How a Cantonese-American chef in New York uses MSG to celebrate his culture
In his new cookbook Salt Sugar MSG, chef Calvin Eng uses the once-vilified flavour enhancer to extend the reach of Cantonese-American food
On his left upper arm, Cantonese-American chef Calvin Eng has a tattoo that pays tribute to his upbringing and his identity as a chef.
It is a heart with a banner bearing the letters MSG – the abbreviation of flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate – and it shows just how dedicated he is to the ingredient that has drawn controversy for decades.
Now, Eng has gone one step further in declaring his love for MSG by including it in the name of his debut cookbook, Salt Sugar MSG: Recipes and Stories from a Cantonese American Home, which he wrote with his fiancée Phoebe Melnick.
While the book, published in March, can be regarded as an extension of his restaurant Bonnie’s – a Cantonese-American establishment in New York’s Brooklyn borough – it stands on its own as a collection of recipes meant to be made easily at home. It also reflects how the couple wrote it while raising their young son, Levi.
The idea for the book dates back to December 2021, when Bonnie’s had just opened. While the restaurant was able to feed up to around 200 people a night, Eng wanted to extend the reach of Cantonese-American food further, to people outside New York. Writing a book was his way of doing this.