If you're paranoid about eating MSG, or just interested in the subject, you might like to listen to this American PRI discussion in which Dr Katharine Woessner explains the lack of scientific evidence against MSG, and I talk from a Chinese culinary point of view:

http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/10/10/2014/is-msg-bad-for-your-health.html

And in other developments (!), here's Diane Leach of PopMatters using my books as the gateway into the mysterious delights of Sichuan pepper:

http://www.popmatters.com/post/185010-finding-ma-or-in-search-of-the-sichaun-peppercorn/