UMAMI MSG and Parmigiano-Reggiano, Tomatoes, Anchovies

The Discovery of MSG

The story begins in 1908 in Tokyo, with a chemistry professor named Kikunae Ikeda sitting over a bowl of dashi — the traditional Japanese broth made from kombu seaweed and dried fish. Ikeda noticed that dashi lent foods a meaty, savory quality, and he was determined to find out why. 

Ikeda used laboratory facilities at the Tokyo Imperial University to carry out experiments aimed at extracting the umami factor from kelp, through which he discovered that glutamic acid was a central element in the taste of the dashi.  After days of evaporating and treating the seaweed, he saw the development of a crystalline form. When he tasted the crystals, he recognized the distinct savory taste that dashi lent to other foods — a taste he named umami, from the Japanese word umai, meaning "delicious." 

This was a landmark moment in food science. It challenged a cornerstone of culinary thinking: instead of four tastes — sweet, salty, bitter, and sour — there were now five. 

The Fifth Taste — Umami's Recognition

Interestingly, while Ikeda named and described umami in 1908, it took almost a century for Western science to formally accept it as a fifth basic taste. Umami has been considered the fifth taste since the early 2000s, varyingly translating from Japanese as "tasty," "scrumptiousness," "deliciousness," or "savory." The science eventually caught up: researchers discovered dedicated umami taste receptors on the human tongue, separate from the other four — the same way we have receptors specifically tuned to sweetness or saltiness. The delay in Western recognition is itself a story of cultural bias, as a Japanese scientist's naming of a new taste category was slow to gain traction in European and American scientific circles.

From Discovery to Product

Ikeda tried potassium glutamate, calcium glutamate, and other combinations, but sodium glutamate proved the most readily soluble in water and provided the best flavor, so he concluded that the creation of a sodium glutamate from sodium concentrate was optimal. He submitted a patent application in April 1908 and received patent approval on July 25 of the same year. 

The Suzuki brothers began commercial production of MSG in 1909 using the term Ajinomoto — "essence of taste."  By the 1930s, recipes in Japan included Ajinomoto use in their directions. 

How MSG Works on Your Taste Buds

MSG works because glutamate — the core molecule — is recognized by specific receptors on the tongue that are distinct from other taste receptors. When glutamate binds to these receptors, it triggers the umami sensation: that deep, savory, full-bodied richness that makes food feel satisfying and complete. MSG balances, blends, and rounds the perception of other tastes.  It doesn't simply add a flavor of its own — it amplifies and integrates other flavors already present, which is why a tiny amount can transform a dish.

Glutamate is also, crucially, not foreign to the body. Glutamate is one of the most abundant excitatory neurotransmitters in the brain, playing a crucial role in memory and learning. The body produces it naturally and recognizes it immediately.

How MSG Is Made: Natural Fermentation vs. Chemical Synthesis

Here is where a lot of confusion arises — and where the "natural vs. chemical" framing gets complicated.

The original method was simple extraction from kelp. The first industrial production process was an extraction method in which vegetable proteins were treated with hydrochloric acid to disrupt peptide bonds. L-glutamic acid hydrochloride was then isolated and purified as MSG. Initial production was limited because of the technical drawbacks of this method. 

A chemical synthesis method did exist briefly. One method was direct chemical synthesis, which was used from 1962 to 1973, in which acrylonitrile was the starting material. This is the process some people point to when they say MSG is a "chemical." It was real — but it was also short-lived, and largely abandoned over fifty years ago.

The fermentation method — which is how virtually all MSG is made today — is something else entirely. Today, MSG is produced by the fermentation of starch, sugar beets, sugar cane, or molasses. This fermentation process is similar to that used to make yogurt, vinegar, and wine.  Microbes consume glucose from sugarcane, releasing glutamic acid, which through neutralization is turned into a solution containing MSG. The pure solution is then crystallized using an evaporator and the crystals dried to produce the final white powder. 

Is fermented MSG the same as "natural" glutamate? The answer is unambiguously yes. The glutamate in MSG is chemically indistinguishable from the glutamate present in animal and plant proteins, and our bodies metabolize both sources of glutamate in the same way.  The FDA confirms this explicitly. 

So the short answer to "is it safe?" — yes, the fermentation-derived MSG that makes up virtually all of the world's supply is chemically identical to the glutamate your body already produces and finds in tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and mushrooms.

The Safety Record

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given MSG its "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS) designation.  The use of MSG as a food additive and the natural levels of glutamic acid in foods are not of toxic concern in humans. MSG in the dietary glutamate does not significantly cross the blood–brain barrier. The FDA tested it in 1958 (GRAS designation), 1990’s (FASEB review), and 1998, and reached the same conclusion each time.

It's estimated that less than 10% of the glutamate we consume comes from crystallized MSG that some people add to food instead of salt. Most comes naturally from foods like anchovies, parmesan cheese, tomatoes, potatoes, seawaeed, and walnuts. 

"Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" — The Racist Origin Story

This is perhaps the most important and disturbing part of the MSG story, and it needs to be told plainly.

The term "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" entered the American zeitgeist in 1968, when the New England Journal of Medicine published a short letter from a physician who reportedly fell ill after eating at a Chinese restaurant. MSG was the theorized culprit, which triggered a decades-long wave of false information, vilification, and xenophobia. 

The author was Dr. Ho Man Kwok, a pediatrician in Maryland. Kwok came to no clear conclusion but penned the infamous line: "Others have suggested that it may be caused by the monosodium glutamate seasoning used to a great extent for seasoning in Chinese restaurants." He also mentioned cooking wine and sodium as possible causes — but it was MSG and Chinese food that the media latched onto. (to be clear there is more than one person to have claimed to be the author of the origin of the MSG story)

The letter — ostensibly a tongue-in-cheek musing that editors later revealed was essentially a hoax — unleashed decades of misunderstanding and stigma.  In short, the doctors responding to Kwok were using his letter as an opportunity to make puns about Chinese food and generally joke about this problem. But journalists at the time saw these messages' hyperbole as actual cause for alarm.  Headlines like "Chinese Food Make You Crazy? MSG is Number One Suspect" spread the myth nationwide.

Consider that Americans happily ate MSG for years in things like Campbell's soup and KFC chicken without raising an eyebrow. Only when MSG was associated with Chinese restaurant cooking did it suddenly become a supposed health hazard.  That double standard is the clearest evidence of the racial dimension at work.

Food historian Ian Mosby wrote in a 2009 paper that fear of MSG in Chinese food is part of the U.S.'s long history of viewing the "exotic" cuisine of Asia as dangerous or dirty. The letter served as a source for the myth that MSG may be associated with such symptoms — and according to a recent Forbes article, it created negative, racially charged headlines across the country that impacted Asian-American communities by reinforcing harmful stereotypes and causing economic harm. Chinese and other Asian restaurants often faced declining business and were compelled to display "No MSG" signs to reassure customers. 

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain asked "You know what causes Chinese Restaurant Syndrome?" on a 2016 episode of "Parts Unknown," then gave the answer: "Racism." 

The term "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" even found its way into the dictionary, only to be revised in early 2020 when Merriam-Webster acknowledged the need for change and updated the term, referring to the outdated and "sometimes offensive nature" of the label. 

Why Does the Myth Persist?

Several forces keep it alive. First, the power of suggestion and confirmation bias are real — people who expect to feel sick after eating Chinese food are more likely to report symptoms. Second, news stories are written regularly about the lack of evidence tying MSG to negative health effects, yet Yelp reviews of Chinese restaurants still tell tales of racing hearts, sleepless nights, and tingling limbs. Even when the science is clear, it takes a lot to overwrite a stigma, especially when that stigma is about more than just food. Third, the wellness and "clean eating" industry has profited from MSG anxiety, labeling products "MSG-free" as a marketing virtue signal — which implicitly reinforces the myth that MSG is harmful.

What Can Be Done?

A coalition has requested that the New England Journal of Medicine finally, after 56 years, correct the record about this unscientific source of widespread misinformation related to MSG.   Asian-American chefs, authors, and food advocates are leading the charge: figures like David Chang, Eddie Huang, and cookbook authors like Betty Liu and Clarice Lam are reclaiming MSG openly, putting it on their menus and in their writing. One place to start, scholars say, is with retiring the name "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" itself — "MSG is found in a range of products that are not Chinese, like Doritos. Words really do matter." 

What individuals can do: stop using the term "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome," push back when others repeat the myth, and learn to recognize it as a piece of food xenophobia that has caused real economic and cultural harm to Asian communities.

Popular American Products That Contain MSG

The irony of the MSG panic is that Americans have been eating it constantly — just not in Chinese restaurants. Doritos, KFC fried chicken (across virtually all their menu items), Chick-fil-A's chicken sandwich, flavored Pringles, and Campbell's chicken noodle soup all contain MSG.  Processed meats like hot dogs, lunch meats, beef jerky, sausages, and pepperoni can contain MSG. Condiments like salad dressing, mayonnaise, ketchup, barbecue sauce, and soy sauce often contain added MSG as well. Fast food chains including KFC, Chick-fil-A, Wendy's, and McDonald's use MSG to prepare fried chicken and other menu items. 

Nobody was demanding those restaurants post "No MSG" signs. The selective outrage was never really about the molecule — it was about who was cooking.

The full MSG story is a case study in how bad science, media hysteria, and cultural prejudice can fuse into something that persists for decades even after being thoroughly debunked. The science is settled: fermentation-produced MSG is safe, chemically identical to naturally occurring glutamate, and has been consumed across Asia for over a century without incident. What remains unsettled — and what demands ongoing attention — is the racist framework that was used to stigmatize it in the first place.