If you're like me, you are sensitive or even allergic to many food additives. One such additive that is of particular concern for me is the flavour enhancer Monosodium Glutamate (MSG). For this reason, I've become a huge label reader, especially when it comes to flavoured potato chips, soups, and anything in a box or can. You never know what is lurking in the ingredients list. To make matters a bit more complicated, add a foreign language or two and the challenge is even greater. One thing I've learned in my travels, is that MSG can often be hidden under the label of something else. I've become a master label reader and know what to look for in any given country. I know how to read Monosodium Glutamate in many different languages and in this case, being in a Dutch speaking country, mononatriumglutamaat. So if you have a sensitivity or allergy to MSG, mononatriumglutamaat is what you look for on products here in Bruges. HOWEVER, there are two other ingredients you should be looking for: smaakversterker, which translates to "flavour enhancer" and E621, which is just another name for monosodium glutamate. We absolutely love to cook and eat soups, on a weekly basis actually, and I found out the hard way that MSG was lurking in the bullion cubes. The ingredients didn't include mononatriumglutamaat, so I thought I was safe, but upon looking again, it did contain smaakversterker. A closer look at many other products on my next grocery shopping outing showed that there is no consistency as to what name was used. So I now check the ingredient labels for three different names for MSG.
That applies for restaurants as well. If you mention mononatriumglutamaat, many times the waiter or chef will say there is not any in their meals, but they do, in fact, use smaakversterker. If you have an MSG issue, hopefully you can now better navigate the Bruges markets and restaurants with a bit more knowledge!
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