Eating L.A. Before It Eats Itself: MSG intolerance is just another mask for racial intolerance

On small, sticky plastic tables, surrounded by 300 other students, elementary school Chrissy ate a home-packed lunch every day. First tucked neatly into lunchboxes, later crammed into paper bags, my lunches were consistent: a sandwich (turkey or peanut butter and jelly, on pillowy whole wheat or sourdough), a bag of chips, a piece of fruit, a piece of candy. My mother prepared it every day, drawing from her own elementary school lunches and her mother’s before her. It was never good currency in the snack-trading world — my lunches were incredibly, painfully average.

I am a white girl born and raised in America, and when I was younger, I ate the average lunch. Average, here, also means white and American. And because I ate the average lunch, I was never ridiculed for the food that my mother prepared for me. I was never told that my lunch was stinky, asked what I was eating, asked if my family eats dog or horse or guinea pig, or if we only eat tacos or sushi or curry. I am a white girl, and in elementary school, I ate the average lunch.

And as a white girl, I am qualified to break a special kind of news to my fellow white Americans: MSG allergies are fake.

In a loud atmosphere of fad diets, food has become a war zone for selective eaters (no gluten, sugar, carbs, salt, meat or processed products on my school lunch sandwich, please). Instead of facing an ultimate truth that healthy eating comes from a moderate and balanced diet, we flock to eliminate “bad” foods from our menu. This is especially true in the body-conscious climate that characterizes Los Angeles. Stomach hurts after a big meal? Gluten intolerant. Feel bad after eating ice cream? Lactose intolerant.

Being MSG intolerant, however, is a different beast — there is zero physical evidence for monosodium glutamate intolerance, and the compound itself has never been linked to any adverse health effects. In reality, MSG intolerance is built on the distrust of Chinese food and other types of Asian cuisine.

Invented early in 20th century Japan, MSG was created to extract the deeply savory umami taste in tomatoes, seaweed and other vegetables. MSG could turn bland flavors of cooked vegetables into a much richer, more filling taste, which resulted in its incredible global popularity. By the 1950s, the United States was putting it in almost every snack or processed food. Over time, however, MSG became increasingly synonymous with Chinese restaurants in the United States, which sometimes used MSG in their cooking.

It wasn’t until the government paranoia of the late 1960s that MSG was wrongly vilified.

Doctors and researchers began publishing articles suggesting that monosodium glutamate caused adverse reactions, dubbing it the “Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.” Other wild accusations about MSG began to emerge (“Chinese Food Make You Crazy? MSG is No. 1 Suspect” read a Chicago Tribune headline).  

By the late ’80s and early ’90s, MSG had become a poisonous chemical. The quality of Chinese food depended on whether or not the restaurant used MSG, forcing Chinese restaurant owners to turn against their own, advertising themselves as a “healthier” alternative. To this day, “no MSG” is still used as a marker of quality, and to this day, despite a sea of evidence to the contrary, people continue to insist they are allergic to MSG.

In Los Angeles, with such a diverse array of eating establishments, it is important to consider how we interact with a culture’s food. Small Thai, Mexican and Chinese restaurants are prime suspects for food poisoning — but is that just because people believe that that type of food is dirtier? A bad burrito and foul street food are blamed significantly more than the uncooked fruits and vegetables, ground meat or fish that actually cause the majority of food poisoning incidents.

Now, in a time of change and awareness, it is important to challenge our expectations and question our assumptions of a cuisine, not only in Los Angeles but also across the country. Racism and xenophobia have partially informed our food scene, but by interrogating those structures, some of its effects can be reversed. The notion that the best tacos should never be more than $1? Good pho should be less than $10? Food poisoning comes from taco trucks? MSG gives you a headache? All based on our expectations of other cultures.

I am a white American, and when I was in elementary school, I ate American on white. I was never made fun of for my ethnicity, and was never afraid to eat lunch at school. My food was never made out as an enemy to health — look at the success of Umami Burger, a restaurant that thrives off of glutamate, the same compound that MSG is made from. The key difference between glutamate in Umami Burger offerings and MSG in Chinese food is not in chemical makeup but in the makeup of their purveyors.

I am a white American, and to my fellow white Americans: MSG intolerance is an intolerance of the unknown.

Christina Tiber is a junior writing about food. Her column, “Eating L.A. Before It Eats Itself,” runs every other Thursday.