My favorite Thai cookbook calls for MSG in quite a few of the recipes, and having cooked a number of them both with and without MSG I gotta say it does make a difference (in my experience). However, given the nature of the product (it's bad rap, mostly), I don't cook with it professionally.I just don't see the need.
In a local context (Singapore - tons of asian cooking, especially chinese and hawker fare), it is overused. Loaded up and abused almost everywhere.
Strangely, the common response from non-allergic people is a strange kind of thirst that settles in shortly after the meal that hits the back of the throat. That gets attributed to the msg content of the food, and well, from a personal level I feel more or less the same way. It doesn't go away with a quick drink after the meal.
You don't get it eating chinese at the homes of friends as typically home cooks here avoid the stuff.
I have no hangups, but I try to avoid it. I like subtle flavours that you work harder for, not instant fixes.
I don't, but I am absolutely not against MSG. msg got a really bad rap, which was unfounded.
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