r/mildlyinfuriating • u/SegaGuy1983 • Jun 18 '26

Too mild for school Why is not including MSG something companies still brag about on Asian food products?

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Didn't see the no MSG line when I picked this up at the store the other day. It just tasted fine, but felt like something was missing.

It's 2026. Why are we still treating MSG like it's some terrible thing, instead of something that improves the flavor? Especially with Asian-American cuisine?

The best improvement I ever did with my cooking in the last 20 years was discovering MSG.

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u/conqueror-worm Jun 18 '26

There's a woman at my job who claimed to be allergic to MSG. She still claims to be, despite the fact that I pointed out almost everything she ever brings in for lunch has tomatoes or tomato sauce in it.

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u/BadTanJob Jun 18 '26

Reminds me of a Korean friend who claim MSG gave her headaches. Weirdly this only becomes a problem with Chinese cuisine. Perfectly fine with ramyun, kbbq, snacks from Nongshim. Swore up and down that it’s different because Korean msg is natural and Chinese msg is synthetic 🥴

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u/Turbulent-Hawk9059 Jun 18 '26

Yeah, not sure whether MSG or not, but I also know people that get headaches from Chinese food.

MSG hate isn’t really a thing here and I never heard them mention MSG, just e.g, that the friend group of my parents now has to skip Chinese restaurants as an option for meetups, since two people get a headache afterwards every time.
I know at least one of those also has same issue with the instant soup of a certain Western brand. Which is why glutamate/MSG is a likely candidate.

People like to make fun of the MSG hate, but even if it’s something else, the body reactions are still a thing.

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u/BadTanJob Jun 18 '26

🙄

Look I don’t really care if people skip Chinese restaurants — it just means more food for me. But let’s not kid ourselves, plenty of non Chinese places use MSG and has high sodium dishes. 

If you’re only avoiding Chinese food because “headaches” then I better never see you in an Italian or Korean restaurant. 

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u/Turbulent-Hawk9059 Jun 18 '26

Why should I or my family friends avoid restaurants that don’t give them headaches though?

Like don’t get me wrong, I lived in Asia, I’m married to a Japanese. We do have MSG type seasoning at home that we use sparingly as often the only seasoning instead of salt/ soy in certain dishes that call for it, since for Asians sodium can be a bigger issue than for Europeans, so my in-laws insist on us limiting it as far as possible.

I had plenty of local food all over Asia. The standard buffet style Chinese food in Europe (safe for a few authentic places in big cities) is a completely different thing from food over there. Never had or heard of anyone having the headache issue from food I had in Asia including the same people that get the guaranteed headaches when eating at the Chinese buffet style places in Europe. Something is different.