Monosodium glutamate, also known in the world as MSG (monosodium glutamate), is an ionized form of glutamic acid. It has its own E number - E621.

The so-called umami, or fifth taste, which is given by monosodium glutamate, was discovered in 1908 by the Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda, and he started mass production the very next year.

Monosodium glutamate occurs naturally in many foods such as tomatoes, some cheeses (especially parmesan), anchovies, green tea, some seaweeds such as kombu, sardines, potatoes, corn...

If we were to joke a little, we would say that the Italians knew about umami back in the 13th century, because they put Parmesan rich in monosodium glutamate on food to make it taste better.

And while Japanese and Chinese cuisine was based on the fact that the umami flavor is obtained by cooking foods rich in glutamate, today this process is reduced to simply adding it to food in the form of a white powder - a mixture of monosodium glutamate and salt in a ratio of 1:9 with the addition disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate.

Monosodium glutamate makes food tastier because it activates special sensory receptors for glutamate in our mouths that immediately send us stimuli that the food we eat is tasty.

Chinese cuisine is unthinkable without monosodium glutamate, and we will all agree that it is - delicious!

And while glutamate in food in the Far East is quite normal, even desirable, in the West it is a completely different story because it is associated with various diseases such as hyperactivity, headaches, nausea, etc.

The FDA (U.S. food and drug administration) concluded in its report from 1990 that monosodium glutamate does not cause harmful effects in humans, but there are sensitive people for whom consumption of 3g per meal can cause nausea, dizziness, flushing, numbness and headache. The recommended dose of monosodium glutamate per meal is 0.5 g.