did a search before posting, didn’t see anything. so here goes…
I already know that monsodium glutemate MSG is used as a preservative, so please, no lectures on that…
But why is it so prevelent in chinese restaurants? some places around here even market themselves as being MSG free. Local BBQ places don’t have to say that, nor mexican food restaurants, not seafood establishments either. Why is it so often used in or thought of in chinese food? Any other types of restaurants using it?
Just got through reading the phone book. Plot’s weak, but alot of charactors. Turns out Ziggy Zwick did it. (spoiler)
OK, no cites, but I know somone will be along with some shortly (if imnot) but I have done alot of reading on it (im mildly allergic.) MSG isnt so common as a preservative, as a taste enchancer. It allows resteraunts to use lower quality food and get the same taste as if they had spent slightly more. My memory is very fuzzy as to how it works, but a google search will be of great use, and in fact would have answered the question in the first place.
-PSM
Salt was (and still is) used as a preservative, but now is primarily used as a flavor enhancer. Same for MSG, but MSG is used in chinese food where salt is used in most other quisenes. But MSG is also used in many foods that you don’t expect.
Chinese restaurants advertise “no MSG” because so many are allergic to it, and people expect it to be used there.
Howzat?
Peace,
mangeorge
That pretty much wraps it up for me. If the rest of you want to continue, be my guest. Again, I apologize for any unintended insult caused by my title choice.
I wonder why dogpile didn’t ref that site? oh well…
Would it be “racist” to say “Marmite – It’s not just for Englishmen anymore?” I don’t think so – and I’d much rather have my race associated with MSG/umami than with Marmite (though I’ve enjoyed Marmite in certain circumstances and limited quantities).
It strikes me the problem is not MSG is a poison, or “unnatural,” or particularly allergy-inducing – it’s that cooks who rely on it as a crutch to disguise bad ingredients or sloppy preparation (disproportionately, probably, found in cheap food such as takeaway Chinese) tend to use more and more and it overwhelms everything else.
[hijack] Monty – While it is true that “Chinaman” is defined as “a native of China,” many people, including many Chinese people, consider it a racial slur, partly because of past connotations. Some don’t consider it racist at all. It’s kind of like the word “Negro,” which some people do not consider racist but which many do. There are organizations with “Negro” in the title, but I would never use the word myself. [/hijack]
In Chinese, MSG is known as “wei jing” = “pure flavor”. I don’t have it lying around in my house (I’m Taiwanese), but it seems to be more prevalent with mainlanders and Chinese restaurants (more so in the past than in the present). Anyone know if this is used more with HKers?
I can’t really taste MSG, but my siblings are pretty allergic to it and thus get headaches. I don’t think it really has a taste, but if you get a reaction to it, that’s a problem.
Well, there is the expression “not a chinaman’s chance”. In the book “Red China Blues”, the author remarks how she was offended by some missionaries using the word “chinaman” (this was sometime in the Cultural Revolutions – 1970s), but that’s because they didn’t ever return to the US and notice the changes going on. Probably going into the 70s, this term has been considered outdated – but then again, I wasn’t around then.
Yeah, in a different forum I’d have maybe noted that a single dictionary doesn’t unequivocally determine that a word “is” existentially anything, or that “often offensive” doesn’t equal “racist,” or cited another dictionary as “proof” positive that “_____-man” always and everywhere means “resident of _____,” or suggested that calling people pale devils (gwai lo) or red headed barbarians is potentially “often offensive --” but it’s not another forum and I think we all agree on the salient point that the OP by NoClueBoy wasn’t “racist.” When I was in Japan I spent none of my time worrying about whether “gaijin” was a racist or offensive term (which was good, or I’d have had hurt feelings a lot of the time to nobody’s benefit). Enough hijack.
I’d guess the same way that most other reasonable words now have negative connotations. It depends on where you live and the exposure that your culture had to “inferior races” (please note the " ") in the past. Specifically, I suspect that it happens more often when there was a reasonably large immigrant/migrant population, rather than just encountering these “inferior races” in their countries.
For example, I suspect that the word “Black” is far more acceptable in the UK than in the US, although I may be wrong.
Anecdotal, but my girlfriend’s family is HK and her mother still has a jar of MSG in her cupboard (despite having been in the UK for 30 years and despite swearing that she doesn’t use it).
I’'m hardly experiences, but if you can’t cook a good chinese meal with the basics (i.e. using some of - meat, spring onions, soy sauce, cooking wine, oyster sauce, eggs, wine vinegar, salt, sugar, cornflour), then you’re in trouble. Then again, the GF’s mother does turn out better sweat & sour than I’ve ever had elsewhere, so maybe she is using MSG.