I like the taste and price of many instant noodles, but my body no likey wei jing. I have looked, but so far came up empty handed. Does anyone know of a brand of instant noodles readily available in Taiwan that doesn’t use MSG?
I’m beginning to think that finding instant noodles without MSG in Taiwan, is like trying to find water that isn’t wet.
Taiwanese sure love their MSG.
Nobody?
(FFS… why does my automatic login keep failing, and I don’t notice until I’ve typed and tried to Preview a message, and then I lose what I’ve typed?!)
Try the organic/ vegetarian grocery stores. My wife buys Leezen / 里仁 (their English transliteration not mine), and the English ingredients don’t list MSG, just a vague “seasoning”; the Chinese says “天然調味料”, “natural seasoning”, which sounds somewhat promising I suppose.
The packaging has no distinctive brand on it - even that 里仁 is in the small print on the back - but they come in a sturdy ziplocked plastic bag, with black Chinese text on a red field, and the whole package itself is brown. The full English name of this package is “Sesame Oil and Dong Quai Angel-Hair Noodles”, or 麻油當_細麵 (with the _ as a character I don’t know at all).
I can’t particularly recommend these noodles, but then again, while I’m fine with MSG, my body no likey instant noodles. Haven’t been able to handle them since the third year of university dorm life.
EDIT: Turns out 里仁 / Leezen is the name of the company (somehow Buddhist temple affiliated) itself: the noodles are an in-store brand. No MSG, and vegetarian. The part of their website that lists their branches:
leezen.com.tw/big5/main2.asp#
All in Chinese, mind you.
[quote=“Homey”]I like the taste and price of many instant noodles, but my body no likey wei jing. I have looked, but so far came up empty handed. Does anyone know of a brand of instant noodles readily available in Taiwan that doesn’t use MSG?
I’m beginning to think that finding instant noodles without MSG in Taiwan, is like trying to find water that isn’t wet.
Taiwanese sure love their MSG.[/quote]
I am really really curious as to how you survive living in Taiwan yet not able to eat MSG. From what I Can remember everything they cooked was cooked using MSG as america uses salt. Just amazed! haha
You can get almost-instant noodles without MSG. 龍口 Long2kou3 (dragon’s mouth) brand has a package of fine noodles labelled ‘no MSG, no preservatives’ (in Chinese) with two pouches inside, and I’m told it has a flavor packet. You have to boil the noodles a few minutes, but otherwise it’s a no-brainer. I don’t think it has a meat packet or anything, though. You can open a tin of meat and add it or a bit of fresh seafood, mushrooms and so on. 
Try to find any convenient food without MSG or ‘flavor’ enhancers, aka MSG … goes from potato chips to whatever needs a highly flavored taste … and mostly it’s not written as MSG but as a substitute name.
Even in the ‘west’ …
[quote=“lostinasia”] a vague “seasoning”; the Chinese says “天然調味料”, “natural seasoning”, which sounds somewhat promising I suppose.
[/quote]
I wouldn’t bet my life on it. I believe “調味料” often refers to MSG, and there are natural sources of it.
[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“lostinasia”] a vague “seasoning”; the Chinese says “天然調味料”, “natural seasoning”, which sounds somewhat promising I suppose.
[/quote]
I wouldn’t bet my life on it. I believe “調味料” often refers to MSG, and there are natural sources of it.[/quote]
True. Like tomatoes, apparently.
Thanks for the replies.
There is a new brand at rt mart that has no MSG. It is called ‘KOKA’ and it comes from Singapore. The pepper crab flavor is quite tasty although the noodles need to cook longer than most others.
There is plenty to eat in Taiwan without msg. Some places you have to specifically tell them not to add it. I even found one small shop that makes great beef noodles without msg. The vegetarian buffet places are some of my favorites. I have a handful of lunch box shops that don’t use msg, but you have to catch them as they grab the dispenser to shake some ‘seasoning’ on the meat. It’s a habit for them, they work fast and do it many times so they are used to shaking it on the duck or other meat.
I know a few locals that don’t like msg, they were a great resource in showing me shops that don’t use it. None of them knew about instant noodles though.