MSG in Malaysian Food
 

Regarding the authenticity of the local street food, I think that the main reason for this low price food being so tasty is that it is doused in MSG.
Adding MSG is an effective way for saving costs for ingredients, spices and work.

Whether MSG is healthy is debated and quite a few people get headaches, rashes, etc from it.

Re: Moving to Ipoh in August as a couple.
 

I do so hope that's not true.

Re: Moving to Ipoh in August as a couple.
 

I hadn't known about this.

Is it just the street food that includes MSG? How to tell?
Is it possible to be able to tell by taste if there is MSG in it or not? Otherwise any food source can have it.

I've not had any problems, I would have thought by the amount of people I see eating at those places if there was a high number of illnesses due to MSG then there wouldn't be so many eating there.

Re: Moving to Ipoh in August as a couple.
 

Lacmac, you need to ask. Of course if you don't get any side effects then you don't have any problems. It tends to be the Chinese places and Japanese places I find in Penang. I just avoid those once I know, so they lose business.

I definitely have an intolerance to MSG and try to avoid where possible. If it's just a little bit of MSG included, not too much of a problem, just drink plenty of water to flush it through. I know of many other people who are affected. It's quite common.

Oops...right off topic :o

Re: Moving to Ipoh in August as a couple.
 

You can google MSG and read up about it.

Last time I checked there was no known side effect from indulging in MSG.

But for me I do feel very hung over sometimes after some soupy meals. It's an awful feeling.

When we were in Ipoh this time I did get what I call my MSG hangover after eating curry mee at one of the famous stalls.

I don't think many stalls will tell you if they use MSG but in Singapore some stalls will have a notice stating they do not use MSG.

You just have to get on with it and hope for the best.

Re: Moving to Ipoh in August as a couple.
 

It's just laziness using MSG. I find most eateries will tell you if they are using if you ask....at least in Penang. If a meal is MSG heavy I get very thirsty and hot and get a rash quite often. The rash disappears after a day or two. Not life threatening (for me) but just rather annoying.

Re: Moving to Ipoh in August as a couple.
 

I would of thought if it was so bad most if any wouldn't admit to using it.
Is it just Malaysia? As street food in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam etc is also very tasty

I have felt like what bakedbean described (other than the rash) funnily enough it was in penang at Kebaya. But at the time I didn't think it was the food,i thought it was something I had drank.
Just goes to show,no matter if you pay RM5 or RM300, MSG can be anywhere.

Re: Moving to Ipoh in August as a couple.
 

As I started this, maybe admin can move this to a new thread 'MSG in Malaysian food'?

Due to my wifes predicament, we have some experiences on the MSG problem.
It is not only the 'pure' MSG additive, if you look at soy sauces, fish sauces, etc you will find that lots, maybe most of them contain MSG. Plus all the Knorr products such as Maggi, beef and chicken stock cubes, etc.
There are also MSG-free alternatives, but these are more costly.

Anyway, if one has a problem with MSG, I think it is safest to stay away from cheap RM5:- streetfood as MSG is the most economic way to enhance the flavour of the dishes without having to add too many ingredients..


I don't think they use it as much in Thailand, we have eaten street food there, incl Tom Yam soup without problems.

As per some Vietnamese friends, they use it a lot there and also in Myanmar we found that to be the case.

There are some restaurants here in Penang where they claim to serve MSG-free food, such as the No Eyed Deer (No idea why they named it so) and the Mexican Grumpiez Green Pepper.
We have eaten there and both were OK.
We have also eaten in some Indian restaurants without problems.

Re: Moving to Ipoh in August as a couple.
 

I've done it.

Agree that it's not very usual in Thai food. I lived in Thailand for two and a half years and never had any MSG problems there.

Re: MSG in Malaysian Food
 

I googled it and it sounds like MSG is commonly used in Thailand. Especially Street food. More so in Phuket which is been to many times.

I asked some of my friends who live in Hua Hin, Phuket and Chiang Mai, they too say everyone uses it.And not just the street food.

Very few people must be affected by it, else all the locals would complain. Not sure about the long term affect is though.

Re: MSG in Malaysian Food
 

So the trend to save money on ingredients and work has now spread to Thailand as well.
It is nt surprising.
Fact remains that we didn't experience any problems there.
But that was a few years ago.

Re: MSG in Malaysian Food
 

I didn't experience any problems in Phuket where I lived either. Err....MSG problems I mean. Plenty of other problems in Phuket ;)

Re: MSG in Malaysian Food
 

MSG is not a Penang speciality and I was told, it can mostly be found in Chinese food. Look at Tesco e.g. what huge packages they offer. :eek:

We try to avoid this street food, not only because of MSG, the cheap upheated oil is also not healthy. Best to go for Indian food, curry dishes need not to "enhance" the taste with MSG.

Btw. there is some information about MSG and (vegetarian) restaurants in Penang.

MSG Free Vegetarian Restaurants in PenangPenang Spirit

Re: MSG in Malaysian Food
 

I was looking back over the posts on here.
The strange thing I noticed in reading about the side effects of MSG, is that it is almost identical to the side effects of alcohol.

Yet I don't hear many saying I'd stay away from that bar as i had a headache and was very thirsty. The cure is almost the same too. Drink plenty of water to flush it out of your system.

Just an observation ;)

Re: MSG in Malaysian Food
 

Well, alcohol is not an oftenly hidden ingredient in your foods, quite the contrary I would say.
''Better be careful, I heard that some of the beers they sell in the cheap German foodstalls may contain alcohol''