Chinese Restaurant Syndrome

Back in 1968, the New England Journal of Medicine published a letter written by a doctor titled "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome." The doctor described feeling sick after eating a meal at a Chinese restaurant, mentioning such symptoms as headache, palpitations, nervousness and dizziness.

This letter was then spread to the mass media, and the witch hunt for people who use monosodium glutamate in cooking was on. By the early 1970s, even the Merriam-Webster dictionary had an entry for the phenomena within its pages:

The Real Story

MSG is NOT bad for you and "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" is not a real thing. It seems that a fake letter destroyed an eastern food industry in the United States for about 50 years.

The Bet

Back in the 1960s, two doctors had a bet. Dr. Bill Hanson and his friend Dr. Howard Steel (an orthopedic surgeon) had a wager that Steel would never get an article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Hanson would joke with Steel, saying orthopedic surgeons were too stupid to get published in a prestigious journal such as the NEJM.

This prompted a ten dollar bet between the friends, and also prompted a satirical letter written to the NEJM.

The Joke

At the time, Steel and Hanson used to go to a Chinese restaurant called Jack Louie once a week, drinking too much beer and overeating — invariably feeling sick afterward. Following one of those episodes, Steel had a fit of inspiration. “I decided, well, I’ll write a little article and send it to the New England Journal of Medicine,” Steel said. “I’ll make it so obvious, they will know immediately [that it’s fake].” After penning the notorious letter, he signed it Robert Ho Man Kwok, which he thought would be an obvious play on words.