salt fat acid heat Maggi

March 16, 2019 9:01 AM

Khushbu Shah writes for the Washington Post: Peek into homes and restaurants in China, Poland, the Philippines, France and Australia, and you’ll probably find Maggi products — most often a seasoning sauce, bouillon cube, noodle or soup mix — on one of the shelves. The seasoning sauce Maggi Würze, which is reminiscent of the flavor of lovage, has become so popular and beloved in Germany that Germans often colloquially referent to lovage as “maggikraut.” Like salt, fat, acid and heat, Maggi is one of the few great unifiers of the world’s kitchens and may be Switzerland’s largest and most influential culinary contribution.
posted by ChuraChura (59 comments total)

I just mentioned Maggi on the green!

There's a store near me that caters to various immigrant populations and sells baggies of Maggi bouillon cubes labeled by country (Nigeria, Ivory Coast, etc.). I gather each one is a slightly different formulation. I personally like the larger rectangular tablets with the blue chicken on them, which can be seen in the photo in the linked article.

What I want to know is, how do you pronounce Maggi? I've been assuming it's Italian and rhyming it with "stodgy", but not really sure.
posted by aws17576 at 9:17 AM on March 16, 2019 [9 favorites]

Maggi Chili Sauce is a work of genius. Stone genius.
posted by fallingbadgers at 9:24 AM on March 16, 2019

In Cote d'Ivoire, it's "cube Maggi" with Maggi pronounced like "magique" in French, just without the que sound at the end. In fact, I spent a significant amount of the time I was learning to cook in Cote d'Ivoire thinking people were just saying "Time to add a cube magique." I figured it out eventually.
posted by ChuraChura at 9:30 AM on March 16, 2019 [21 favorites]

"Like lovage"

Well gee, thanks, that helps.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:37 AM on March 16, 2019 [23 favorites]

I always think of Maggi as the European form of MSG for people who are afraid to admit to using MSG. Much like Sazon. Never thought of lovage or any other fresh herb; mostly just umami.
posted by Nelson at 9:44 AM on March 16, 2019 [11 favorites]

I think Australians also pronounces it with a soft g. Southeast Asians I know go with the hard g. (so which is it??) Knowing how to make Maggi noodles is definitely a rite of teenagehood here - mostly because it's not JUST about boiling the water and adding the fixings (though of course you can do tht too). the point is adding other fixings to it. my go-to is sliced white onions, cabbages and cracking an egg when it's just about done so I get poached egg in noodles. when i'm out and at the mamak (indian muslim eateries), it's fried maggi with chicken on the side.
posted by cendawanita at 9:48 AM on March 16, 2019 [7 favorites]

They’re part of Nestlé, who have been involved in controversial business practices in the past, such as unethical infant formula marketing in developing countries.
posted by acb at 9:49 AM on March 16, 2019 [9 favorites]

I just mentioned Maggi on the green!

Coincidences! I just got some cubes on a whim for making a jollof risotto with no clue how it will even taste because I have never had it.
posted by srboisvert at 9:55 AM on March 16, 2019

There was the whole lead/MSG thing about Maggi in India in 2015 (previously) that Nestlé handled with its usual sensitivity.
posted by scruss at 9:58 AM on March 16, 2019 [6 favorites]

My grandfather always put it in his soup, and I thought of it as Polish soy sauce.
posted by migurski at 9:59 AM on March 16, 2019

Nope nope nope! If you love MSG, palm oil and that instant noodle flavor you will love Maggi(r) too!

I am going to say Maggi is to food the same thing that Facebook is to friendship.
posted by haemanu at 9:59 AM on March 16, 2019 [6 favorites]

It's also - as the article points out - an integral part of cooking all over the world. So maybe it's worth being slightly less derisive about it.
posted by ChuraChura at 10:03 AM on March 16, 2019 [40 favorites]

MSG for people who are afraid to admit to using MSG.

...just looking at the ingredients, it's kinda like those cured meats that say "NO NITRATES! (except for all of the nitrates that naturally occur in these extracts we use to cure the meat and which we are using because they contain nitrates, so basically we've got the same level of nitrates after all but who's counting...)"

...not to say Maggi doesn't have it's own flavor going on in addition to the glutamate, mind. And besides, MSG is fine. Jeez, I wish more people learned basic chemistry.
posted by aramaic at 10:06 AM on March 16, 2019 [15 favorites]

In all seriousness, Maggi(r) is bad for you and a concoction from a corporate lab. That it is a succesful Nestle product does not make it better.
posted by haemanu at 10:07 AM on March 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

ChuraChura, Maggi is seeing a burst of homegrown competition in Cote D'ivoire
posted by infini at 10:34 AM on March 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

Their products are so good and I can’t help but wonder just how many country-specific ones get hauled back and forth by visiting friends and family. I posted a photo of the Hungarian Maggi cubes I’ve been using all year on Twitter this morning. I’ll get restocked on those and the “good” paprika when my cousin by marriage flies over this summer.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 11:12 AM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's also - as the article points out - an integral part of cooking all over the world. So maybe it's worth being slightly less derisive about it.

Just to play devil's advocate (I like Maggi!), I'd say the universal familiarity of the product should mean everyone gets to have an opinion, not no one. And I'm sure there are Maggi-despisers the world over.

It can be weird to talk about the adoption of corporate brands, imports, colonial symbols, etc. into national cuisines. The article talks about the (fascinating) relative cultural status of French Maggi and Chinese Maggi in Vietnam. There are lots of things you can make of that -- I mostly find it interesting but more negative feelings about it are surely a valid response...
posted by aws17576 at 11:14 AM on March 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

There's a store near me that caters to various immigrant populations and sells baggies of Maggi bouillon cubes labeled by country (Nigeria, Ivory Coast, etc.).

It would be interesting to try them back to back and see how different the flavor is. I've had Maggi cubes in a number of countries but never knew that they weren't the same.
posted by Dip Flash at 11:19 AM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

I was wondering about lovage too, Wiki says:

The leaves can be used in salads, or to make soup or season broths, and the roots can be eaten as a vegetable or grated for use in salads. Its flavor and smell can be described as a mix of celery and parsley, but with a higher intensity of both of those flavors. The seeds can be used as a spice, similar to fennel seeds.
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:21 AM on March 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

(By the way, I just realized that the English form of Côte d'Ivoire, which I used in my first comment, is officially deprecated. My bad!)
posted by aws17576 at 11:22 AM on March 16, 2019

Maggi(r) is bad for you

Do you have any evidence for this claim? It's quite a strong claim you've made.
posted by Nelson at 11:22 AM on March 16, 2019 [11 favorites]

Today, the French version of Maggi is still highly revered in Vietnam, Nguyen says. “For cooking, you use the Chinese version,” she says. “If you really want to impress people, you whip out the French version. It’s more expensive.”

Maggi is indeed pretty big in Vietnam, where it's been called ma-gi since 1935. The term is used to described any sort of soy sauce or soy sauce analog and has been included in dictionaries, resulting in formal complaints by Nestlé about trademark genericization. Here is a Vietnamese commercial where popular singer Văn Mai Hương tells an older lady how to pronounce the word correctly, with a soft g (MAGGI) rather than with a hard one (ma-gi). The amusing thing is that the original MAGGI sauce is hydrolyzed wheat protein, not soy, and lots of people still call it "soy sauce". However it seems that sauces made from actual soybeans are also sold under the MAGGI brand now.
posted by elgilito at 11:25 AM on March 16, 2019 [7 favorites]

I can't think of Maggi without thinking of Steve's Sizzling in NJ. damn fine food in a place that's been there for a looooooong time. (some great photos of the building long before anything else). They toss the steaks in a super hot pan with mushrooms, onions,
and Maggi for a few seconds and then bring to table sizzling. Amazing if a bit salty. I drive way out of the way to eat there. FYI They pronounce it Maggie (hard G like a girls name or the correct pronunciation of GIF)
posted by chasles at 11:39 AM on March 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

I have feelings about Maggi. Mostly because I have feelings about Africa, where you can usually easily find a restaurant by looking for Maggi-inspired murals such as this one (link goes directly to an image). Unless, of course, you are in a Royco area. But most African countries are Maggi countries.

I once traded shirts with a man I met on the street in Ghana because he was wearing a Maggi shirt. I still have that shirt. I can't remember which shirt I offered him in return but he immediately agreed on the swap. I don't wear the shirt because it's old and I'm afraid the fabric is too weak to stand washing. But I'm keeping it.
posted by Too-Ticky at 11:56 AM on March 16, 2019 [10 favorites]

In German, it’s pronounced like the English word “muggy”.
posted by Slothrup at 11:58 AM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Nelson,

I think this is what was behind it:

- adding high amounts of salt to your home cooking, and a dash of palm oil...
- will make other nutritious things taste bland? Like adding potato chip powder to all your dishes and getting addicted to it...
- highly processed food linked to badness
- shelf stability and economies of scale are additional restrictions that push long term customer well being a little bit further down the list for nestle
posted by haemanu at 12:16 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Well the bouillon cubes are full of salt, as most bouillon cubes are. But I can’t see what’s wrong with the sauces.
posted by tinkletown at 12:32 PM on March 16, 2019 [3 favorites]

I was thinking of the cubes, don't know their sauces, though probably have similar issues if you want to dislike them.

I did leave one thing out of my reasons to distrust Maggi cubes, I'll just say there are also Maggi hating grandparents...
posted by haemanu at 12:37 PM on March 16, 2019

I think this is what was behind it:


All I see in this list is that it's salty. Everything in moderation; totally natural soy sauce is salty too. Otherwise, these are predictable/silly tin-foil hat claims against 90% of the products on the market unless there's something specific to add.
posted by phlyingpenguin at 12:38 PM on March 16, 2019 [15 favorites]

Maggi Seasoning is worth having even if only for the occasional Michelada.
posted by slkinsey at 12:39 PM on March 16, 2019

Some of us don’t categorize food into “good” or “bad” categories because it’s not a moral imperative to eat nutritionally dense foods. Maybe we can keep that in mind before declaring something to be bad for all of humankind?

The social determinants of health, which Nestlé can influence and deserve criticism for, are much greater than what food contributes to health. Note that lifestyle on the linked chart includes much more than just food. I know there’s this fantasy that if we all just eat good foods and make sure we never eat processed foods we’ll magically all be in good health, but that is not how it works.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 12:44 PM on March 16, 2019 [29 favorites]

And because I imagine someone will think “but when I cut out processed foods I felt so much better,” keep in mind when you live a life with the privilege to have all your other health determinants covered then you can convince yourself that changing the way you eat is a much bigger deal than it is.

Anyway, Maggi vegetable boullion is delicious, though I do try to avoid palm oil these days for ethical reasons.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 12:49 PM on March 16, 2019 [13 favorites]

A dash of Maggi in Thai Green Papaya salad is the ingredient you've been missing with all your other attempts.
posted by Keith Talent at 12:52 PM on March 16, 2019 [10 favorites]

Lots of MSG in their products, some added and some occurring naturally in hydrolyzed soy protein. Definitely adds to the "saltiness". Stuff is generally considered safe by the FDA but some may react adversely to it (like me)...
posted by jim in austin at 12:52 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

Pro-tip: add a dash of Maggi sauce to your Bloody Mary.
posted by monospace at 1:08 PM on March 16, 2019 [5 favorites]

Mod note: Folks, let's maybe leave the "this kind of product has msg/is salty/etc" point as understood; there's more interesting cross-cultural stuff going on here than that.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 1:12 PM on March 16, 2019 [15 favorites]

The thorn... Thanks for your comments!

Kiwi dip

it should be clarified that Kiwi dip is extremely particular about which ingredients can be used: "It's a mix of Maggi Onion Soup powder, reduced cream, and malt vinegar or lemon juice," Simon explained to me. So, it's not as if any ol' onion dip, or even onion soup powder, suffices. No, the onion component must be Maggi-branded, the reduced cream should be from Nestle...
posted by haemanu at 1:26 PM on March 16, 2019 [6 favorites]

It's also - as the article points out - an integral part of cooking all over the world. So maybe it's worth being slightly less derisive about it.

So is cilantro. And to hell with cilantro.
posted by Splunge at 1:27 PM on March 16, 2019 [5 favorites]

So is cilantro. And to hell with cilantro.

now those are fighting words.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 2:02 PM on March 16, 2019 [6 favorites]

According to wikipedia the hard 'g' pronunciation is German, while the soft 'g' is Italian. Since the brand is Swiss I'm assuming both pronunciations are equally correct by statute.

Also that we need to find the French and Romansh pronuncations too.
posted by traveler_ at 2:33 PM on March 16, 2019 [6 favorites]

Huh, if you'd asked me before about five minutes ago, I would have been 99% convinced Maggi originated in Indonesia. I'm really curious to taste test the different varieties now, I'd just assumed it was a sort of generic marmitey msg vehicle.
posted by lucidium at 3:01 PM on March 16, 2019 [4 favorites]

Ubiquitous in old-school Dutch home cuisine, and pronounced kinda like "Mucky".
Reminds me a little bit of soy sauce. I think everyone here can agree that it's salty.
(Re above comment, the Dutch version is usually Indonesian.)
posted by ovvl at 3:05 PM on March 16, 2019 [2 favorites]

Banh mi without a generous spash of maggi special sauce is no banh mi at all.
posted by smoke at 5:33 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

I grew up thinking the brand originated in the Philippines!
posted by PussKillian at 7:01 PM on March 16, 2019

A dash of Maggi in Thai Green Papaya salad is the ingredient you've been missing with all your other attempts.

Assuming you already have a splash of fish sauce in there, you're right insofar as Maggi is probably the only realistic alternative to Golden Mountain sauce available to many people.
posted by GeckoDundee at 10:38 PM on March 16, 2019 [1 favorite]

No, fish sauce of course, but without the maggi it still lacks something (mostly msg).
posted by Keith Talent at 12:16 AM on March 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

The single thing in life I'm evangelical about (and in keeping, I have amassed a devoted following for it over the years) is Maggi Rich Gravy Mix. (Only available in wholesale quantities, because who would ever want less than a bucket of it?)

I ate chips'n'gravy from my corner store on the way to school every day for years. Eventually, I had only to call and say hello, and they'd recognise my voice and make some extra gravy.

When I eventually grew up and was about to move interstate, I went to give a card to Darryl Of The Corner Store to thank him for the years of keeping me sane. As a parting gift, Darryl gave to me the name of The Gravy: Maggi Rich Gravy.

For years, I could only buy it online from wholesalers until the magical day I found it in the kilo tubs from Costco. It developed its own mystique too, mere acquaintances asking me shyly if I'd be bringing The Gravy to barbecues, friends in the know asking me to bring extra tubs in my luggage when I'd fly home to visit. I was flatly ordered to ensure its presence at multiple Christmases.

And so I now share this bounty with you. Make it about 20 minutes before you need it, a little watery to start and let it thicken, lest you make it too intense. And then - salty ambrosia.
posted by pseudonymph at 12:44 AM on March 17, 2019 [16 favorites]

You've heated up some frozen dumplings but you need some sauce. A couple of dabs of soy sauce to start, then some rice vinegar, possibly a drop or two of sesame oil or some hot pepper oil (certainly not both!) and um... it's not quite right yet. So OK, maybe some thinly sliced scallions. Better! But what it really needs is a couple of drops of Maggi sauce. Then--and only then--you are ready to enjoy your dumplings.
posted by sjswitzer at 1:16 AM on March 17, 2019 [7 favorites]

Also that we need to find the French and Romansh pronuncations too.

At least in metropolitan France, I have only ever heard the hard" g" pronunciation (i.e., the one which most closely matches standard French phonetic rules afaik), and my (French) partner agrees that that's the only one he's aware of. That being said, we neither of us admittedly spend much time in non-Franco-français settings, so this could actually be totally a niche thing.

ETA: MSG or no that shit is INTEGRAL to many of my chicken dishes. Embrace the cube.
posted by peakes at 10:48 AM on March 17, 2019 [1 favorite]

Saw the title of this article; felt immediately compelled to go make a pot of Maggi kari ayam flavored noodles.
posted by yunhua at 11:05 AM on March 17, 2019 [2 favorites]

I grew up with the hard-g pronunciation, because the transliteration into Cantonese is pronounced with a hard g, and means "Extremely glorious".

It fits old-school Hong Kong food branding so well (and was so ubiquitous in my parents' house growing up), that I was shocked when I found out that the Western name came first, and that it was produced by Nestle. I'd always assumed Maggi was the table soy sauce analogue of local-boy-gone-global Lee Kum Kee's dominance of oyster sauce.

And the differences between the regional versions are significant. The first time my mom accidentally bought the Vietnamese version, she spent a solid 15 minutes yelling about it having gone off before we realized what happened.
posted by joyceanmachine at 12:42 PM on March 17, 2019 [5 favorites]

I grew up on Oxo Cubes in the UK. I don't remember seeing Maggi in the shops when I was a kid. Mum always made her rice dishes with an Oxo cube in the water. Delicious!

Has anyone done a side by side taste test of Oxo vs Maggi?
posted by monotreme at 3:23 PM on March 17, 2019

Also that we need to find the French and Romansh pronuncations too.

Upthread said "In Cote d'Ivoire, it's "cube Maggi" with Maggi pronounced like "magique" in French", so a sound like "zh".

I have no idea about Romansh.
posted by nnethercote at 10:04 PM on March 17, 2019

I just cooked with it yesterday, because it's damn near impossible to find ordinary chicken or beef broth around here. Little cubes. It may or may not have contributed to the delicious success of my first try at carbonnade.
(Not a big deal in Japanese cooking where soy sauce provides most of the salt etc., but available in mid-range and up supermarkets as a rule. I'll have to look for phonetics on the packet to see if it's Ma-gi or Ma-ji.
posted by huimangm at 12:54 AM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Hey, my cardiologist keeps telling me that I have to eat more salt or he’s going to put me on salt pills, like some sort of deer.

Even salt isn’t bad for everyone, y’all.

Ps: We didn’t eat Maggi at home in Italy because we, uh, were a Kraft family for bouillon cubes. There are factions, much like Barilla vs De Cecco.

Pps: Barilla wins every time.
posted by lydhre at 3:03 PM on March 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have a bottle of Maggi, sitting lonely in the pantry, purchased at the Asian Market on a whim because my name is Maggie. Now it appears that I have good reason to dust it off and use it. I suspect it would do delicious things to mushrooms.
posted by PearlRose at 7:52 AM on March 19, 2019

Knorr Caldo de Res is my go-to beef bouillon, but now that I know why the big international grocery has Maggi products in several different regional aisles, I'm going to pick up a few different varieties next trip.

Their soy sauce isn't my fave. Their noodles are . . . fine. These other possibilities though, these seem interesting.
posted by aspersioncast at 12:58 PM on March 19, 2019

So is cilantro. And to hell with cilantro.

now those are fighting words.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis

They might indeed be such words. To some. To others that's like saying, "You don't eat soap? Barbarian! Sabers at dawn."
posted by Splunge at 11:15 PM on March 19, 2019

My latest discovery in this world is fond du chef... same concept as cubes but so much tastier.
posted by infini at 11:09 AM on March 21, 2019