Food Capsules

A single 1968 letter to a medical journal helped launch fifty years of fear about MSG. The views clash over whether the panic was a baseless mistake, a product of anti-Asian bias, or a warning about real health risks that science has yet to close. Trace how the scare spread and decide for yourself what belongs in your food.

Natural wine promises a purer taste of the land, but the promise is contested from every side. These views split on whether sulfites betray the ideal or simply keep the bottle stable, and whether the health halo around natural wine survives scrutiny of the evidence. Where you land decides what you reach for on the shelf.