A note on Maggi. I commonly use this liquid MSG incubator when I eat things with rice or when I need something to soak my sandwiches.
I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating. There are two types of Maggi. One looks like this:
…and is manufactured stateside. Notice the label, how they suggest that only a few drops will do. Yes, this is unnecessarily preachy. That is because we are America, a nanny state. We can’t be bothered to allow our citizens to exercise free choice and sentient will; we are sheeple that need to be prodded and poked, lectured and proselytized to. We consider commercials broadcast in the first half hour of the Super Bowl to be a cultural high water mark, and suburban strip malls overwhelming barometers of the prevailing zeitgeist when multiplied by the activity coefficients of a Starbucks and an I Sold It on Ebay franchise.
This is what the European version looks like:
This is the good stuff, and it costs twice as much as the stateside produced Maggi. Notice the much more subtle messaging.
The compelling argument to use just a couple dashes is buried on the side of the bottle. This is what a thousand years of intra-continental warfare, colonization and subjugation of foreign countries, religious and ethnic cleansing, genocide, and systematic classism gets you. You become a bit more laid back and the mommy message lives on the side label.
So is the imported Maggi worth it? My mom swears so, and I listen to my mommy.
8 belches
Belches RSS
May 28th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Pingback from Guilty Carnivore · Squash and shrimp soup
October 1st, 2007 at 8:23 am
Pingback from 15 Minute Asian Noodles | Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen
February 28th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
eatdrinknbmerry
GC, hey i love maggi sauce. I have not seen the imported version. i love adding extra drops to my fried eggs (with Sriracha) and my banh mi sandwiches. so good. thai cuisine also calls for this in dishes like pad see eew – but they don’t use maggi. it’s simply labeled “soya bean sauce”. their soy sauce is different from chinese style.
March 6th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Jeni
That is so funny Guilty Carni. My mom always tells me the same thing too. Mama’s know best!
March 12th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Wandering Chopsticks
What’s the difference in taste between stateside and abroad? Man, and I already think the stateside price is expensive.
I love my Maggi with banh mi op la.
March 12th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
v
My sister and I have a long running debate over this. Well, mostly between imported Maggi and Golden Mountain sauces. The US Maggi (that you’ll see at Ralph’s) is already out of the question.
Well, rule #1 is to always get small bottles, and keep them out of the light, just like fish sauce.
Try the Golden Mountain, it’s packaged suspiciously similarly to Maggi, but you’ll find that it has a “brighter” taste. I performed all taste tests on white jasmine rice.
March 17th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
The Guilty Carnivore
Wandering Chopsticks – I think the difference is mostly psychological, but that said I think the European is less salty and more rounded in flavor? That’s very subjective, as it’s salty as all hell no matter which version you get. That’s why I love it!
In terms of expense – I picked up the European version in a huge bottle for around $15 on sale recently. I think it usually goes for $18. I do buy the big bottles because I use so much of it. The small bottles seem too expensive for me – I’ve seen them go for as much as $9, and is about 1/8 the amount you get in the large bottle.
V – I’ve had the Golden Mountain, I like it. There’s also a product I found that bills itself as “garlic chili soy” that has a distinct Maggi-like nose to it. But Maggi has too many childhood memories for me – I can never forsake it. It’s like your favorite teddy bear.
March 17th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Wandering Chopsticks
Hey I just saw a Spanish-language Maggi the other day. Small bottle. Hispanic foods aisle of Vons. All in Spanish. Made in USA too. Think it’s the same thing?