4 ms·
I don't think they had MSG before salt
by steezeburger 1y ago
I don't think they had MSG before salt
- busterarm 1y agoWho cares? We don't live "before salt". Human use of salt _predates writing_ by about 3000 years. You wouldn't choose to do manual typesetting (or copying books by hand!!!) today either versus alternatives. If you're _just_ looking to add umami flavor to a dish today, you'd be crazy to pick foraging for wild mushrooms over Aji no Moto.
- lithocarpus 1y agoI'm skeptical of any food that humans only started eating since the industrial revolution, including those that are derivatives of or isolated compounds of real food. Mostly the effects on our bodies are not well studied. I haven't specifically read studies on msg though.
- parineum 1y agoHow much studying of food do you think was happening before the industrial revolution?
- mbg721 1y agoI mean, foods like soy sauce and yogurt and sauerkraut predate industrialization, but are very processed. I wouldn't worry too much about MSG in particular, since it is also mostly made by fermentation: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate
- steezeburger 1y agoWell you were replying to a comment about why we foraged for them before salt broski. Doesn't really make sense to bring up the price of something that wasn't isolated then.
- thaumasiotes 1y ago> Human use of salt _predates writing_ by about 3000 years. That looks like... an intensely conservative estimate. Deer use salt.
- duped 1y agoThere's a long history of glutamate containing food and food products being used in place of salt across the world, before it was first chemically isolated.