Hello,

This week continues the series I started last week about MSG, perhaps the most unfairly vilified ingredient in history.

Last week I explore the discovery of MSG – how we went from having a vague idea that there was a fifth flavour to knowing it was umami and developing MSG as a way of adding it to dishes.

This week, I look at how MSG took over the world. How did it go from the obscure discovery of a Japanese biochemist to a kitchen cupboard staple and the foundation of flavour in countless cuisines?

And, if you’ll forgive a little self-promotion, if all this MSG chat is piquing your curiosity and you’d like to try some, then do check out Honest Umami.

Happy Friday,
Rob

This week’s article

The Story of MSG: Adoption

MSG went from discovery to the dinner tables of half the world in a couple of decades. But how?

Click here to read the article »

This week’s one interesting link

The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness?

Last week I linked to an interview with Jonathan Haidt about his new book; it seems only fair, in the interests of balance, to link to this rather savage review of it in Nature.

“Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, is a gifted storyteller, but his tale is currently one searching for evidence.”

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