What if everything you’ve heard about MSG was wrong? This week’s BuzzReads story takes a look at the compound’s troubled past and unlikely future. Read that and these other great longform stories from around the web.
The Notorious MSG's Unlikely Formula for Success — BuzzReads
The “umami” craze has turned a much-maligned and misunderstood food additive into an object of obsession for the world’s most innovative chefs. John Mahoney reveals that monosodium glutamate’s biggest secret may be that there was never anything wrong with it at all. Read it at BuzzReads.
Flickr: theotherdan / Creative Commons
The Poorest Rich Kids in the World — Rolling Stone
Sabrina Rubin Erdely tells the sad, unusual story of the Inman twins — descendents of Doris Duke, heirs to an enormous fortune, and victims of horrible neglect and abuse at the hands of their drug addicted parents. As they now fight for their inheritance, are they exaggerating their pasts? Read it at Rolling Stone.
Photograph by Danielle Levitt for rollingstone.com
Dry Land — BuzzFeed
This Tuesday, South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation voted to legalize the sale of alcohol after 114 years of well intentioned, unsuccessful — and arguably detrimental — prohibition. Joe Flood visited the reservation and asked young people for their opinions on the vote in this moving photo essay. Read it at BuzzFeed.
Photograph by Angel White Eyes for buzzfeed.com
The Killing Machines — The Atlantic
Mark Bowden looks at drone war in great depth, considering such difficult questions as: should a soldier who's never seen combat receive decorations? Would that be fair to veterans who have risked their lives? And most importantly, has the drone war helped or hindered the war on terror? Read it at The Atlantic.
Stringer / Reuters
