MSG is a safe and helpful flavor enhancer, just like salt and pepper. Here are the ways I like to use MSG in my cooking and baking.

MSG first became “controversial” in 1968, when The New England Journal of Medicine published a letter to the editor suggesting a correlation between MSG and health issues.

Anti-MSG sentiment, widely considered to have xenophobic origins, dates back to the late 1960s, when reports of diners reacting badly after consuming food containing the much-misunderstood ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration designates MSG as “generally recognized as safe,” placing it in the same category as many common food ingredients. Unlike what many believe, ...

“By the 1940s, MSG brands were commonly available and recipes and cookbooks from the era often featured MSG.”. This popularity inevitably landed the ingredient in the West.

MSG gives food an umami taste, which is a savory, meaty flavor, Brissette says. “It’s naturally found in some foods,” she says. These are the places you’re most likely to find added MSG ...

Though Eng grew up with chicken powder, which contains MSG, he didn’t start cooking with pure MSG until working in restaurants. Now, he uses it across the board: fries, desserts, even martinis.

Doris Yuen, left, and chef Kenneth Wan, owners of MAKfam, pose for a portrait next to Brenda Chi’s “MSG Girl” poster inside the Denver restaurant on Monday, Aug. 5, 2024.