MSG is in more foods than you might think. But it's not the devil.

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Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer that has been used in a wide variety of food products over the years. It is a sodium salt of glutamic acid, an amino acid. Resembling salt or sugar in appearance when it is isolated from a food, MSG does not have a distinctly recognizable taste. It triggers the taste buds newly classified as being sensitive to "umami", a savory taste and loanword borrowed from Japanese.

Chefs, even before giving a name to umami, have been using ingredients with a naturally high glutamate content to enhance the flavor of dishes. It is found in large quantities in ingredients such as tomatoes, mushrooms, corn, parmesan cheese and soy sauce, in addition to occuring in meats, like beef and chicken. It is the perception of MSG as a food additive - rather than as a naturally occurring flavoring - that has given it a bad name.

When I was focusing on slow cooking last week, I picked up a couple of 1950s and 1960s cookbooks. Immediately all we could talk about on the Slashfood chatline was retro cookery, casseroles, and fifties recipes. We were tittering about "Oriental cookery" and the overuse of canned, condensed soups. We were waxing eloquent about tuna casserole. (Well, I was waxing eloquent about tuna.)

Tuesday, then, we'll be taking you back to the 1940s, 50s and 60s. We'll be making tuna casseroles 20 ways. We'll discuss MSG - then a miracle ingredient called for in nearly every cookbook - and we'll reprise our favorite meatloaf and macaroni & cheese recipes.

We'll take you through a few more vintage cookbooks, we'll explore the wonders of 50s-style Chop Suey, we'll delight in frozen peas & carrots, we'll put "hidden surprises" in everything we can. We'll bring you back 50 years to the era where "housewife" was a designation of pride and little boys wore sailor suits. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Chicken Pie De Luxe to start baking...