everything that we consume is unhealthy. So I don't worry about it anymore, just eat what I like. And exercise.

I take it you also choose not to eat some things.

Just like I and many others don't want MSG added to the food we eat.

Odd though, whenever the subject of MSG comes up we have posts from people who might otherwise regard themselves defenders of free choice objecting to others making a personal choice not to have MSG added to their food.

[GuestHouse]

So what is wrong with MSG?

Nothing wrong with Brussel Sprouts, but I don't eat them.

[farang000999]

Not wanting it added to your food is fine however there is no scientific evidence that it causes allergic reactions or headaches.

[farang000999]

try kanang the Thai brussel sprout.

[Lamkyong]

bangas ???ok ya

[Bung]

According to a gazillion scientific studies, nearly everything that we consume is unhealthy. So I don't worry about it anymore, just eat what I like. And exercise.

I take it you also choose not to eat some things.

Just like I and many others don't want MSG added to the food we eat.

Odd though, whenever the subject of MSG comes up we have posts from people who might otherwise regard themselves defenders of free choice objecting to others making a personal choice not to have MSG added to their food.

Or vise versa.

We need to educate the Thai's. Please say no msg when asking for your next meal. Do it for your good health.

[slipperylobster]

leave out the week old pork, as well.

[teatree]

The problem with MSG in Thailand is the liberal amount they scoop into the food.

[bamukloy]

According to a gazillion scientific studies, nearly everything that we consume is unhealthy. So I don't worry about it anymore, just eat what I like. And exercise.

I take it you also choose not to eat some things.

Just like I and many others don't want MSG added to the food we eat.

Odd though, whenever the subject of MSG comes up we have posts from people who might otherwise regard themselves defenders of free choice objecting to others making a personal choice not to have MSG added to their food.

Or vise versa.

We need to educate the Thai's. Please say no msg when asking for your next meal. Do it for your good health.

I see your point, but i think you would be suprised how much of this stuff you are inadvertantly injesting.

The big food conglomerates are aware of the anti MSG movement, which is why they invent numbers and other such nonsense names and labels to hide what it is.

As other posters have said, it appears naturally in lots of stuff. I think i read tomatoes were high on the scale.

The adjinomoto brand which originated in Japan first produced it synthetically, as the formula was derived from what was essentially a seaweed enzyme, so its not as scary as you think.

As for its use in Thai food..

Its added in the prep stages when making stocks and dipping sauces.

The dry ajinomoto powder they marinate the meat has it.

ALL the bottled sauces they add in the end of the cooking process has it...fish, soy, oyster, etc.

Those restaurant guys will nod and say yes sir but the reality is that what your gonna get is loaded up with it already.

Ive watched many of these guys and they rarely ever add raw MSG in at the end of the process.

[gamini]

According to a gazillion scientific studies, nearly everything that we consume is unhealthy. So I don't worry about it anymore, just eat what I like. And exercise.

I take it you also choose not to eat some things.

Just like I and many others don't want MSG added to the food we eat.

Odd though, whenever the subject of MSG comes up we have posts from people who might otherwise regard themselves defenders of free choice objecting to others making a personal choice not to have MSG added to their food.

Or vise versa.

We need to educate the Thai's. Please say no msg when asking for your next meal. Do it for your good health.

I put on my fish, meat and chicken before cooking. I love it and I am 85. Certainly has done me no harm so why should it do Thais harm?

[ttthailand]

I can't tell if they add it or not, taste same to me. I would prefer it not be in my food as I think there are too many additives in our diet already. Why also add things that later they could discover it increases your sex drive while all that time you though you were a stud

[jak2002003]

There is actually a lot of scientific evidence that MSG is bad for our health.. just a few references at the end of this article.

http://www.foodrenegade.com/msg-dangerous-science/

I have had one very bad reaction to an overdose of MGS when I lived in the UK and had eaten at a Chinese restaurant. That night I woke with crippling stomach cramps... which continued the next day.. so I had to see a GP. He told me it was MSG poisoning.

I have also had lesser reactions to MSG here in Thailand, after eating 'junk food' from local markets... where only a few minutes after eating it I get tightness across my chest and pain / aching in my shoulders.

I always tell the food vendors and restaurants not to add the MSG. I know they don't add it.. as I can see them making it and they don't scoop loads of the white MSG powder into it. I am sure I still eat the stuff in other foods, but its only the very high doses of it that make me feel ill, so I don't worry about eating it at low levels.

I think I may just have an allergy to it. It may not be 'dangerous' for most people who don't have an allergy to it.

[manarak]

According to a gazillion scientific studies, nearly everything that we consume is unhealthy. So I don't worry about it anymore, just eat what I like. And exercise.

I take it you also choose not to eat some things.

Just like I and many others don't want MSG added to the food we eat.

Odd though, whenever the subject of MSG comes up we have posts from people who might otherwise regard themselves defenders of free choice objecting to others making a personal choice not to have MSG added to their food.

MSG is a normal condiment as salt is.

There are taste receptors for MSG in our mouths as there are for salt or sugar.

If you or anyone else don't want MSG, that's fine, just order your food accordingly and select your products accordingly.

But there is something wrong with saying "we need to educate the Thais" and with lobbying others to boycott MSG just because some people are allergic to it.

[GuestHouse]

According to a gazillion scientific studies, nearly everything that we consume is unhealthy. So I don't worry about it anymore, just eat what I like. And exercise.

I take it you also choose not to eat some things.

Just like I and many others don't want MSG added to the food we eat.

Odd though, whenever the subject of MSG comes up we have posts from people who might otherwise regard themselves defenders of free choice objecting to others making a personal choice not to have MSG added to their food.

MSG is a normal condiment as salt is.

There are taste receptors for MSG in our mouths as there are for salt or sugar.

If you or anyone else don't want MSG, that's fine, just order your food accordingly and select your products accordingly.

But there is something wrong with saying "we need to educate the Thais" and with lobbying others to boycott MSG just because some people are allergic to it.

Too late, many Thai restaurants have already got the message that they have customers who do not want MSG in their food and clearly state that they do not add MSG.

I've never ever had any objection from the staff in Thai restaurants when I ask for my food to be prepared without adding MSG, though I have noticed a hard core blow-hard response here on TVF from people who get really wound up about others not wanting MSG in their food whenever the subject comes up.

[SoiBiker]

Why would I ask them to exclude a harmless ingredient that makes the food taste better?

[Freakin Musashi]

http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm328728.htm

FDA considers the addition of MSG to foods to be “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS). Although many people identify themselves as sensitive to MSG, in studies with such individuals given MSG or a placebo, scientists have not been able to consistently trigger reactions.

[Saastrajaa]

I am allergic to MSG but there are many more who have no side effects from MSG. It is a standard ingredient in any Thai food and quite common in real Chinese food. Don't quite see why you think you can change the world. If you have scientific proof of the harm MSG can do people then I might sit up and listen but otherwise you are just wasting your time.

MDG is a standard ingredient in ALL packaged/processed Western savory food, from salad dressings to potato chips to bread to sauces etc. ad nauseum, including all fast food (Mcdonalds, KFC, etc.)/chain restaurant...oh, but let me guess, your so-called "allergy" only flares up when you eat Chinese or Thai food, right?

[bendejo]

MSG gives me insomnia. Don't need a doctor to tell me that.

Too many times I've been served food with too much of it, it only takes a little too much to spoil the entire dish. And it's use is certainly not limited to Thailand. This pic was taken in a supermarket in Indonesia. I sent it to a friend in the US with the question "and how many different brands of MSG do they have at YOUR local supermarket?"

[manarak]

MSG is considered bad by the "broader public" because there is no name for it in English except menacing initials or "monosodium glutamate".

Salt is sodium chloride - if water was called hydrogen dioxide it would be considered harmful as well.

In Japan it is called umami and in Thailand sometimes "aroy".

As our mouth has special receptors for MSG, it is a fifth taste in addition to sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

MSG occurs naturally in tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, potatoes, mushrooms and other vegetables.

Maybe we should just try to give it a nice name.

Edited June 15, 2016 by manarak

[manarak]

I am allergic to MSG but there are many more who have no side effects from MSG. It is a standard ingredient in any Thai food and quite common in real Chinese food. Don't quite see why you think you can change the world. If you have scientific proof of the harm MSG can do people then I might sit up and listen but otherwise you are just wasting your time.

MDG is a standard ingredient in ALL packaged/processed Western savory food, from salad dressings to potato chips to bread to sauces etc. ad nauseum, including all fast food (Mcdonalds, KFC, etc.)/chain restaurant...oh, but let me guess, your so-called "allergy" only flares up when you eat Chinese or Thai food, right?

Let me tell you a story - my grandfather was a great Chinese food hater.

My mother (not Chinese nor Asian) once cooked a soup, and my grandfather ate it and asked for more, complementing my mother on the great soup. Then he asked about the recipe and as soon as my mother told him the recipe is Chinese, he began to gag and almost puked, it was so bad he had to go to the bathroom. Everybody laughed at him.

Sometimes some nutter propaganda is enough to cause such things.

[ukrules]

According to a gazillion scientific studies, nearly everything that we consume is unhealthy. So I don't worry about it anymore, just eat what I like. And exercise.

I take it you also choose not to eat some things.

Just like I and many others don't want MSG added to the food we eat.

Odd though, whenever the subject of MSG comes up we have posts from people who might otherwise regard themselves defenders of free choice objecting to others making a personal choice not to have MSG added to their food.

I guess you could look at as 'eat what you want' but everything should be taken in moderation.

I know someone who's Thai and has a reasonably severe reaction to MSG, this is a problem for her.