ipl-logo

Monosodium Glutamate: Discovered By Kikunae Ikeda

651 Words3 Pages

Discovered by a Japanese chemist professor named Kikunae Ikeda in 1908, MSG is short for monosodium glutamate, which is a white, odourless free flowing crystal and is the sodium salt of glutamic acid. Its chemical properties are that it is soluble in water, doesn’t decompose and its functional groups are amines, ketones and aldehydes. Ikeda, a professor at the Imperial University of Tokyo discovered that humans can come across a fifth taste which is called umami, derived from the word umai, meaning delicious in Japanese. Everybody knows to stay far away from MSG, however they tend to not know why. As consumers we want to learn and know more about the things we consume, however somethings just tend to stay as unknown. Monosodium glutamate …show more content…

This white substance resembles salt or sugar and is considered to being tasteless. One of the benefits of adding MSG into foods is that it adds that extra burst of flavor in your mouth. This substance is known to bring out he best in savoury dishes, as it is added to processes processed foods, Chinese cuisine and spices. Another benefit of this substance is that it can replace sodium seasonings in most foods as MSG has one third amount of sodium than table salt itself.
Even though this substance is praised among fast food restaurants and cuisines, monosodium Glutamate is known to inspire controversy among those who agree this substance is considered harmful. It all started in 1968 in the letter to the New England of medicine, that was written by a scientist that described the effects he had encountered after eating Chinese food, calling it the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome, where he felt a numbness at the back of his neck, weakness, nausea, and many other symptoms after eating Chinese food. The journal suggested that MSG was certainly the problem, as it proved that it had affected many, however not

Show More
Related
289 Words | 2 Pages

I never realized how gross wild strawberry and tangy citrus flavored Trident® Layers TM chewing gum tasted after 15 minutes. 58.6% of the mass of my sugar free piece of gum was lost after the experiment. Because the company had claimed that the gum contains no sugar, a type of sweetener must have been added instead. The flavor created by the sweeteners faded as the gum was chewed for a longer time. The sweetener had been absorbed and on its way to be digested little at a time.

Read More
1006 Words | 5 Pages

When Chin-Kee and Danny are eating lunch in the cafeteria many of their peers are disgusted by Chin-Kee’s lunch. Chin-Kee is depicted to be eating cat gizzards. “Would cousin Da-Nee rike to tly Chin-Kee’s clispy field cat gizzards wiff noodle?”(114). Chin-Kee eating fried cat gizzards mirrors the stereotype of Asian people having strange, disgusting, and outlandish food just because they sometimes eat a different type of food than people in other places do. By choosing to have him eat cat gizzards Gene Luen Yang exaggerated the stereotype so people could see how ridiculous and unrealistic it seems in real life.

Read More
1227 Words | 5 Pages

In agreement with said statistics, Michael Pollan states, “People eating a western diet are prone to a complex of chronic diseases that seldom strike people eating more traditional diets.” (421). In other words, consumers who take part of the western diet can, and most likely will, contract a chronic disease compared to those who choose the healthier or more traditional styles of eating. Who would’ve thought that something so insignificant as a single hamburger or large sized fountain drink could be so harmful? Well, it turns out that these items can be very much so.

Read More
562 Words | 3 Pages

Many companies and people had failed to label foods and drugs properly claiming that they are something they are not. “Before the act, companies could alternate ingredients for a more inexpensive, low quality substitute. This made for a better profit for the producers” (“Results/Impact.”). However, with the Pure Food and Drug Act these “companies could either shut down or label the foods properly” (“Results/Impact.”). Many were against consuming products that were harmful to them which is why “[t]he House vote was 240-17” (Robertson, Derek, et al.), making the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 “one of the most daring demonstrations of bureaucratic autonomy in the history of the United States” (“Pure Food and Drug Act (1906).”).

Read More
439 Words | 2 Pages

Like food, we all know and love cheese, but some people become disgusted by it. Cheese, for example, is a big part of the American diet. . . In China, where milk isn’t traditionally part of people’s diets, the idea of eating cheese is revolting to many,” (Lewis

Read More
952 Words | 4 Pages

Chemicals are bad and harmful to our bodies. Its best to stay away from chemically processed foods. The benefits of vegetables help maintain our blood flow. The potassium helps stabilize healthy blood pressure and may lower the risk of diseases.

Read More
944 Words | 4 Pages

Zinc is having higher responsibility to fight immunity. Manganese plays role in maintaining content of fat and carbohydrate. Artificial sweetener may be calorie free is tied to numerous issues. Maple syrup is not connected to health problem and in addition, it is also said to induce highest level of satisfaction in terms of taste.

Read More
696 Words | 3 Pages

It was when a product of food wasn't able to reach the federal or state standards. Not only was adulterated food bad for your body, but it was also an economic and commercial fraud. People were deceived by vegetable extracts and maple syrup. Congressman Marriott Brosius said, when three hundred delegates met in Washington to discuss national law that, “adulteration of food products resulted in the cheapening of the products of the farm and every farmer should engage in this crusade against a system of commercial piracy, which thus robs both producer and consumer, … the common enemy of all mankind, the scourge of all” (qtd. 9, 127). Brosius thought that food adulteration was a result from the decrease in value of the farm products.

Read More
1614 Words | 7 Pages

These chemicals in their raw state are very powerful and if consumed in their raw state can lead to death. Most of them are several if not several hundred times sweeter then regular cane sugar. But yet have no nutritional value to the human body. This causes a problem when the artificial sweeteners reach the liver and kidneys and get absorbed into the blood stream then move throughout the body. For instance, aspartame, witch is found in Sweet 'n Low, is very harmful to the brain.

Read More
370 Words | 2 Pages

Many live their life searching for their perfect mate. In the Era of Romeo and Juliet many times the parents would choose their “perfect mate”. But most of the time what a parent wants differs from what the child wants. A lot has changed since the times of Romeo and Juliet and many people choose their husband or wife. If my mom had the ability to choose my mate the results wouldn't be that bad, surprisingly.

Read More
870 Words | 4 Pages

People were forced to consume contaminated food especially meat on a daily basis. This gave birth to many diseases such as food poisoning and liver failure. They did not have any other options because there were no laws prohibiting the sale of spoiled food. Soon enough, in 1906, Federal Food and Drug Act was passed. One of the key things this act did was embargoing the sale of any food or drug which has been adulterated or misbranded (4).

Read More
981 Words | 4 Pages

It is interesting in seeing the rapid integration of Chinese food culture into American culture over just a few decades. For years Chinese people have lived in America, but only after a few events, mainly Nixon visiting China and WWII, did Chinese culture really impact America. This is a result of globalization in the twentieth century. As communities connect via trade and immigration, other aspects of culture are bound to also be shared: Chinese food is a perfect example of globalization. It would be interesting to study the correlations between immigration and major world events and the influx of Chinese food into American food

Read More
462 Words | 2 Pages

Some people chose such unhealthy food that factories had to change their ways just to accommodate are tasted the

Read More
573 Words | 3 Pages

At the meantime, culture has affected and changed the food culture. In terms of the cultural influence, for one thing, we illustrate in this thesis that American cuisine has been influenced by Native American and African American cultural heritage, as ever since European settlers arrived the land of America, they have begun to adopt the cooking techniques and food ingredients utilized by native people (See Section 5.1.2). For the other thing, American culture has also changed Chinese American’s eating habits. For example, recently, millions of Chinese people are living in the United States, and they have established a great number of Chinese restaurants or food markets in American metropolises, especially in New York City and California (McLean 102). However, the more they contact with American culture, the more their eating habits are closer to American style, for instance, the second generation of Chinese immigrants are prone to choose food with more fat, sugar, or cholesterol, and they dine out more in traditional American restaurants

Read More
1121 Words | 5 Pages

Lily Wong, in her article about food, entitled “Eating the Hyphen,” states, “Perhaps this combination (ketchup and dumplings) has something to do with the fact that since both my parents grew up in the States, we’ve embraced many American traditions while abandoning or significantly modifying many Chinese ones” (95). Wong expresses how being a Chinese American has affected her life in a positive way. Wong eats some of her food Americanized, with ketchup, but also eats food that the majority of American’s would not touch (i.e. jellyfish and sea cucumber). Comparatively, Wong eats dumplings (which derive from the Chinese culture) with a fork, knife, and ketchup (which are all culturally American). Geeta Kothari, who wrote the article, If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?

Read More

More about Monosodium Glutamate: Discovered By Kikunae Ikeda

Related Topics

Open Document