| In today's lecture, I'm going to talk about Monosodium Glutamate, |
| or MSG, as it's more commonly known. |
| Now, MSG as you probably know, is a flavour enhancer |
| which is used particularly in Chinese and Japanese cooking. |
| Today, I am going to explore why it is so popular in these cuisines |
| and, more importantly, how does it enhance the flavour of food? |
| The main reason why MSG is more commonly used in Japanese meals is tradition. |
| For many thousands of years, |
| the Japanese have incorporated a type of seaweed known as kombu in their cooking, |
| as they discovered it had the ability to make food taste better. |
| But it wasn't until 1908 |
| that the ingredient in kombu, which was responsible for the improvement in flavour, |
| was actually discovered to be glutamate by scientists working there. |
| From 1908 until 1956, |
| glutamate was produced commercially in Japan |
| by a very slow and expensive means of extraction. |
| It was in 1956 that the speed of the process was improved, |
| and industrial production increased dramatically |
| and still continues to increase to this day. |
| In fact, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of MSG are produced all over the world today. |
| So what exactly is MSG? |
| Well, Monosodium Glutamate contains 78.2% glutamate, |
| 12.2% sodium |
| and 9.6% water. |
| Glutamate is an amino acid that can be found naturally in all protein-containing foods, |
| erm, so this includes food such as meat and cheese. |
| It is widely known that Chinese and Japanese food contains MSG |
| but many people don't seem to be aware that it is also used in foods in other parts of the world. |
| For example, it is found in commercially made Italian pizzas, |
| in American fast food and in Britain, MSG is used in things like potato crisps. |
| So, how exactly does MSG work? |
| Well, in the Western world, we commonly talk of four 'tastes', |
| and I'm sure you're all familiar with the concepts of sweet, sour, bitter and salt. |
| Well, in 1908, Kikunae Ikeda identified a fifth 'taste'. |
| And it is thought that MSG intensifies this naturally occurring 'taste' in some food. |
| It does make perfect evolutionary sense that we should have the ability to detect or taste glutamate |
| because it is the amino acid which is most common in natural foods. |
| John Prescott, an associate professor at the University of Chicago, |
| suggests that this fifth taste serves a purpose just as the other tastes do. |
| He suggests that it signals to us the presence of protein in food, |
| in the same way that sweetness indicates that a food contains energy-giving carbohydrates. |
| Bitterness, he says, alerts us to toxins in the food, |
| while sourness warns us of spoilage |
| and saltiness signals the presence of minerals. |
| So, what else do we know about... |