Fighting the MSG narrative
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A coalition of activists is publicly calling on the New England Journal of Medicine to address its role in creating stigma and racist stereotypes around Chinese food in the U.S.
Why it matters: King County is one of eight in the U.S. where at least 1 in 4 restaurants serve Asian food.
What they're saying: The stigma manifests in everyday interactions for Seattle-based cookbook writer Kat Lieu, part of the group that recently wrote a letter to the prestigious medical journal.
- Posting online content with recipes that use MSG automatically results in comments like "disgusting," she told Axios.
Catch up quick: In 1968, the New England Journal of Medicine published a letter to the editor from Robert Ho Man Kwok, who wrote about experiencing a "strange syndrome" from eating at some Chinese restaurants.
- Kwok didn't use the term "Chinese restaurant syndrome" in his letter, which pointed to cooking wine and sodium as potential factors, but the journal published it with the term as its headline.
- The media frenzy spun out, linking it to MSG and creating a narrative that "demonized Chinese food," said Tia M. Rains, vice president of science at food company Ajinomoto.
Context: The FDA classifies MSG, or monosodium glutamate, as safe and says it occurs naturally in many foods such as tomatoes and cheese. Multiple studies have debunked widespread health effects.
- It's no different from sugar and salt, "Top Chef" alum Tu David Phu told Axios. "Use in moderation, just like everything else."
- Yet Chinatowns, like the one in Seattle, have endured decades of baseless narratives about the additive making their food unhealthy, according to a nationwide survey by Ajinomoto, which makes a commercial form of MSG.
- The survey found 26% of respondents avoid restaurants that use MSG, with 20% avoiding Chinese food entirely due to MSG concerns.
The latest: The call from the coalition comes in the wake of the medical journal's recent efforts to reckon with its complicity in slavery.
- "For decades, 'Chinese Restaurant Syndrome' spawned baseless fears, not just about Chinese food, but all Asian cuisines," states their letter.