I understand you can certainly add well more msg to something by directly adding it. But from what I’ve read it’s generally not done, because as you note it tastes unpleasant when there’s too much of the stuff floating around free. So in practice a 1 inch square piece of parmesan cheese, or a single 5 inch long piece of kombu, will contain loads more glutamate (and even free msg) than would be directly added to an entire meal by a restaurant. Or than would be found in a whole bag of chips.
Psycho-somatic reactions have a well attested connection with msg fears. But in a lot of cases, especially the migraine triggering claims, it seems to me there are already pretty well established connections to other real causes. High doses of salt, protein heavy meals, dehydration etc. In the case of one friend who regularly complained about “msg head” it was actually the endorphin rush/high and other “issues” that come with eating a hell of a lot of spicy food. Some people do seem to be experiencing genuine discomfort, they’re just misidentifying the cause.
Does it have Beef Jerky as a garnish? Yeah…I use V8 for mine when I have it…but most bars use generic mix instead of expensive V8. Some bars will use Zing Zang…but then you’re talking a 9 dollar drink with the brunch.
In fact I’m being cheep now and buy the 1.50 walmart ‘vegetable juice’. which is a very good V8 copycat.
I’ve been in the restaurant business off and on since I was 14. And I’ve got around 7 years behind the bar. Most bars make their own mix in house, from the same name brand juice you would buy at the store. We don’t use v8 because most Bloody Mary drinkers prefer straight tomato juice to v8, and tomato juice has other uses v8 might not. Down market places, chain restaraunts, and places that don’t care or don’t sell many tend to buy their mix. But it’s usually Mrs. T’s, Finest call or other name brand you’d find stocked at the supermarket rather than something generic. And I’m seeing a lot more “premium” brands being used. It’s certainly purchased in bulk, but so is absolutely everything else we buy. It’s also not really a cost saving measure, more to do with inventory management or inability of the staff to make good mix . A bottle of mix costs the same or more than a bottle of tomato juice. And all the other components are things we likely have to stock anyway for kitchen use. So it’s usually cheaper to make your own.
Two bars I worked for made it from scratch. Don’t remember the specific recipe for either, but the base for both was tomato juice. Off the top of my head, maybe just some Worcestershire, lemon pepper, celery salt, crushed garlic? Mmm. Lots of MSG (to keep it on topic).
I have no doubt that people get migraines and all other sorts of unpleasant symptoms after knowingly being exposed to MSG. Others report unpleasant symptoms after vaccinations. Others have reported unpleasant symptoms by being near power transmission lines. In the nineties when cellphones were new, lots of people used to report all sorts of unpleasant symptoms after talking on them for any length of time.
A family friend has a daughter with Celiac’s disease, it took them ages to figure out what was going on as their daughter went from a normal happy 2nd grader to having severe neurological impairments: she lost the ability to write, read, walk, and even speak properly. They thought she was dying, and she very well might have if they hadn’t finally switched doctors to one who actually understood and accepted dietary sensitivities as being real. Their daughter has mostly recovered from the neurological effects but the experience changed her forever and she will likely be in physical therapy for at least the next 4 or 5 years.
Today their household is a 100% gluten free, nothing with any gluten crosses their threshold, and bad labeling is one of the hardships they have to deal with daily. Also they don’t eat at most restaurants that have gluten free options because the food is still prepared in the same kitchen as food items with gluten in them. People don’t understand what it really means to have to be gluten free. Nubens all of them. Dietary sensitivities are very real, so @Skeptic take that into account before you rail against someone with first hand experience with a dietary sensitivity, and thank you for bringing this up @Medievalist.
You are just proving my larger point with another example that is similar to MSG. Gluten in alt med circles is a grand villain, responsible for uncounted ills, and something that everyone should avoid. In reality, gluten is something that is fine for most people and the hysteria is just that. However, as with so many things, there is a grain of truth that was fanned into the dietary bonfire, which is that gluten is bad for people with celiac disease. The number of people who think they are sensitive to gluten vastly out numbers people who are actually sensitive to gluten.
I think that one reason some people may not understand the seriousness of gluten in the case of people with celiac disease is the trivialization of gluten sensitivity by people who over diagnose it so much so that the hysteria has led a third of Americans to report reducing gluten in their diet even though only about 1 in 100 people actually have celiac disease. 1 out of 100 is still a pretty big number of people, but not nearly as big as the number of people who think they have gluten sensitivity.
Science is the tool we use to separate what is true from what merely seems to be true, and how we separate the emotional hype (MSG, Gluten, Scents, Chemicals Bad!!) from the dispassionate truth (specific foods and specific chemicals bad for some people under certain circumstances). So, it is quite consistent to say that broader claims are false while recognizing that smaller populations can be affected by specific foods or chemicals in ways the larger population is not.
I’m all for truth in labeling laws to allow people with allergies and/or sensitivities to avoid substances that affect them. I’m for smoke-free and scent-free work places and public buildings. And I’m for looking at public health issues through the lens of science rather than the misleading bias of vivid anecdotes.
Like @ficuswhisperer, I try V8 every few years to see if I’ve turned into my dad and love the stuff. Thankfully, not yet.
I never tried Clamato until very recently when a friendly bartender suggested a Michelada. I got it as a joke, assuming it’d be horrible: Clamato, Mexican beer, Maggi sauce (MSG!), and Tabasco? Turns out that some kind of magic alchemy occurs to create a savory delicious beverage.
