Paul W. Smith: Good and bad food news

“Outta’ my mind on a Monday moanin’" 

Well, I think now would be as good a time as any to remind you the Detroit Boat Show is in full swing until Jan. 26 at the TCF Center. 

Or how about this? An email has arrived offering a very nice $99 unlimited spring golf package at Treetops. Is this helping at all?

►Great fun alert! Variety the Children’s Charity Presents: Sliders, Spuds & SOUP(ER) BOWL 2020. It will take place this Friday at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham to benefit the many programs of Variety, which change the lives of children in our community. It’s a fun-filled evening of competition between many of Metro Detroit’s most talented chefs. Chefs will compete for the titles of Metro Detroit’s Best Sliders, Spuds and Soup. 

►Bad News Alert! Remember years ago when three letters caused people to recoil (and, for those with a sensitivity, to have headaches, fatigue and or nausea)? The infamous three letters were MSG (monosodium glutamate), and Chinese restaurants (especially) rushed to promise they no longer added it to their food.

Well, MSG’s back (if it ever really went away).

►Are you sitting down? In an effort to enter (and win) the current Chicken Sandwich Wars, it is rumored that McDonald’s newest contender (in its testing stages in Tennessee and Texas) has MSG in the recipe. 

But before you say, “Desperate people do desperate things,” there’s more you should know:

Seriously, you should sit down. Bloomberg has revealed that top dogs Chick-fil-A and Popeyes use MSG in their chicken sandwiches, too. Don’t shoot the messenger.

Newest product we may not need? Coca-Cola with coffee. One or the other is fine, but both together?

Paul W. Smith is host of “The Paul W. Smith Show” on WJR-AM (760) from 5:30-9 a.m. Monday-Friday.