this side of heaven

More MSG questions

Yesterday I was laid out with a horrible migraine, the kind that if you even move, you get nauseous. I puzzled over it all day: where could I have gotten hidden caffeine? Hidden gluten? Then it hit me: there must have been hidden MSG in something I ate.

Since I have been researching making my own condiments, I have been learning that MSG can cause severe facial pain, migraines, and other skeletal pain and nausea. Does every fermented soy product, such as soy sauce, always contain MSG as a naturally- occurring byproduct? Truth in Labeling lists soy sauce as often containing MSG; does that mean there is a glutamate-free soy sauce out there? I learned that people with a gluten allergy, who cannot use soy sauce because of the wheat in it, can use tamari because there is no wheat in it. But if tamari always contains MSG as a naturally- occurring byproduct of soy fermentation, as soy sauce does (if that is where the MSG comes from), then you are getting no benefit at all by using tamari instead of soy sauce. Does anyone know more about this?

Solving the migraine mystery: my dh and I stopped at a Chinese restaurant Sunday evening. I was so careful and avoided the prepared foods, and had the chef stir fry my food fresh on the grill, but there was probably soy sauce in the sauce. We are supposed to go to another Chinese restaurant this weekend to have dinner with family, but I have found some great information on avoiding MSG in Asian restaurants. So I will be extra-extra careful this time.

My sweet dh developed a great recipe for homemade barbeque sauce, which turned out wonderfully, but it contains worcestershire sauce. A main ingredient in worcestershire sauce is soy sauce. Argggh! It is everywhere! So I checked the link that Christy provided in the comments to Sneaky tricksey food manufacturers, for a MSG-free worcestershire sauce, and noticed that “soy” (not soy sauce) is listed in the ingredients. I have contacted the manufacturer and asked them about it; I will let you know what I learn.

If this worcestershire sauce contains soy sauce, then I may have to have fermenting fish heads in the house after all; the recipe from Nourishing Traditions that Paula posted may be the only way to get truly MSG-free worcestershire sauce. Oh wait! She also mentions Thai Kitchen fish sauce, that is close to worcestershire sauce, isnÂ’t it? Anything to avoid fermenting fish heads! I was reading somewhere among all the links that Thai food does not contain fermented soy like Chinese does.

For more info: MSG Truth is a wonderful website with lots of accessible research gathered by a former food process engineer and food scientist, including this eye-opening list of What Foods to Avoid. Whole Foods lists the FDA regulations for labeling foods containing glutamate, the deadly part of MSG (scroll down to Food Labeling Rules Regarding MSG). The Truth in Labeling project details the ways glutamate is hidden in products labeled “no MSG”.