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Monosodium glutamate, better known as MSG, is a Japanese import that became as Chinese as Kung Pao chicken. But its spread was more historical accident than foreordained. In the early 1920s, the Chinese chemist and entrepreneur Wu Yunchu sensed an opportunity. Less than 10 years prior, the Japanese firm Ajinomoto had introduced a new food additive, monosodium glutamate, better known as MSG, to the Chinese market. First distilled from kelp by the scientist Kikunae Ikeda in 1907, MSG was quickly embraced by Chinese diners, but Japan’s increasingly aggressive posture toward China had made Ajinomoto a target of boycotts. Seeing a chance to displace the market leader, Wu figured out a way to isolate MSG from wheat in 1922. The following year, in collaboration with Zhang Yiyun, a sauce and pickle magnate, Wu founded the Tienchu Ve Tsin Factory to produce and market his invention. (In the modern pinyin romanization system, ve tsin would be spelled weijing , the Chinese for MSG.) Over a cen
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