Forget what you know about MSG.

Andrew Lee
Written By Nicole Cardoza

Happy Wednesday! And welcome back. The stigma surrounding MSG is part of the broader anti-Asian sentiment that's been carefully cultivated in the U.S. In order for us to dismantle it, we have to take it apart and analyze all the cogs and wheels that have kept it running. That's why I appreciate today's analysis from Andrew.

Yesterday's newsletter seemed to resonate with many of our readers. I just learned about Rachel Cargle's lecture called "Unpacking White Feminism" which is well-worth watching, along with EVERY educational resource she offers. Also, the posts I referenced were removed from Instagram after I scheduled yesterday's email. I think the content still offers much to learn from.

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Nicole

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By Andrew Lee (he/him)

As a former waiter in an Asian restaurant, I know very well how many people claim to be sensitive to monosodium glutamate or MSG. Customers would demand that their meal be MSG-free to avoid the headaches or nausea or weakness they swore they would suffer afterward (Mayo Clinic). Often, they informed me of their MSG-adverse status in the same way they might disclose a life-threatening allergy: not as a preference but as a serious, permanent condition with dire consequences. The MSG-avoidant are real and numerous and often quite militant. I have seen them and served them noodles.

This isn’t just anecdotal evidence. According to one industry group, four out of ten Americans avoid MSG (Washington Post). That means more people stay away from MSG than caffeine, gluten, or GMOs. The cluster of symptoms afflicting the MSG-sensitive is so well-known that its name is even enshrined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “Chinese restaurant syndrome” (CNN).

I’m generally against sweeping statements about what foods other people should or should not ingest. If you’d like to only eat a paleo diet, or Cool Ranch Doritos, or foods starting with a certain letter depending on what day it is (MSN), that’s really none of my business. 

With all that being said: if you think you suffer from “Chinese restaurant syndrome,” your actual ailment might be inadvertent racism.

MSG critics largely cite one single study contesting its safety. In this experiment, scientists injected mice with incredibly high doses of MSG soon after birth and found they grew up with health problems (Men’s Health). There are a number of common food ingredients that might be harmful when injected into baby mice, but that doesn’t mean they’re unhealthy for people to eat. Aside from the newborn mouse injection study, almost all the evidence for MSG’s terrible side effects comes from decades of personal reports. 

The problem is that “Chinese restaurant syndrome” is only ever reported after eating Chinese food. Nobody gets it from tomatoes or Campbell’s chicken noodle soup or KFC. Sufferers of “Chinese restaurant syndrome” aren’t stricken after eating mayonnaise or potato chips or cheese or beef jerky.

All of the foods just listed contain MSG (Healthline). MSG is chemically indistinguishable from glutamate (FDA), a common amino acid found in almost every living being on the planet. If you feel tired and nauseated after eating a bite of Chinese food but not after eating a few Doritos, the culprit isn’t MSG. If you spend life avoiding Asian immigrant-owned businesses but not hot dogs, we aren’t talking about a medical problem but rather a social one. 

Ever since Asian immigration to the United States started in the mid-nineteenth century, white supremacist narratives have associated Asians with disease. The founder of the New York Tribune wrote that Chinese immigrants were “uncivilized, unclean, and filthy beyond all conception” (Time). In 1906, Santa Ana, CA burned down its own Chinatown over fears that one resident had leprosy (LA Times). Last year, a man attacked a Thai woman on a train, yelling “every disease ever has come from China” (CNN). Much American coverage of the initial COVID outbreak in Wuhan centered on the “bizarre and unusual” livestock for sale in the “unsanitary” Huanan Market (FAIR), the equivalent of a Western farmers’ market. 

Asians have long been thought to be an invasive, unclean element bringing exotic diseases into the American heartland. This belief is an element in anti-Asian violence, in moral panics over MSG, and in the idea that it’s only white-owned restaurants who can sell the “clean” versions of Asian food (Gothamist). As natural diets and “clean” living gained popularity after the 1960s, it’s no surprise that an “allergy” to a scary-sounding chemical provided a convenient vehicle for a very old racist narrative. 

But at a time when both Asian restaurants and Asian people in America, in general, are under attack, it’d be nice if some non-Asian Americans forgot what they “knew” about MSG.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • MSG critics largely cite one single study contesting its safety.

  • Ever since Asian immigration to the United States started in the mid-nineteenth century, white supremacist narratives have associated Asians with disease.

  • The “Chinese restaurant syndrome" terminology could easily be applied to unhealthy foods from other cultures, but is specifically reserved for Asian cuisine.

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Nicole Cardoza
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