Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

fivethirtyeight.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 190 posts

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#71

Post by thraway-burnout »

jnty wrote: post #67
SiVal wrote: post #62

fivethirtyeight.com: "That MSG causes health problems may have thrived on racially charged biases from the outset." Yeah, sure. Couldn't have just been the usual, nonsensical intellectual fashion of the sophisticates ("ooh, chemicals are so bad!"). No, today's nonsensical intellectual fashion of sophisticates ("oooh, racism explains everything!") has finally figured out what was wrong with yesterday's nonsensical int…

No, a significant part of it (in the UK) has definitely been stereotypes around Chinese food being somehow 'dodgy'. Clearly racism doesn't 'explain everything' and the forces you mention played a part, but you're the only one who brought up that strawman. (You should think carefully about why you're so desperate to disingenuously downplay the effects of racism on modern attitudes.)

Disclaimer: I'm married to a Chinese person, I speak (some) Chinese, I've been to China. I love Chinese food.

There's no racism in claiming that quite a lot of the "Chinese" food one finds available in Europe is indeed quite dodgy.

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#72

Post by LaGrange »

thraway-burnout wrote: post #71
jnty wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, a significant part of it (in the UK) has definitely been stereotypes around Chinese food being somehow 'dodgy'. Clearly racism doesn't 'explain everything' and the forces you mention played a part, but you're the only one who brought up that strawman. (You should think carefully about why you're so desperate to disingenuously downplay the effects of racism on modern attitudes.)

Disclaimer: I'm married to a Chinese person, I speak (some) Chinese, I've been to China. I love Chinese food. There's no racism in claiming that quite a lot of the "Chinese" food one finds available in Europe is indeed quite dodgy.

> Disclaimer: I'm married to a Chinese person, I speak (some) Chinese, I've been to China. I love Chinese food.

"I'm not racist some of my best friends are $race" in third comment on the page, congratulations!

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#73

Post by thraway-burnout »

LaGrange wrote: post #72
thraway-burnout wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I'm married to a Chinese person, I speak (some) Chinese, I've been to China. I love Chinese food. There's no racism in claiming that quite a lot of the "Chinese" food one finds available in Europe is indeed quite dodgy.

> Disclaimer: I'm married to a Chinese person, I speak (some) Chinese, I've been to China. I love Chinese food. "I'm not racist some of my best friends are $race" in third comment on the page, congratulations!

Yeah, I'm actually a closet self-hating racist who built a family with someone I despise. Plus took the time to learn their culture, values, and language; and live my life accordingly.

What a bunch of nonsense...

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#74

Post by LaGrange »

thraway-burnout wrote: post #73
LaGrange wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Disclaimer: I'm married to a Chinese person, I speak (some) Chinese, I've been to China. I love Chinese food. "I'm not racist some of my best friends are $race" in third comment on the page, congratulations!

Yeah, I'm actually a closet self-hating racist who built a family with someone I despise. Plus took the time to learn their culture, values, and language; and live my life accordingly. What a bunch of nonsense...

...that's a much more common case than you seem to imply, and your insistence that your marriage choice is some sort of an argument here only increases the likelihood.

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#75

Post by tallanvor »

serf wrote: post #54
hueving wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about secretly adding salt or pepper? How about olive oil? If you're cooking food for people it's not common to get pre-approval of the ingredients beyond asking for any dietary restrictions.

>If you're cooking food for people it's not common to get pre-approval of the ingredients beyond asking for any dietary restrictions. you're a lucky chef. You'll get a real reality check when cooking for an elderly bunch of diabetics who automatically presume the world is low-sodium. I've found it's just easier to automatically presume that everyone has dietary restrictions, just some much more mild than most (some h…

If I'm cooking for you, I'm assuming you're not allergic to anything unless you tell me.

Beyond that, I expect people to cook what they think people will enjoy when they invite me over, and I do the same when I invite them over.

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#76

Post by oliwarner »

LaGrange wrote: post #72
thraway-burnout wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disclaimer: I'm married to a Chinese person, I speak (some) Chinese, I've been to China. I love Chinese food. There's no racism in claiming that quite a lot of the "Chinese" food one finds available in Europe is indeed quite dodgy.

> Disclaimer: I'm married to a Chinese person, I speak (some) Chinese, I've been to China. I love Chinese food. "I'm not racist some of my best friends are $race" in third comment on the page, congratulations!

People should be encouraged to disclose their background and expertise when they speak on subjects.

Especially when it highlights the difference between what people in the West refer to as "Chinese", and the food that people eat in China.

But why have a sensible conversation about things when we can just hop up and down when we think we've found something we think might offend somebody.

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#77

Post by psiops »

I have no antipathy towards MSG. I can taste that it tastes good. The thing is really: It messes with my sleep. I don't know how, but sometimes I get a high dose in me and I just cannot get to sleep, like at all. Elevated heart rate, mind racing, all night long. _That_ I do not like. I don't believe it's an evil chemical, it's naturally occurring after all. But yeah, if someone knows a hack to cure the occassional insomnia... that'd be great.

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#78

Post by Veen »

jnty wrote: post #67
SiVal wrote: post #62

fivethirtyeight.com: "That MSG causes health problems may have thrived on racially charged biases from the outset." Yeah, sure. Couldn't have just been the usual, nonsensical intellectual fashion of the sophisticates ("ooh, chemicals are so bad!"). No, today's nonsensical intellectual fashion of sophisticates ("oooh, racism explains everything!") has finally figured out what was wrong with yesterday's nonsensical int…

No, a significant part of it (in the UK) has definitely been stereotypes around Chinese food being somehow 'dodgy'. Clearly racism doesn't 'explain everything' and the forces you mention played a part, but you're the only one who brought up that strawman. (You should think carefully about why you're so desperate to disingenuously downplay the effects of racism on modern attitudes.)

> You should think carefully about why you're so desperate to disingenuously downplay the effects of racism on modern attitudes

Yes, because if you think something isn't caused by racism, then you must be racist.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kafkatrap

I don't see any sign of desperation or disingenuousness in the reply, but that's probably because I'm an unconscious racist too.

Re: How MSG Got a Bad Rap (2016)

#80

Post by cpncrunch »

psiops wrote: post #77

I have no antipathy towards MSG. I can taste that it tastes good. The thing is really: It messes with my sleep . I don't know how, but sometimes I get a high dose in me and I just cannot get to sleep, like at all. Elevated heart rate, mind racing, all night long. _That_ I do not like. I don't believe it's an evil chemical, it's naturally occurring after all. But yeah, if someone knows a hack to cure the occassional i…

Unlikely to be the MSG.
Post reply on HN