Even in the west we knew umami for centuries. The word "savory" is equivalent, but during the 19th century, there was a debate in Europe regarding whether it was really a discrete flavour, or simply a combination of the four already known. In Asia, they knew better. Glutamate is an amino acid that our bodies make naturally. It is important to protein synthesis.

My daughter stopped going out for Chinese because they used MSG, or if it wasn’t listed she was pretty sure they did, because she would have some sort of reaction after the meal. “A few moments later”, (like a year) she discovered the salad dressing she has used forever … has MSG. She’s been eating Chinese ever since, with no adverse side effects 🤣

As a student overwhelmed with so much work and extracurriculars your videos have always helped me calm down and zone back into relaxation. You’ve played a huge role in the maintenance of my sanity😂. Not only is your story telling intriguing and amazing (you know this already) but your videos and the animations are just an extra bonus! I really cannot say how much I enjoyed your videos! Thank you 🙏

Actually a 6th basic taste has been recognised recently. It's activated by salmiak salt (ammonium chloride), popular in Scandinavian sweets such as liquorice.

as a cook y'all wouldn't believe how often I get into debates with folk when telling them that I use MSG in my cooking, like downright arguments, Thank you Thoughty

Thank you Thoughty2. I actually work for Ajinomoto in the Midwest. I've had plenty of people tell me how bad MSG is, and frankly, I'm tired of explaining why it's not bad at all. It brought a smile to my face to see our name and logo in your video! Great content as always! Keep up the good work!

In Eastern-Europe we had a product called "Vegeta" (unrelated to the Dragon Ball character) since the 1950s, literally used by every housewife in every home-made meal, which is dried, ground vegetables and MSG mixed together.

You have no idea how much of a coincidence it is to see this video at this time is for me now, I am currently on a reflective journey as to why I have an unhealthy attachment to certain foods, and I think that this is a big reason why, I was told that MSG or Umani is only prevalent in Chinese foods but it appears that it seems to be in basically all foods! Thanks for the video, very knowledgeable

I have to thank you Arran for the videos you produce. You don't only speak clearly & in an understanding way but you also choose subjects that are very interesting. Then there are those little jokes and funny lines you insert in you dialog that I find myself having a bit of a chuckle at. So thank you again & keep those videos coming so we can expand our knowledge by listening to a person that puts a great deal of THOUGHTY into his facts.

I'm almost certain you got the Kombu Dashi story backward. His wife always made it with kombu, but one day she *didn't* and that's when he noticed the missing umami flavor.

"Turns out there's a lot of money to be made in ambiguous white powders..." Well done, that was a good laugh lol

Garam is the Indonesian word for salt. Indonesian cooks do use MSG but unami flavor is also achieved with "terasi" (fermented shrimp paste which smells horrible at the beginning of the cooking process as it is usually heated on high heat to release its flavor). Hats off to all the Indonesian mothers cooking that along with bird eye chillies first thing in the morning.

i'm Asian and i love this! my mom uses MSG in her delicious homecooked meals since i can remember. i never believed it to be unhealthy, and now you confirmed my lifelong belief! thank you, Arran ❤ Uncle Roger will like this fr!

This was really interesting. I learned something that makes a lot of sense. Glad it popped up in my recommendations. Back in 2002 or thereabouts I read in Food and Wine magazine (or was it in Bon Appetit) that there are actually eight tastes and in India they believe in having all eight in everything they make. The only one besides the 5 mentioned here that I can remember for sure is astringency. Even though it is not necessarily a flavor it is still a sensation on the tongue. I think acidity was one also because acidity is not always necessarily sour.

thank you for making videos that are both educational, interesting and engaging. i've learnt more about the world than i could ever in classrooms or books. keep up the good work! 😉

MSG. Uncle Roger would approve of this video

I gotta say that I've watched your videos for at least 5 years and have absolutely loved them, so I hope that's even if I can't really do patron, you've always been a treat as a content creator

I worked at a potatoes chip factory years ago. We used this stuff on the last leg right before bagging. We had to keep in locked in open cages. If you caught a whiff of it it would make you salivate. People would risk getting fired to just get a taste. Either where it was stored in the cages of in the last step production when it went on product. Stuff is gnarly. It can definitely entice one to make a bad decision. We refered to as spice. Came in huge flour sack type bags with MSG on the side side

Hi Arran, thank you for showing fairness and for sharing information about a controversial, yet extremely important chemical compound! Your content is always really well researched and entertainingly displayed, this is a highly commendable accomplishment, and an art form in itself. Thank you for your incessant hard work! On topic: I am of the opinion "Nothing in excess" (e.g. that alluring bag of crisps with the addictively spicy coating...), and taking in account my education I can only say that you are right: a craving for certain victuals often indicates a momentary deficiency of something, and it could be good for you to follow it. When you know that glutamate is so essential and ubiquitous that TO MY KNOWLEDGE about ca. 1,5 to 2 kilograms of the amino acid in different chemical compounds are present in every healthy adult body, you get a little more perspective on just how important it is as a neurotransmitter and building block. [TLDR: Notwithstanding this fact, I do not want to disparage persons who experience symptoms of the kind consistent with the putative syndrome, but it is possible that they could suffer due to yet other components of their diet, which often is difficult to evaluate. MSG can be styled easily as a "scapegoat", as we humans normally want to know precisely why we feel unwell, rather than accepting the fact that there may not always be an answer to our concerns... As aforementioned, it is *excess* that should be avoided, as all amino acids and resulting proteins put stress on the excretion organs (kidneys, liver), which is normally well tolerable for healthy organisms, but may prove difficult to handle for people with failures in those systems. TMK there really may exist a certain potential for MSG to create a quasi addiction, as in that this is the cause why most people can not stop after a small bowl of crisps, but have to crunch down a whole pack, regardless how small or large (which BTW makes the serving sizes on the packages farcical!). What is worrying is not MSG alone, but even more so the "empty" calories contained in the snacks/ food with too much (added) MSG, as it seems to fire up an appetite for savoury snacks, especially in combination with alcohol (which is still fully ok in moderation - MSG after all is the spice of life, or so it seems). If nothing else, in my opinion food producers are deceiving customers when they tamper with their products to economise, and substitute expensive high quality ingredients with a more than generous amount of MSG as flavour enhancer. I personally try to avoid heavily processed food because I do not like feeling defrauded too often, as the food is still expensive. Nonetheless, sometimes I like to walk on the wild side and still choose certain products (instant ramen soups ;-) ) in spite of my knowledge - flavour overrides constraint, in this case .]

I forgot what show but the host got a bunch of people who say they are allergic to MSG and get sick just walking by a Chinese restaurant in a room to talk to them. He provided them western snacks while they talked. At the end he revealed they have been eating msg 😅

After adding MSG to one of my dishes ONCE I never stopped. And like Uncle Roger say: put the right amount, not the white amount !

I can’t afford to help support you, as much as I really would like to, but I want you to know that I think you are terrific for everything you bring to the table. Should you ever quit, you will be sorely missed by this old woman. Keep on keeping on and never give up. You are in my opinion a true gem.

Thank you for all your videos. I listen to all of them while working in my workshop here in South Africa, Limpopo Province close to Zimbabwe. You are very funny and every topic is done with alot of effort and is very interesting. I like the way how you tell the story's and facts. You are doing a grear job. I learn something new everyday by listening to your stuff.

Definitely a new favorite, this video. Well said👍🏼 We look forward to your work every week

When you hear, "Hey thoughty 2 here" you immediately know it's time for a good story

Your videos are absolutely amazing and they just keep getting better! I've been following for years, since the times of the suit and the cool intro music (which part of me really wants you to bring back haha). Thank you for so many hours of high quality content ❤

Another perfect video, thank you for always supplying me with something engaging to watch during my lunch breaks!! As a teacher I strive after your style of storytelling. You always pick the best topics, but I’m convinced you could even make watching the paint dry on a portrait of grass growing sound interesting.

At 65, I've learned what has MSG &what doesn't. I don't do Chinese takeout out & don't use packets from ramen. The symptoms described are from having an allergic reaction & from my experiences of severe headaches are real. I read the packages always. If it isn't listed I'll research &/or avoid. MSG found naturally is safer but I still avoid. Keep your umami

Thank you for keeping me entertained over the past 4 years. Keep up the fabulous work 😊

Glad to hear the great news about MSG not being "toxic". Time to buy some more Soya Sauce!!!

Great episode Ty , I never knew what msg was but definitely heard about it

Thank you I look forward to your videos the most out of anybody on UKposts. Great work!

My family switched takeaways 2 months ago to a Chinese that advertised that they didn’t use MSG. It wasn’t bad, but it tasted significantly worse than our old Chinese. We switched back last night, tasted even better with the break

I've been listening to your videos for at least a couple of years now and always love to listen thank you so much for what you do, always entertaining!!!!

Nice job, Thoughty2. Uncle Roger and Food Wars introduced me to umami originally, but this was a good twist that provides some facts and history. Thank you so much

Your videos are always genuinely informative and surprising. Thank you for your effort to keep the world on more of a rational and informed keel than it would otherwise have been.

Your videos are really something else. There is no place where someone can find similar content you produce.

I just wanted to say thanks for your vids. It always puts a big smile on my face to see a new one for yourself. As well as being informative and interesting you make them so much fun. I love your style please kep up the great work.Thank you.

I used to weigh 105 kl and was hypertensive (164/107). My doctor ordered me to reduce my sodium intake and do some "lifestyle changes." I had zero faith in MSG because like so many others, I was convinced that MSG caused cancer or AIDS or shit. But I also read somewhere that MSG contained about 12% sodium by weight while table salt contained about 40%. So, taking what I thought was a leap of faith, I switched to MSG and put away my jar of salt. I drastically reduced my soy sauce, fish sauce and shrimp paste intake. Because I was trying to lose weight and lower my blood pressure, I also engaged in a calorie deficient lifestyle and started keeping a tight watch on cholesterol (all that balut and lechon I used to stuff myself) and excess carbs. As soon as I got my doctor's nod, I resumed biking to work, having stopped during the pandemic. Thankfully I went from 105 kl down to 74 kl. My blood pressure also went down to the 130/90-ish level - still at the threshold of hypertensive but on its way down nonetheless. It's important to note that not only did I consume sodium in moderation but I also had to pay more attention to my food choices and lifestyle.

Garum is still used in our country Philippines we call it "Bagoong" fermented anchovies or fermented small shrimps and then we sauté it with oils onions garlic and sometimes tomato. Its great partnered to almost all fried foods in our country specially on fried eggplant. Yes it may taste awful as my foriegn friend said once but when use in cooking it made Filipino dishes so much delicious.

I have enjoyed the use of MSG (monosodium glutamate) in my food since I was a small child. Alas, someone made up some scare about MSG being "bad" (chinese restaurant syndrome) and restaurants , especially the Asian themed ones, started proudly announcing "No MSG". In other words, their food now has less flavor. Asian food stores sell MSG in large bags and that's where I get my Aji No Moto. It gets put in so many dishes in my kitchen. I also buy a bottle of fish sauce every once in a while (a little goes a long way) and add a smidge to soups, ramen, and the like. Umami makes food worth the time to cook it.

I like the way you present your content. Keep up the good work.

@1:50 Now: I heard from it over 10 years ago. We also had it in our company. But got it and didn´t use it in our products. And yes glutamat. Before I knew about it I always thought there must be something in the food that makes us not stop to it eat. Lol, like sugar it also has maaaany names. 😁

While everyone was saying MSG is bad, my uni roommate (yes room) & I would go buy our study snacks ONLY if they had MSG. We were poor, the snacks were cheap, & would only taste good if they were full of it. We were young & could take all the salt....& the extra calories. LOL now I'm hungry! EDIT - just sorted with some seaweed, thanks for reminding me I had that Thoughty2. 😛

I always thought that "Chinese restaurant syndrome" was the desire to eat another Chinese dish about half an hour after eating one.

First and foremost thank you very much for your stories and research, also for all the hard work you do. As for MSG in America there was a food enhancer for as long as I can remember called Accent. When I was a kid it made my burgers pop. Then came the great MSG scare, when I was working for a Chinese food takeout I was always getting asked about MSG. They even went as far as saying no MSG, But in reality it was loaded with it. For years I would make meatloaf, burgers and more without it never to achieve the flavor I wanted. Until one day I remembered my fond favorite childhood foods, so I went out looking for Accent knowing I may never find it. One because it was such and old product and because of the big scare. Well to my surprise it's still around so I picked up some and now my burgers and more can pop with flavor once again. And to note I am not having any reactions to it, also ever since I went back to using it my a1c dropped. Weird, but I know there cannot be no correlation to that and blood sugar levels. At least as far as I know. Anyway thank you again! I really do so enjoy watching your videos and gaining some knowledge.

Looking Good! Thanks for telling me why I like lea perrins worcestershire sauce. Funny though, I don't like on Tomatoes and I love me, some garden ripe ones.

Thanks for another great video! I grew up in Asian so MSG is, you know, pretty much daily life for us 😂 I was surprised after moving to the US that so many people here don’t understand what MSG is and were afraid of the tasty white powder. I think the video sums it up extremely well, that the problem is not MSG, but the junk food that MSG made tasty. If you’ve never used MSG in your cooking, go buy a pack and give it a try! Imagine finally discovering salt after years of cooking, that’s what you would feel after adding some MSG in your daily cooking.

Before even watching it, I know this is MSG, and it was falsely labeled harmful for decades. But more recent research says it's harmless, maybe even good for most people.

I literally just bought some Accent MSG at the store today! That stuff really does make almost everything taste better! Also, you should have mentioned that Marmite and Vegemite are also extremely high in "umami". I personally prefer using the word "savory" to describe this basic flavor because it fits in with the rest (salty, sour, sweet, and bitter) and also makes it seem less like it was a completely new concept that we couldn't come up with our own word for.

I just made a chili lime vinaigrette seasoned with msg. Delicious! Edit: it just occurred to me that an English breakfast is an umami bomb. The grilled tomatoes and mushrooms were always my favorite part. 😋

Thank you for doing these!!!

I like that you said "the crack cocaine of the food world".. given every time I've used MSG in cooking I've called it "culinary crack". you just validated my strange cooking analogies.

Been subscribed for over 8 years! Thank you for fostering so many people’s curiosity for history

Great video as always, but just a minor correction with a complex response. Flavors and taste are slightly different, When it comes to taste, specfic molecules binds to taste receptor cells located in the taste buds. As for flavor it's caused by receptors in the mouth, and nose detecting chemicals found within food. These receptors respond by producing signals that are interpreted by the brain as sensations of taste and aroma. Chemicals that produce flavors are extremely difficult to study because a single natural flavor may contain hundreds or even thousands of component substances, and some of these substances are present in small quantities. It's been said one of the nine key aroma compounds found in pineapple is so potent that human can detect it at only 6 parts per trillion the equivalent of a few grains of sugar in an Olympic size swimming pool. The chemical stimuli of special significance to taste are sugars (sweet), amino acids (umami), sodium chloride and other salts (salty), alkaloids (bitter) and acids (sour). Sugars and amino acids tend to be preferred and intake of salts depends on electrolyte balance. Taste receptors: T1R2/T1R3(sweet) T1R1/T1R3 (umami) T2R (bitter) You can also suppress bitter taste perception with sodium. Coffee is to bitter, no sugar around... no problem just add salt. PKDL ion channel, PKD2L1, and PKD2L3 ( sour)

I love listening to you. Your fun and informative. Keep doing what you're doing.

This episode is one of your best, and considering how good your videos always are, that's saying something! Excellent!

Learning while I’m eating I like multitasking

Thank you for this awesome video, very well explained. As i grew up in China, we always had MSG at home. My mum once told me, adding too much of it in the food would make it poisonous. I was so scared, i would count 4 crystals to put in my cooking. Now I know it's not poisonous but it does make you thirty. I never liked it. I never had it in my kitchen.

The first time I visited Thailand I was visiting a friend's house and went into the kitchen to make some tea. My friend asked for one as well, with one spoon of sugar. I made the tea, saw the sugarbowl, put a spoonful in, tasted it, and... Ugh!!! I went into the living room and asked my friend, "You didn't want MSG in yours, right?" By the way, Ajinomoto as a brand is huge here selling all sorts of condiments and flavourings with a super-catchy brand jingle at the end of every one of their commercials. Also, in Thailand and Laos there's Pla Raa, which is a fermented fish sauce similar to garum and used in some spicy salad dishes common to the northeastern part of Thailand.

I was quite surprised when my mom said she had heard that MSG is a dangerous manmade additive after I pinpointed exactly the thing that makes a particular spice mix I love so addictively tasty, as I'm swedish I had never heard of MSG until then even though I had eaten it since I was a small child in that particular spice mix.

I love MSG, I have several shakers of it. It makes everything taste amazingly better. You can even put on salad, in ice cream, in just about anything.

I found your channel recently and last night, i binge-watched dozens of your most interesting videos. What a treat! I'm getting prepared for another night of your outstanding clips. Thanks for such interesting fare!

Thank you for sharing your wisdom!

In my leaner years, throwing a bunch of random stuff into a pan to see what happened was my favorite trick just before pay day. Glad to see the tradition lives on.

I recently read an article on a sixth taste. I think it's ammonium chloride, which is typically to warn about food going bad since ammonium is frequently a waste byproduct. However some Scandinavian foods leverage it well.

AI Thumbnail? i love the way you manage to make these videos informational and interesting but also hilarious at the same time

This is a good example of why I love your content.. I always learn more of what I thought I knew ❤

I discovered your channel during the pandemic, thank you for your entertaining and informative videos! Keep up the amazing work!!!

He talks about "rising our shirts off" for umami and my mind pictures him doing it - its a nice image :) I am the only one that has a crush on Thoughty2?

Your videos are utterly fascinating. Thank you.

I grow Miracle berry plants in pot on my back porch. They are from Togo Africa so they have to be brought in for the winter. The berries are edible and make any food taste sweet. They have a protein that chemically binds to your tongue for about 30 minutes. Eat a Miracle berry and bite into a fresh onion. I can't even describe the taste. It's 1000 times better. I ate a miracle berry then ate a steak. It was the best steak i had ever eaten and no other flavor enhancement could match it. Not even my Umami seasoning. Synsepalum dulcificum is the plant. It's awesome.

MSG being bad for you and people having an intolerance sensitivity or an allergic reaction to it. Are two totally different things! Sadly doctors do not test for allergies or intolerance MSG.

THANK YOU! Every person I talk to about msg has such ridiculous misconceptions about it

How do you manage to make a video about food that tugs at our heart strings? Damn sir, you are a treasure for sure!

A friend told me I should check out your videos, I’ve been watching them almost nonstop for the past two days. Great stuff. One question, where does the name Thougthy 2 come from?

This explains why I love a sandwich of sliced tomato, mozzarella, all on sourdough. Mind blown 🤯

as a chinese child we always had a word for the umami taste which is called xian. When I came to germany at the age of 10 I found it pretty hard to describe yummy food to friends. You could only use words like salty or well flavored, but no one knew of this umami word. I'm still struggling to find an equivalent word for the Q-ness of noodles, tendon or bubble tea bobas? It describes how something is chewy in a very satisfying way I think.

really enjoying your channel , what a good storyteller you are ....

Ahhh, yes, the white powder, the good stuff

Thank you for continuing to put out these awesome learning videos. Your channel has been a staple for me for the past two years, and you help keep my love of learning alive.

W O W ! ! ! The whole // short video . . . . . . A M A Z I N G . . . -- A N D -- the last 9 0 - second ending . . . Soooooo Stunning . - Thank You .

I can’t believe this video exist LOL! I’m from Perú and Ajinomoto is one of my favorite things in the world… a lot of Peruvian dishes are made with it… and now I know the science behind it and the best arguments to keep defending umami haha huge thanks!!

I love what you do, and WILL support you someday on patreon! You are an amazing story teller! Thank you!!

For years I thought I had an MSG allergy, come to find out it was a preservative called PreP used by a lot of restaurants that have prepackaged salads.

I like to use something called Sazon Goya while cooking. My little packet of love. It's just MSG with other things. It adds that little pop to what you're cooking.

This an eye opener for me! Thank you so much for making this video.

Great video as always! Here in the west, I could imagine someone eating dinner, say a pizza with anchovies, with their significant other across the table. Then blurt out, "tastes like umomie". That would probably make for a really bad evening lol.

THC? That’s no secret…

Amazing, much love from Santo Domingo

Browning ground beef? In a bit of oil or lard (prefered) at med. high heat stir a canned anchovy until it disintegrates...THEN start browning the G.B. OH SO GOOD!

Been waiting for a video all week 😊

Finally someone explaining umami! I kept hearing it all over these cooking shows😅

Thoughty I love your videos man!! Thanks so much for all this truly legendary content my dude!!

Love you videos, so so much, keep making them! ❤💯

I thank Food Wars for teaching me of the unbridled strength and potential of Umami. P.s. I’d say it’s more like trying to describe to the world you’ve invented another color but your analogy works too I guess.

This channel is the best information channel on youtube. Yes, wayy better than the infographics show. The humor, editing, storytelling and the absolute legendary presenter.

You had me at “pringular popping” 😂

When I worked in a food factory 40 years ago the MSG was used in the emulsions, ie meat mixture for pies, sausages, etc the operative who used it in bulk had protective gloves and a mask . I was told because it could cause health issues in that state.

A bowl of "dashi?" Nope. Dashi is what comes OUT of KOMBU. Basically, "dashi" can be made from many things and is the ingredient which gives the umami flavour. He was eating Miso Soup.