My Mom is actually
allergic to
MSG -- not
horribly,
hive-breaking-out
allergic, but enough to make the
meal unenjoyable. Because of her, we almost never ate
Chinese when I was growing up on the
East Coast -- even when she said "
no MSG," there would be some.
Now that I live in the
Bay Area, they visit me once in a while. I have come to realize that there are
significantly better Chinese restaurants here than in suburban
Boston. So, I took them to a great
Chinese restaurant and my Mom requested "
no MSG" as usual. The
waiter looked at her
quizzically -- "We don't use that anyway!" She didn't have any problems.
So... it doesn't
have to be part of the meal.