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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