The hubbub that all began when an angry SO Restaurant chef closed up shop in a huff and posted signs against customers with certain food restrictions led to a bigger conversation about San Francisco’s food culture and the legitimacy of the concerns about eating certain ingredients for health reasons. One of the most controversial ingredients that came up from the SO incident, which has also been in contention for decades across the country, is monosodium glutamate, or MSG.
Today, one of SF’s most famous restaurants, Mission Chinese Food, is taking a very strong stance for the use of MSG. At 1:15 p.m. Mission Chinese Food tweeted a photo of shakers full of MSG, with the message, “Authenticity option now available at MCF SF. @davidchang #hospitality.”
Although some Asian restaurants publicly claim on menus and signage that they’re cooking is MSG-free, most Asian cultures liberally use the stuff in their food, because it ups the flavor quotient — thus, MCF’s authenticity claim. When I was growing up, my family had a shaker of it that we’d bring out to sprinkle onto our bowls of komtang, or Korean oxtail soup; just a few shakes would bring out a whole new level of richness from that dense, milky broth. Personally, I’ve never had any issues with MSG, but I wouldn’t be surprised if people had bad reactions to it, just like people could have allergies to or negative health issues with just about anything. Still, I respect that chefs should be able to make the food that they want to make, and that customers have a choice about where they eat. Kudos to MCF for the clever tweet.
H/t: Eater SF; photo via MCF Twitter
