this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Chinese food as we know, everywhere except China, is a purely American invention. It's history is really interesting, especially how the restaurant owners of the 80s convinced everyone MSG was poison.
It even started in the late 60's early 70's, originally referred to at "Chinese restaurant syndrome." Rooted in anti Asian racism, supposedly we were slowly being poisoned... by tasty tasty Asian food with added msg.
So... it's not poison? Propaganda is a bitch
It's psychosomatic. MSG is also in tomatoes, mushrooms, and tons of savory salted snacks such as Doritos. None of those tend to trigger the symptoms people claim to have after eating Chinese food.
"Ranch" flavor comes basically 100% from salt and MSG. There is a microscopic amount of herbs that make next to no difference. Ask anyone who thinks MSG is bad for you if they have cut out Ranch dressing for some hilarity. (May not apply to non-Americans).
I have a feeling there's a huge overlap between the people who complain about Chinese food and the people who raved about the Mississippi pot roast viral recipe (which has two packets of MSG-loaded seasonings in it).
What isn't psychosomatic when the target is the average fucking moron?
... I mean, besides all the things that turn out to be real... but morons will believe anything up to and including their mumbling jibberish is a connection to God with glossolalia...
What do people claim about MSG?
Personal anecdote from cooking for years for a variety of people of varying intelligence, background, and countries:
Most people claim it gives them headaches and nausea.
They "know" this because they feel it every time they eat (american) "Chinese food"
Not a single one has ever had either symptom after eating my cooking that has a little sprinkled in.
Now, I have tried to prove a point to some by informing them (many hours after the food, and asking about how they feel) that they in fact ingested MSG without issue and had no symptoms, usually to rounds of spontaneous nausea and headaches that had apparently gone unnoticed for hours until just then.
It could be that ingesting a shit-load of greasy, oily, carbs and over-eating that caused their nausea and headaches when they gorged themselves on "Chinese" food, but no, they know it's the MSG.
What is MSG made from? Could it be that they're allergic to the base and that there is a threshold? I hope to fuck you aren't a scientist and you are an amazingly shitty person.
So, in short, they're heavily allergic to their own thought processing.
Some people do seem to confuse cognitive dissonance with being sick, and not that their fucking pathetic understanding of the world has just been challenged.
Another personal anecdote from a non-American: My parents never buy MSG. When I did, they freaked out a little then I have to explain it's not bad other than another source of sodium we need to watch. I need to point out that all of our staple liquid seasonings are filled with added MSG: soy sauce, vinegar, patis.
Despite being Asian, this happened because my shitass country often rely on shitass recommendations from the US health department. Another example is the ban on magic sugar, which is also propaganda by US sugar manufacurers.
Wasn't it a problem in cheap potato chips too?
*only applicable to western chinese food
**the American
That's no longer accurate, as there are plenty of authentic Chinese restaurants in areas with Chinese communities that aren't just trying to get western locals to visit. The dim sum place I've been to didn't even have much English on their menu and it really helped to have some colleagues present who knew Chinese (both the language and the food).
Easily one of the best meals I've ever had, and I'm not usually a fan of the western chinese style.
dim sum is called dim sum though, you wouldn't expect to get dim sum except at brunch/lunch time and if someone says they are going to get Chinese food it'd be a surprise to get dim sum. Even traditional Chinese restaurants that cater to Chinese people serve Americanized Chinese food. In the Seattle Chinatown there's restaurants that have Chinese only menus that don't have any of the same stuff as the English menu. I've been to them with Chinese speakers and it's a totally different experience then going there with just my wife.
my original point is that "Chinese food" to most of the western world is the stuff that American Chinese immigrants invented. Real Chinese food isn't called Chinese food because China is massive and they have so many food cultures that those cultures are what that style of food is called
I get it. Kinda like with scotch whisky