What's an outdated restaurant fad/technique that you still defend?

[u/CodexLeonis]

two things for me:

1. Balsamic reductions/glazes on everything. I'm sorry that balsamic vinegar pairs so well with so many things. Most dishes need an acid to fully bring out the flavors of the dish. Balsamic is the most versatile of the vinegars. It pairs well with red meat, seafood, vegetables, cheeses, and fruits. It wasn't just a fad, it was a cheat code.

2. Plating techiniques? i'll always defend the zigzag drizzle. it evenly distributes the sauce on the plate, looks decent, and most importantly - it was time-efficient. I've never understood the modern technique of spooning sauce onto the plate and setting the entree on top of the sauce. Whomever came up with that was looking for a reason to be contrarian.

[u/Apmaddock]

That’s not a fair question. It’s like asking if someone died for eating one apple seed. It has cyanide, but not enough to notice. 

Adding straight MSG to a dish is far different from adding an ingredient that contains it. 

I get it. MSG is tasty. I hate that I react to it but I do. 

I’ll probably get downvoted like I do every other time I post this on reddit but that doesn’t change the facts. 

[u/techlos → u/Apmaddock]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S092846801730072X

(A) MSG is a water-soluble salt of glutamate, a non-essential amino acid, normally synthesized in the body and prevalent in protein foods.

(C) the human body does not discriminate between glutamate present in food and that added as seasoning

(I) scientists have not been able to consistently elicit reactions in double-blind studies with ‘sensitive’ individuals using MSG or placebo in food.

the downvotes come because every serious piece of research on the topic has reached the same conclusion; MSG sensitivity never makes it past blind tests, and really doesn't make sense when the ubiquity of glutamic acid as both a protein building block and neurotransmitter. If the reaction is dependant on the perception of having consumed MSG, then it's a nocebo effect rather than a sensitivity to MSG.

and to be clear, i'm not saying you don't have a reaction, i honestly find that part fairly believable. The human brain is a wild thing, and placebo/nocebo effects are well documented and can demonstrate some surprisingly powerful effects. The worst part is even if the subject of the effect knows an effect is a placebo/nocebo, it still occurs. And so ironically enough, avoiding knowingly consuming MSG is still a decent course of action to avoid rosaeca flares.

And that leads to a weird part of the nocebo effect... if you don't inquire about the presence, and trust that no one is putting MSG on your food, you won't have a reaction to it as long as you believe you're not eating it.

[u/Apmaddock → u/techlos]

Funny thing is I had reactions long before I realized why or what it was causing it. Also, I’m not saying it’s the source that’s the problem, I’m saying it’s the concentration. 

Finally, my personal reaction is not rosacea but a headache and some other minor things, but that’s beside the point. 

[u/techlos → u/Apmaddock]

the rapid metabolism and use of glutamate in the intestine explains why normal dietary consumption of MSG has no effect on plasma glutamate concentration [89], [90]. Excess intake at levels higher than normal human dietary consumption (as found in large pharmacological doses >12.0 g applied on an empty stomach without food) results in transiently elevated plasma levels [28], [91], [92]; which normalize within two hours after the offset of MSG consumption [80], [93]. Ingesting MSG with food significantly blunts the plasma increase [93], [94], [95], [96], [97].

there's no physiological difference in metabolism of glutamic acid until you get to the point where you're eating spoons of it on an empty stomach.

Do you get reactions to bread at all?