<p>By the way, what is “mango rice” without mango? I don’t get it! If the ingredients include vanilla & mango but you don’t include either, now can it possibly taste like the original recipe?</p>
<p>No, the mango just goes with the rice. I like the rice, I don’t necessarily need the mango – I substitute with other sweet fruit (though it’s not the same), or just eat the rice by itself with the sweet sauce! </p>
<p>The vanilla on the other hand interacts with the sauce.</p>
<p>I think MSG should be regulated via required prominent information to display (like peanuts) but really MSG is just a concentrated form of the free glutamate that is found naturally in meat. It’s flavor-enriching because so much glutamate usually comes with lots and lots of protein. In effect MSG is simulating reacted and tenderised proteins.</p>
<p>Using pure MSG by itself isn’t that effective because of the synergy of the glutamate receptors with other perceptions, I think, which is why I’m trying to find the most effective combinations and its interactions with bitterness, sweetness, sourness and other flavors. (We know that it enhances the interaction with Na+ receptors).</p>
<p>Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter, and if you administer it directly to the brain, it can cause spontaneous depolarisation (transmission of nerve impulses), and is also a precursor to the inhibitory GABA. At physiological pH it is in ionised form though, so it would have a hard time passing through a lipid bilayer membrane without ion channels. I know neurons have these channels but I don’t know if astrocytes (the cells responsible for the blood brain barrier) have them. Glutamate would also suddenly increase amino group concentration leading to increased production of nitrogen metabolites – so I guess that’s the one advantage of having a “balanced” amino acid intake.</p>
<p>I think very few Asians have MSG sensitivity. </p>
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<p>How is it “fake food”?</p>
<p>Maybe I should stop experimenting with processed salt and use the really expensive “real sea salt” instead?</p>
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<p>I’m cooking my own food though. And I love to cook, and sit down and enjoy stuff. And I always make sure I’m relaxed when I eat. And I don’t think I cook up low-quality food, though I try to aim for cost-effective food. The only processed stuff I eat is … possibly the rolled oatmeal from the supermarket, which is machine-rolled, and maybe some cereal on occasion.</p>
<p>I mean, I don’t really see a difference if a compound is produced by a green plant or in a lab or in a fractional distillation plant … a biochemical is a biochemical, and my only concern is flavor. Splice the appropriate genes for vanillin into E coli or yeast and I’d be fine with having vanillin produced from that (and maybe any accessory aromatic compounds).</p>
<p>I have a biochemistry degree. I understand that a compound may appear to be the same whether biochemically synthesized or chemically synthesized. However: most carbon compounds have chiral forms and the chiral forms are NOT the same biochemically. For example, one enantiomer of limonene produce orange scent/flavor; the other produces lemon scent/flavor. In artificial synthesis (unless done enzymatically, which few are), both enantiomers are produced, of necessity changing the effect of the flavorant. Thus, there is a real difference between whole foods and synthetic foods. I am an advocate for whole foods.</p>
<p>In 1973, Gene Brown of MIT (early B vitamin research), in my introductory biochemistry course, warned us against manipulated foods like margarine, because they would have unknown side effects. He suggested that natural fats like olive oil and butter were healthier. It took until the year 2000 for trans fats to be identified as a problem in heart disease. Corn syrup would be another manipulated food.</p>
<p>Personally, I like food that takes one step to produce. Plant a seed; milk a cow; slaughter a chicken… </p>
<p>You may find this article on MSG synthesis interesting:[Flavor</a> Potentiation: The Preparation, Structure, and Chemical Interactions of Monosodium L-Glutamate](<a href=“http://www.incredibleeditables.com/MSG.html]Flavor”>http://www.incredibleeditables.com/MSG.html)</p>
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<p>That to me seems to be more of because trans fats weren’t identified as fats, just hydrogenated alkenes. </p>
<p>Also, why doesn’t MSG work well with sugary foods? I mean it seems to work fine with rice and pasta and carbohydrate-rich foods so I don’t get what being a carbohydrate has to do with it. Do sweet receptors inhibit glutamate receptors? As I recall, sweet receptors also inhibit Na+ receptors on the tongue, which is why adding extra salt to cake has a compensatory effect … so the compensation is to just add more MSG?</p>
<p>It is interesting that the reason so many slowly cooked foods (e.g. stews, soups) taste so good is partly because their protein ingredients are broken down by cooking. Of course, as Long Prime mentioned, this produces a variety of amino and nucleic acids, many of which have flavor effects. </p>
<p>It is also true that glutamate is unavoidable in one’s diet. Almost all proteins one eats contain glutamic acid. Digestion breaks down these proteins into their constituent amino acids, including glutamate. In addition, many foods are flavored with various protein hydrolosates - a great way to add glutamate without a need to list it on the food label. </p>
<p>Whether or not the DL racemix mixture in commercial MSG matters I do not know. I do know that scientifically it would be easy to do the experiments, and I also note that the MSDS for d-glutamic acid is about as mild as they come.</p>
<p>MSG makes my forehead feel like it’s stretched too tight. It’s not a headache, just feels weird and icky. I got into a big argument with our local takeout place which claims not to add MSG. I figured out it only happened when I had their hot and sour soup and it was probably because they were using a new poweder of chicken stock. They refused to ever admit it though, so I don’t go there any more. I don’t have any reaction to food that supposedly naturally provides the “umani” taste like fish sauce. (Which I use in extremely small quantities in any event.)</p>