London - Celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal has become an unlikely champion of MSG – the controversial additive more usually associated with junk food.
Many fear MSG – which stands for monosodium glutamate – can cause symptoms such as headaches, flushing and chest pain.
This is sometimes described as “Chinese restaurant syndrome” due to the additive’s frequent appearance in Asian dishes.
But the chef, whose restaurant The Fat Duck has three Michelin stars, said: “The biggest old wives’ tale is that MSG is bad for you. That is complete and utter nonsense.
“There is not one [scientific] paper to prove that. These beliefs come from the 1970s.”
Glutamate is a natural product found in many foods including crab, mackerel, tomatoes and soy sauce, he told an audience at Cheltenham Literature Festival.
Blumenthal, 48, maintained that MSG is an important factor in making food tastier, and said people should not fear it.
The additive intensifies savoury tastes and is often used in processed foods such as crisps, stock cubes and ready meals.
It is made of the chemical element sodium and glutamate – an amino acid used to make proteins in food and in our bodies.
The chef, whose latest book Historic Heston explores British food of the past, said the human body has more chromosomes relating to taste than any other sense. - Daily Mail