It’s not an allergy.
There’s no allergen in MSG.
It’s sodium bonded to an enzyme, and it occurs naturally in all kinds of foods.
It’s like saying you’re allergic to hydrogen.
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Yawn!
I thought about putting that in my previous post because I knew someone would choose to be pedantic. You’re right, technically it isn’t an allergy - it’s a food intolerance.
Unlike an allergy, it won’t kill you. But it’s still hell 
lol ok it’s a sensitivity then. I say allergy because people usually just tell me I’m being paranoid and don’t believe me if I say anything less than that. It was an actual neurologist who told me I could be sensitive to MSG, hence my avoiding it. Whether I’m sensitive or not isn’t the issue, I’m simply asking if there’s any places that would be accommodating enough to not put MSG in if I were to ask. I’ve asked before and a couple of times restaurant workers have ignored my request and I’ve had bad reactions. I apologize if my desire to not put something that could be causing me harm into my body offends you lol.
While it’s true that it can be a naturally occurring chemical in various foods, it’s probably to do with the concentration and how it’s broken down in the body. When MSG is added to food, it’s often in sauces and soups, which means it is absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream and therefore it possibly overwhelms the body. In natural foods, the process is much slower. Or possibly, it’s to do with the higher amounts.
Whatever, it doesn’t really matter. If it doesn’t affect you, enjoy your life and stop preaching. It’s not your problem.
Unfortunately, some people do react to it and the symptoms are very real. Oh, and real doctors recognize it. I can’t speak for others but for me, it used to be an immediate and insufferable migraine for about 24 hours that drugs couldn’t control. Fortunately, having pretty much avoided msg for 20 years, I’m much more tolerant now and symptoms are much milder.
I know we are talking about intolerance, but tolerance for others costs nothing. “There but for the grace of God go I.” If you’ve got nothing useful to say to help others, it probably best left unsaid.
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Please name me a respected publish study that shows any of the negative symptoms associated with MSG because there’s none.
All of the symptoms are anecdotal and no real link has ever been found to them. The mind can trick the body like placebos. I remember watching videos of people who claim to have these crazy symptoms from MSG. So much so they can’t even walk past a Chinese restaurant during video interviews. During the interview they gave them snacks with MSG to eat and none of them had any symptoms.
They call it Chinese restaurant syndrome because people had this fear of dirty and unclean Chinese restaurant that use weird ingredients used by weird immigrants. That’s why you always hear oh I had bad Chinese last night. Never I had too much Big Macs or French food.
Just curious DT (I’m not saying your symptoms aren’t real otherwise) but were you diagnosed by a doctor with it?
Fast forward to 1:50 if you don’t want to watch the whole thing. But think about it, in the West or at least US. You always hear oh I had some bad Chinese, Indian, Thai etc. there’s still this stigma that Asian food is unclean, made with mystery meats etc. never do you hear I had some bad French or Italian etc. google Chinese restaurant syndrome. If it’s real why doesn’t people in Taiwan/China and especially Japan where they use a lot of walk around with headaches all day.
It wasn’t a mystery anymore when we saw the guy from the Chinese restaurant hunting stray cats 
Some of the symptoms are thristiness, sore stomach and headache. They are plausible.
I’m not saying the symptoms are not real. I’m saying they are psycho symptoms which can have profound effects. MSG was created in Japan, they have zero issues with it and use it in everything.
Couldn’t past “do I eat dog too?” Whoa, settle down dude.
Maybe NYC is different, but I haven’t noticed this. If a place is a hole in the wall it’s probably more likely.
Depends on the people I guess. I was roommates with a New Yorker (really rich with a trust fund too) that refused to eat anything but burgers, fries or nuggets. He would hate when I make any Asian food saying he would react badly to be just near it. He would hate the smell and be disgusted by any ethnic food and rants about MSG.
Long story short, he was the worst roommate ever. Lies constantly, steals my money from my wallet for no reason, he was also gay but wouldn’t admit it for whatever reason and claims to get with lots of girls. Even though we all knew he was gay and was cool with it and wanted him just to admit it. I bought a MSG bottle and sprinkles that in his daily meal with fries and nothing would happen.
If you’ve never watched ugly delicious on Netflix, watch it. It’s amazing, talks about some interesting things like how come xiao long baos and dumplings are so cheap vs say Italian stuff pasta which are very similar in many ways. I would say it’s much better than Anthony bourdain as it ties the culture of the food in more than just the taste and explore the people behind the food.
Some Americans are definitely in the meat and potatoes category. That doesn’t have to mean anything more than that. And some people are dicks. I wouldn’t extrapolate from one annoying roommate too much though.
There’s undoubtedly morons around who will think and say things like that, among other wonderful things, but I don’t think it’s the norm. People eat all kinds of food all the time these days.
Sounds good, will take a look!
I mean he was def a weird outlier. I think more people are more and more open to delicacies around the world. But interesting enough the history of Asian restaurants are quite new in the US. There weren’t many until the 70s and 80s and even then it was mostly for Asian patrons who immigrated there in isolated pockets. In the show ugly delicious I mentioned it visits the first Vietnamese restaurant in Houston opened in like 1975 post war and people had no idea what to make of it.
Interesting. I’d guess Chinese was already well entrenched in NY by that time.
Funny, but new kinds of food often throw people for a loop. Good to live in a time with lots of options.
Why so much hostility to the OPs request? Just help the person out or stfu.
The reactions are real, imagined or not. So if you know a few places that can guarantee no msg, post away and actually help.
Edit: i didnt see this was split away from the original request.
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Interesting enough one thing I’m starting to see is 2nd kids bring their American style of their home country’s food back to the county of origin because they had to use different ingredients and alter the taste. There are places in NYC/LA where I think the Chinese, Korean or especially LA pho is better tasting imo than in their respective countries.
This is why I feel it’s a mental scare with Asian food. The first paragraph says “Flushing, sweating, chest pain, and weakness are all potential reactions to monosodium glutamate, or MSG, a flavor enhancer and popular ingredient in many Asian cuisines. Other symptoms include headache, facial pressure, drowsiness, and numbness and tingling in the face, back, and arms.”
MSG is in a lot of things outside of Asian food. Doritos has MSG, so does many process food from the store. Why is it people only point to Asian food?
And it also begs the question why no Asians in Asia actually experience these symptoms. It’s unheard of in Asia.
There are no tests to conclusively prove an intolerance, unlike an allergy. But many doctors (including mine) recognize that there are triggers:
A little research has been done but is inconclusive, and there are also concerns with test design with many of them.
But in consultation with my doctor, I started avoiding as much as I could (it’s difficult if you’re invited to a wedding here), mostly by cooking for myself and eating at trusted places. By doing that, I’ve been able to mostly avoid migraines.
It’s a pretty ridiculous rant really - McDonalds also contain msg.