MSG & Catering Question

[bbqjoe]

I have often observed when eating certain chips or snack foods, that often times you know you've eaten more than enough, but your tongue or pallet demands more. Then I look at the bag and there it is MSG.
I might be wrong, but that is what I see the purpose of MSG being, something to make you consume more.

 

[BBQchef33]

I'm a bit skeptical when people explain how deathly ill they get when the have the tiniest bit of MSG

I used to be.. but blind judging proved it.. My wife gets painful headaches a few minutes after eating anything with MSG(or several other "glutamates"). I used to think she was nuts, but without knowing how I prepared stuff, she would pick out the stuff that had it in it. The intensity of the headache is direct relation to the amount of MSG. Some stuff she says "a little bit" and can deal with it.. Other stuff knocks her on her ass and then shes ballistic for an hour.

When we first got married, i would 'sneak it in".. not that I was adding accent to the food, but I may add soy sauce, or a stock that had it in it... minutes after she started eating it, she would start to squint and rub her temples.. "Theres MSG in here". She had 100% accuracy.

Sneaky MSG additives hidden in foods has in the past totally ruined our meals in a few restaurants. At one restaurant that had "No MSG Added" on their menu she had a really violent headache a few mins into the meal and she freaked out on the waiters.. when the chef came out, he told her it says "no MSG added" and that they don't "add" any, but its in some of the stuff they cook with. She was ready to blow the place up. So, the reactions are real.. the trick is to find stuff that doesnt have any in it.

 

[kcquer]

Phil, does she have problems with foods that contain high levels of naturally occuring glutamates? Tomatoes, mushrooms, parm cheese?