#4 MSG

(see vania's blog for #1 - #3)

monosodium glutamate, also known commonly as the food additive and flavor enhancer MSG used in asian cuisines. MSG comes in the form of white crystalline powder. although it has no distinct flavor of its own, MSG stimulates our taste buds and make a variety of foods taste better. asians love to use MSG in their food, despite its potentially harmful side effects....

MSG is known as "wei jing" in chinese and "ajinomoto" in japanese, these are the two major asian countries that utilizes MSG the most in their cusines. many asians were probably born with MSG infused in their blood, therefore possibly have developed a prenatal addiction to this seemingly harmless substance since infancy.

asians put MSG in everything, knowingly, and sometimes unkowningly. here's a list of food that probably contain loads of MSG but still loved by asian people... throughout the years, asians have integrated this celebrated subsance as ingredients in many products:

- seasoning package in your ramen? check.
- kung pao chicken? yup
- miso soup? positive
- soy sauce? yes
- chicken/beef broth? affirmed
- barley molt? oui
- chewing gum? si
- children's cough syrup? uhhhh yeah...
- canned soup? duh
- salad dressing? you bet cha!
- grill spices? definitely
(and the list goes on...)

most asian family own a bottle of MSG, asian supermarket always carry a variety of MSG, asian restaurants use MSG like crazy in order to make their food more flavorful. when i was little i dabbed my finger in MSG once and licked it....... it DID NOT taste good at all, although it does work miracles when dissolved into delicious dishes.... no matter the background and race, most asians love MSG and use it literally almost every course of their meal. asians love their food packed with MSG and shares their passion for MSG with rest of the world through culinary sucesses. in a way, asians have conquered the world with msg..... they may not be proud of the side effects of MSG, but they cannot resist the urge to sprinkle a dash of MSG in their food....