Download Translation of an article of RONDO (issue 01/03/2013)

Translation of an article of RONDO (issue 01/03/2013), the magazine of the Austrian daily “Der
Standard”:
Glutamate: All is well!
Scandal after scandal rocks the food producing industry. But of all things, glutamate that is
presumed to be notoriously dangerous, is in fact not only completely harmless but in many
respects actually a valuable ingredient. At least that is what science is telling us – and more
and more gourmet chefs.
By Tobias Müller
If it were only on the grounds of the ingredients, Parmesan cheese would be prohibited in the EU. It
contains enormous amounts of a substance that has a reputation similar to that of mercury or
plutonium and has even been labelled a "neurotoxin" by its adversaries: Glutamate.
Sceptics suspect the flavour enhancer that is used above all in convenience foods, of triggering almost
everything that can cause people to feel unwell from dizziness and headaches to obesity and brain
atrophy. It is said to cause an illness of its very own, the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" and it is right
at the top of the list of self-diagnosed intolerances.
A ready-to-eat meal may maximally contain one gram of glutamate on ten decagrams total weight
according to EU rules. Matured Parmesan (1.2 g pure glutamate per ten decagrams) is at least one
fifth above this limit value.
Mixed with prosciutto (350 milligrams ten decagrams total weight), tomatoes (200 mg) and mushrooms
the result is, depending on your stance, either a diabolical cocktail or a pretty good pasta sauce.
"Some people think that the Italian cuisine is only popular because it contains so much glutamate,"
says Klaus Dürrschmid, food researcher at the University for Agriculture in Vienna. But has a healthconscious friend ever explained to you that he is allergic to "Italian food"? Have you ever heard of the
"Italian Restaurant Syndrome"? Or ever read on the menu in a pizzeria: "We cook without glutamate"?
Exactly. But why?
People with alleged glutamate intolerance were fed with glutamate without their knowledge in
double blind tests. They showed no reactions.
Glutamate has the gift to make food taste better – it enhances aromas that we taste when we have
food in our mouth. And it is responsible for an own taste, which we literally grew up with: Human
breast milk contains ten times as much glutamate as cow milk does. This stuff is actually a blessing for
the kitchen – merely its awful reputation stands in its way.
The history of this reputation starts in the USA in the late 1960s. It tells of prejudice, scepticism
towards the food producing industry – and, rather unexpected for foodstuffs: racism.
Making unappetizing food palatable
Certainly, glutamate has its downsides: With its help the taste buds are led to believe that otherwise
rather unappetizing food tastes palatable. Thanks to glutamate, the food industry can make sure that
we eat far more crisps, frozen lasagne or shovel more junk food into our bodies than we really want to.
Fresh meat that is seasoned with glutamate tastes as if it has already matured. And because
glutamate stimulates our appetites, it makes people stuff themselves with greasy snacks although,
really, they've had enough already. But it's not responsible for a lot of things it is accused of.
Industrially produced glutamate is chemically identical to that which occurs naturally – for example, in
Parmesan. It is not harmful to health. And it is absolutely impossible to be allergic to it. What we
usually call "glutamate" is the salt of glutamic acid, an amino acid. It is released when proteins are
broken down in certain processes, such as fermentation. Enzymes perform that task in raw gammon,
matured meat or vegetables that have been fermented in lactic acid. Bacteria are usually let loose on
certain proteins to produce glutamate industrially. Not one piece of evidence could be found in
hundreds of studies to prove that glutamate is harmful to humans. "Public opinion contradicts the
scientific views here as in so many cases," states food researcher Dürrschmid. In plain English: No
one believes it, but glutamate is in all probability completely safe.
According to Dürrschmid, the substance is simply too small to trigger allergies in human beings – the
immune system can only react to larger molecules. And in double blind studies, people with alleged
glutamate intolerance were fed glutamate without their knowledge – without showing any allergic
reaction.
Only one thing is verifiable after decades of research: If people receive several grams of glutamate –
an amount that tastes disgusting and does not really land in meals – a small group, less than one per
cent, develops temporary symptoms, such as feeling unwell and outbreaks of sweat.
We could not exist without glutamic acid. We produce the substance ourselves in large amounts
because we need it to build muscles or as a neurotransmitter. In the 1950s and 1960s, children were
fed dozens of grams of pure glutamate in tests in the hope that it would make them more intelligent. It
didn’t work. But the substance has other benefits.
Glutamate was discovered as early as 1866 by the German chemist Heinrich Ritthausen. Yet only in
1908 did a Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda find out that it is responsible for an own taste. Ikeda
wanted to find out why the algae soup his wife made tasted so good and started to experiment with it.
With the result that the soup's main ingredient Kombu algae, was found to contain enormous amounts
of glutamate. The fifth taste "umami" was discovered.
"Umami" is Japanese and translated means something like "delicious taste" and is generally described
as a meaty, savoury, rich taste. "It is literally appetite, the taste that you really want to have, it makes
you really desire the food," says the American gourmet chef Dave Chang. In the late 1990s scientists
discovered that the human tongue has receptors for umami, there are also umami detectors in the
human stomach.
Glutamate and haute cuisine
In Japan and China umami is traditionally extremely popular, in contrast, the concept had problems
with acceptance in the West. However, presently it's experiencing a boom.
It has also become chic to use dashi in many kitchens outside Japan. Dashi is a stock made from
Kombu algae that has come to lend many exquisite dishes an unfathomable taste. Numerous chefs
experiment with lactic fermentation that can also be used to raise the glutamate content, for example
in vegetables.
Noma in Copenhagen, said to be the best restaurant in the world, is especially industrious at
developing dishes that are rich in glutamate – including algae ice cream and fermented grasshopper
sauce, by all means dishes that only advanced eaters would like to be served. The restaurant does not
use chemically produced glutamate – stating it did "not want to use any crutches". A successful
hamburger chain in the USA, Umami Burger, has named itself after the taste.
Their creations contain, alongside matured meat, mushrooms, cheeses also other ingredients that
have a high glutamate content. And noted chef Dave Chang has sung a song of praise for umami for
years now – dishes that are full of natural glutamate are served in his Momofuku restaurants. He does
not understand that umami is popular in the West, but glutamate is rejected, says Chang – after all
glutamate "is the difference between a leg of pork and matured prosciutto."
Today glutamate is increasingly being used secretly in America and Europe, and that is also the fault
of Robert Ho Man Kwok. The Chinese-American doctor wrote a letter to the New England Medical
Journal in 1968. In it he described how he regularly developed symptoms such as "numbness in the
neck that slowly spread down the arms and back, general weakness and a racing heart" after eating at
Chinese restaurants. Possible causes, Kwok speculated, could be the Chinese cooking wine, soy
sauce or glutamate. The "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" was born.
Hundreds of people reported similar symptoms in response to Kwok's letter. Numerous tests followed
that searched for a connection between the "excessive use of glutamate in Chinese cooking" and the
symptoms, as one study put it. Chinese restaurants saw themselves forced to hang "No glutamate" in
their windows. What was completely ignored in all of this: The most glutamate was not used in
Chinese restaurants at all.
Up to 90 per cent of the glutamate used in the USA in those days landed in various packaged foods
such as instant soups or canned meats, writes the food historian Ian Mosby in his study on the
"Chinese Restaurant Syndrome". The substance was very successfully sold and used as a spice
under a different name in the USA and Canada– at a time when the image of the Chinese restaurant
was already seriously tarnished.
The history of glutamate aversion is therefore also a fear of foreign, exotic food, writes Mosby: "At the
th
core it is the product of a racist discussion" that extends back to the 19 century when the Chinese
had to hang signs saying "real restaurant, no opium bar" in their windows and the jokes that are still
being told about dog meat being served under a different name.
In hundreds of foods
Until today glutamate is added to foodstuffs that are sold with the label "no artificial flavour enhancer"
on them – the substance is then listed as "yeast extract" in the ingredients. No one has to be scared –
because even the deception potential of the “cheat salt” has its limits. It cannot replace the proper
maturing of meat for example, of that not only gourmets but also the food researcher Dürrschmid are
convinced: When meat matures there are other processes and microorganisms involved as well that
make the meat tender.
Taste is, like nearly everything to do with food, the result of very complex processes. Most of these
processes are still not completely understood by scientists, the least of them can be imitated with a
single substance. Umami too cannot be attributed to glutamate alone. However, that does not mean
that glutamate cannot be useful. "Glutamate is a delicious salt," explains Dave Chang at the last Mad
Symposium on the future of good food in Copenhagen, which is organized by Noma chef Rene
Redzepi. "I don't want to say that you should pour glutamate into everything you prepare. But is there
any reason why we shouldn't use it to season foods, just like we do with salt?"
He reaped a storm of applause from his listeners – among them many gourmet chefs from around the
world.
Foodstuffs
Natural Glutamate content (mg/100 g)
Makombu algae
Nori algae
Japanese fish sauce
Roquefort cheese
Parmigiano reggiano
Japanese soy sauce
Green tea
Matured raw ham
Sardines
Grape juice
Venus mussels (vongole)
Peas
Tomatoes
3190
1378
1383
1280
1200
782
668
337
280
258
208
200
140
Source: Umami Information Centre, Tokyo